Five ways to prepare children for the clocks going forward

Virgin Radio

21 Mar 2022, 10:32

While we’re all excited for the days to get longer, we’re not so excited about losing an hour of sleep next week. 

For parents up and down the country, the clocks going forward an hour at 1am on Sunday 27th March means a change in routine for their young children, and it doesn’t help that it lands on Mother’s Day too! 

The clocks changing does bring us more daylight but can cause issues when it comes to sleep schedules. Luckily, there are ways of making sure little ones don't get too thrown off by the change. 

Here are five ways of prepping children for the clocks going forward. 

Set a good bedtime routine - and stick to it

An hour before hitting the hay, children should be winding down to ensure when the head hits the pillow, they’re ready to drift off. 

Winding down with a good routine means the changing of the clocks won’t affect kids as much, and it will take less time to fall asleep, and keep them asleep for longer. 

Things like a bath, getting teeth brushed and stories in bed will help kids fall asleep and remain unaware of losing that all-important hour of shut-eye. 

Put away the screens!

If you’re looking for a quick fix that can ensure your little one catches the important zzz’s they need, it might be worth taking away any tablets or phones they have access to. 

Much like as an adult, watching TV or playing on devices right before bed keeps you awake for longer, so by taking away the bright lights of a phone or tablet an hour before bed should help with that routine and make it easier for them to fall asleep and therefore, find the transition a bit easier. 

Blackout blinds 

Simple, yet effective when it comes to tricking the brain into thinking its much later than it is. 

Going to sleep is much harder when it’s daylight outside, especially with younger kids who don’t yet have much understanding when it comes to time. 

Blackout blinds to block out the sunlight are a great way to stop kids from waking up at the first sight of any sunshine in the early hours, and will make it easier to nod off earlier in the evening too. 

You can get portable blackout blinds which stick to the window or frame and don’t leave any gaps at the sides. They’re also really handy when trying to keep cool in the summer months too. 

Splitting the time over two nights 

One method of introducing the new time change is by splitting that time over two nights. 

If you put your child to be 30 minutes earlier on the Saturday night, and then back to normal bedtime on the Sunday night, it means overall they’ve lost half an hour rather than a full hour. 

Make sure to pad out the day with lots of activities too so kids are tuckered out by the time bedtime rolls around. 

If you fancy splitting the time, make sure it’s a gradual change, so with meals and daytime naps as well, so it all works together and doesn’t lead to any massive changes. 

Gradual adjust bedtime a week before 

If you know any slight change in routine will only end in tears, it might be worth taking a longer approach. 

Bringing forward bedtime each night is a very sneaky way of making sure the clocks changing doesn’t have much of an impact. 

Making bedtime earlier by only 10 mins each night for this week, or forward by 20 minutes on Thursday and 40 minutes on Friday, will mean by Saturday you can re-capture the hour they’ll lose and they’ll be reset to their normal bedtime on Sunday night.