Daylight Save-me

"Tonight we turn the clocks back! That's an extra hour of sleep!", my husband joyfully proclaimed tonight at the dinner table, while my oldest screamed that she needed to color AND eat, and the baby cried holding both spoons (one intended for me to feed her with, the other to hold).

WHAT? Is he out of his mind?

I calmly rebutted "not, if you have kids" and he looked like I had slapped him. Don't worry honey, I won't ask you to wake up with them tomorrow. After all, you don't have breasts, or at least ones that work.

The ticking time-bomb, uh, I mean time-clock of my kids bodies doesn't relate to the time change in the least. Could it be that they don't know how to tell time yet? Or is it that they just wake up to each day with joyful wonder and excitement? Maybe both.

When exactly does it happen? Is it in High School, where given an extra hour of snooze time, we quickly jump to the opportunity? Is it sooner than that? What switch goes off in our human existence? Maybe it's when we stop believing in Santa Claus.

My rebellion: I put the kids to bed an hour earlier tonight. This could mean one of two things. They will be getting up pre-dawn, or I've tricked them into getting that extra hour anyhow. I think the former will probably preside.

I will find myself using that extra hour, over and over and over tomorrow. Maybe I am using it now. Personally I think that it should come to us by surprise. We should all get phone calls at a particular hour proclaiming that we have just been given another hour, maybe Monday morning when we're getting ready for work. At least then the extra hour wouldn't be absorbed into our day, but would allow us to do the things that we really cared about, like wash dishes, or watch Cinderella III.

I've heard that it came late this year, later than was marked on the Calendars. SOMEONE decided this was a good idea. This all leaves me wondering, "who exactly is in charge of this anyhow?". Obviously the government is, right? Is there a division for this? How much are these people paid? who is on the committee? How do I contact them?

How much time is wasted actually resetting all these clocks? How long will I spend with the wrong time on my car stereo before I remember which button to hold down for three seconds?

Anyway, back to children. I used to work with a woman that had two children (5 now, poor thing). This was back in my 20s, when the word "snooze" was well worn on my alarm clock. She said that she didn't have an alarm clock, she didn't need one. This was so out of reach of my comprehension that I still think about it today. Now, I know what she means... it's unnecessary.
SOMEONE will wake you up, and more than likely it will be sooner than you want to wake up.

Now I am just trying to figure out whether the sound of an alarm (which noise is uncannily like a school bus backing up), or the sounds of children screaming is more pleasant to wake up to.

One thing's for sure, I don't have the excuse anymore of the alarm not going off.

((Here's a good link. I guess I can relate my kids to the cows that need milking no matter what time we all say it is.
http://www.nationalreview.com/miller/miller200504010806.asp))