High Maintenance Mom

At 2 am today everyone in the U.S. who follows Daylight Saving Time, set their clocks back an hour to return to Standard Time. I always love getting the "extra" hour but then find myself hungry before I'm prepared to eat dinner and tired before I think I should go to sleep. To help our kids out, we try to adjust by 15 to 30 minutes on the first day. There isn't a huge amount we do in the morning - when the kids wake up, they're up. But I try to have meals a before the clocks say our "normal" mealtime, nap about 15 minutes early, and bedtime about 30 minutes early. Within a few days everyone is back to their normal schedule and I've lost the early waking advantage...

Daylight Saving Time was created to save money on electricity since energy use is tied to when we go to bed and when we wake up (less energy is used while we sleep). In order to create a "savings time" we first needed a standard time.

Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 20 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

During the "energy crisis" years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April. In 1986, a law was passed permanently shifting the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time has not been subject to such changes, and has remained the last Sunday in October. With the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the starting and ending dates have once again been shifted. Beginning in 2007, daylight time will start on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November. (from the U.S. Naval Observatory)

And yes, there have been many attempts to extend DST past Halloween so we can all trick-or-treat in the light. Maybe we'll get to see the difference in 2007.

For more information please see the following urls.

Web Exhibits - Daylight Saving Time
• California Energy Commission