Daylight savings starts each spring season and this year is shows up on Sunday, March 14, 2021.

When it's time to “spring forward” the clocks it can be a dreaded time for parents of young children because with this, comes an adjustment that does not happen immediately. 

This is because children tend to be more structured in their bedtime and wake up around the same time each morning and that is why people usually
can see a greater effect on children when the time changes. 

However, there are some things you can do to help make the transition to the new
time go a little smoother. 

​My recommendation is to leave your clock alone Saturday night.  Wake up Sunday morning, have breakfast, then go around your house and change your clocks.  Psychologically, it will feel much better for everyone if you wait until Sunday morning to change the time. 

My best advice for children to help them with the change is to split the difference with the old time and the new time. 

                                                            How does that work?

I have always been fascinated with home remedies. 

Try rubbing aspiring on a bee sting!

Quiet a colicky baby by running the vacuum cleaner!

Swallow a teaspoon of sugar to cure your hiccups!

I’m sure this fascination came from having an amazing grandmother who always recommended such things and being somewhat of a sickly kid myself. LOL!

However, I know I am not alone in the quest for "natural remedies" after all there are a ton of books on the subject still available on Amazon today.

One of the big selling points of cures like these is that they’re “natural.” Many people feel like their doctors are too quick to prescribe medications and feel like it's because of big Pharma kickbacks. People don't always want to a lab- designed chemical to solve the problem. They like the idea of using something readily available in nature. You know. Like penicillin.

I should stipulate here that I’m not anti-pharmaceutical, nor am I anti-homeopathy. I feel that health decisions are something that should be carefully considered by the individual with the advice of their doctor. If probiotics improve your gut health, I say go for it. If you need serious medication to for a heart condition, then you should probably take that as well.

However, anything you’re going to put in your body, and every bit as necessary, your child's body, should be evaluated for its efficacy and possible side effects, which is why I want to talk about melatonin again.

A lot of homeopathic experts has touted melatonin as a safe, natural way of helping people get to sleep, and in many ways, that very is true, but there's a whole lot more to understand about it before you take it yourself or give it to your child.

One of the first things I ask my clients is if their little ones rooms are dark; and I mean are they 3am on a camping trip in the middle of nowhere dark?
If not, that is one of my first I recommendations, you need to make their rooms black dark for all sleep situations, all year long.

Having your child's room dark has many benefits when it comes to sleep. Darkness can help prevent early morning wake ups, help prolong naps, as well as help to maintain much needed early bedtimes when the seasons change (and it's still daylight at 7pm); just to name a few. 

But it is clear that sleeping in darkness plays a much bigger role
when it comes to our health.​ 

How?
....