And they don't know the half of it

I feel like the time change kind of got lost in all the election news.

Typically, people spend way more time talking about it. Spring is much, much worse, in my opinion. But the whole fall back is no underwear dance party.

We had explained to them that we were going to change the clocks. And then we did.

"Why?"

"The government makes us. Everyone in America has to change the time. So we are all on this new time."

"Everyone?"

"Everyone except Arizona and I think half of Indiana. Everyone we know is on the new time."

My kids are now old enough to be cognizant of the time. So they know when they have to go to bed. And they also recognize when they are tired. Which doesn't mean they want to go to bed. 

So last week they were getting up an hour or so earlier than normal. And then by 7:00 pm, they were absolute train wrecks. Fighting, crying, disoriented.

And the new time didn't really matter until evening. When they could barely hold it together through dinner.

"So," I explained, "we're getting in bed at 7:00, because even if the clock says 7:00, your bodies know it's actually 8:00. That's why you're crying and exhausted."

"We're crying and exhausted! We're crying and exhausted!"

Had Trump done this to us? (No.) Surely not Obama? (No.) Who started this fresh hell? (I think it has something to do with the farmers in WWII...but I don't really know.)

Every night for about five nights we had to talk about how this was terrible and why we couldn't just change our clocks back.

And couldn't we fix it?

No.

"I know! Let's go back to the normal time and then we can stop waking up so early and not be so crying and exhausted and at night!"



Every night it was some version of this.

And every night I answered, "But if we change our clocks we will be on a different time than everyone else around us. I know you're tired, sweethearts. Your bodies will get used to it. We just have to wait."

Over and over they sobbed, "Why? Why does the government do this to us?"

Indeed.