How to help your child with Daylight Saving Time

Now that we have "fallen back" in time and set our clocks back one hour, those of you with children may be despairing about how to deal with the time difference. Children, especially small ones, have no concept of daylight saving time, and some just get up when they wake up. Which can be difficult when your clocks are now set back one hour!

Here are a few different ways to help your children through the adjustment:

* Set bedtime back by 15 minutes every night for a few nights. This will allow your child some time to get used to a different-feeling schedule and can help prevent meltdowns from over-tired children.

* Allow your child to go to bed early based on when they are tired instead of a clock. This may result in some early rising for a few days, but you can slowly nudge both bedtime and waking up towards a more normal time within a week.

* Go for it and just keep bedtime at the usual time. For instance, if bedtime is usually 7:30pm, keep it at 7:30pm. This may be rough for a day or two, but for children who can go with the flow, it may result in a faster adjustment.

* Or accept that it will take a few days to adjust and just be patient with your children if they rise early and get tired early. Within a few days, their bodies will start to adjust and things will start to get back to normal.

* In the spring or next fall, consider starting to change their schedule a few days before the actual time change. This may allow a more gradual transition and might be easier for everyone.