Parents, how are your kids doing this week with the time change? If you notice that they’re a little more worn out and fussier than usual, it may not be something going on at school or with friends—or then, again it might be, because all that stuff is harder this week, and they can’t figure out why.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post to teachers about this same topic, some call this time at school “March Madness,” with a nod to the endless basketball parade on television right now. The analogy does fit if you think about the college kids who are sometimes playing three and four basketball games in as many days, the ones with the greatest stamina often the ones surviving to win their conference championships.

The more-fatigued-than-usual kids we see this week entering morning classes in elementary, middle, and high school with noticeably tired eyes and faces are dealing with the change to Daylight Savings Time. A loss of an hour’s sleep Saturday night is playing havoc with sleep patterns and circadian rhythms, and it takes some children weeks to readjust. Crankiness, disengagement, mental fatigue and poor work production can be observable this week.

And it’s not just the kids. Parents are affected by this change as well! You may have found it harder getting up and getting the kids off to school Monday morning. We push through and think we’re quickly adjusting, but our patience and attentiveness may not be par excellence. What to do?

It makes sense this week to:

• Talk to your kids about why they’re tired!
• Give them a choice of going to bed 15 to 20 or 30 minutes early
• Cut down TV time this week by 30 minutes a night
• Read to your child at least once this week
• Wake children 5 minutes early to give them more time to get going