Daylight Savings Time

For many children and their parents, daylight savings time is one of the worst inventions in the history of the world. So many children (and their parents) have difficulty adjusting to the time changes that come with daylight savings time. When people who live in the zones that use daylight savings time, the act of setting their clocks an hour ahead so they lose an hour, is one of the most challenging times of the year. When children and their parents suffer from losing that hour of sleep, many of them wonder why we even have daylight savings.

The idea behind daylight savings is to give us more time to function during the daylight hours. People who do not live along the equator are not able to enjoy an even 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime. So, to help them get more light in the summer and in the winter, daylight savings time was created.

There a several countries that use daylight savings time, but none of them are along the equator or in the tropics. People who live close to the equator never have to worry about changing their clocks, like those who live in temperate climates that have changing seasons.

While there are many people who are opposed to the idea of daylight savings time, there have been several studies that prove the practice is good for people. Many believe that with more daylight, public health is improved. The United States and the United Kingdom use daylight savings time and they have found that when people are experiencing more daylight, there are fewer car accidents. Most car accidents and pedestrian accidents occur during the darkest hours and even when the sun is setting or beginning to rise.

The idea of daylight savings time came from none other than Benjamin Franklin. After he spent a significant amount of time in Paris, he observed how the Parisians behaved during daylight hours and he found very different behaviors based on the daylight in the city. He found that many Parisian slept in too long because it was not bright outside early enough. He also found that Parisians would go to sleep earlier in the winter months because they did not want to waste their candles and oil lamps. The idea of daylight savings time to reduce energy use is one of the biggest reasons that it still exists today.

In the 1800’s, countries started to adopt the idea of daylight savings time. People wanted to have more daylight so they could tend to their farms, work longer hours, and play longer hours. People would get upset when fall approached and the days got shorter and the nights required the use of more oil and wood to maintain a comfortable home. But, with daylight savings time, people were able to make small adjustment to give themselves more light when they needed it the most.

Daylight savings time has gone through a few changes. There was actually a double-daylight savings time in England when clocks were adjusted by two hours instead of one. The state of Indiana has left daylight savings time options open to individual counties.

What do you think of daylight savings time?