If you weren’t quite convinced yet that time has lost all meaning, keep reading. The Senate passed legislation Tuesday to permanently keep the United States on Daylight Saving Time, which could end over 100 years of spring-back and fall-forward toddler tantrums and child meltdowns.
We honestly don’t even care that Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has a long past of doing things we vehemently disagree with, spearheaded the initiative. You’ll only hear this from us once: thank you, Marco Rubio!
And although we thought that there was no single issue left on the planet that Republicans and Democrats could possibly agree on, we’re happy to report that the vote was fast and unanimous, with barely any debate.
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema was all of us everywhere when she gave a double fist-pump and whispered “yes!!” into her microphone as the motion passed without objection.
But don’t rip the page out of your car manual about how to switch the dashboard clock just yet. The House still has to pass the bill and then President Biden has to sign it — and since it’s moving so quickly, we don’t really have a sense of whether state representatives support it or not.
Washington State Senator Patty Murray was the voice of millions of parents when she spoke to support the bill.
“This past weekend, Americans from Washington State to Florida had to lose an hour of sleep for absolutely no reason,” Murray said according to the New York Times. “This is a burden and a headache we don’t need. Any parent who has worked so hard to get a newborn or a toddler on a regular sleeping schedule understands the absolute chaos changing our clocks creates.”
Frazzled parents, who just this weekend had to endure the switch back to standard time, also chimed in from around the country.
Just like any good news, though, the matter isn’t totally cut and dry. While lots of people agree that changing our clocks forward and back sucks a lot, especially for parents, people don’t agree about whether we should permanently choose Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time. Standard Time more closely aligns with the movements of the sun and might be better for our sleep health and mental health — it also lowers our energy bills and gives a hand to farmers. On the other hand, Daylight Saving Time gives us more sun in the late afternoon and at night.
What will a world for parents look like in permanent Daylight Saving Time? Older kids will have to wake up in the dark more often and head to bus stops with less safety. And before-school sports will be harder. But at the same time, parents of babies and young kids won’t have to deal with shifting sleep schedules every six months, which can lead to weeks of fussiness and ruined schedules.
Some even think that the switch could make it easier for us to push back the start of the school day for kids.
Another thing to consider: We tried this back in the ‘70s and everyone ended up hating it in the long run.
This is an overall win, though. It’s obvious we need a better system and we’re moving forward to find one. Personally, we will be supporting any bill that allows us to never use our microwave clock settings again.
