Are you and the kids ready for an extra hour of daylight and playtime in the evenings? It’s almost time to “Spring Forward” and start enjoying that extra evening daylight together outside. This is a great opportunity to provide a history lesson to the kiddos!
In the United States, Daylight Saving Time (notice the correct expression is not Daylight Savings Time as most of us say!) occurs on the second Sunday in March and lasts for 34 weeks each year. We move our clocks forward one hour at 2:00am local standard time in March, and set them back one hour on the first Sunday in November. An easy way to remember which way the clock moves is “Spring Forward, Fall Back.” Everyone in the United States observes Daylight Saving Time except for Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Island, and American Somoa.
Curious how all of this came about?
- The idea for Daylight Saving Time (DST) was first conceived by one of the Founding Fathers of our nation Benjamin Franklin in 1784 in order to conserve energy.
- The idea wasn’t implemented until 1916 by Germany as a way to conserve fuel during World War I. The rest of Europe adopted the idea shortly after, and in 1918 the United States adopted the idea.
- After World War I, DST was done away with and then re-established again at the start of World War II. After the war, states were given a choice whether or not they wanted to observe DST. With so much confusion surrounding the issue, Congress finally enacted the Uniform Time Act in 1966 which was to ‘promote the observance of a uniform system of time throughout the United States.’ Imagine how confusing it would be if every state decided on their own time change!
- Since the Uniform Time Act, the length of DST has expanded three times which has led to our current March-November time frame. All of these changes were an attempt to save energy.
Do you know other benefits of DST? For one, that means extra recreation time outdoors and less driving to school and work in the dark. There have also been studies that indicate there are fewer traffic accidents due to that extra light for late commuters driving home. Fire departments take this annual practice to remind people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors keeping us safe year-round.
Yes, we might lose an hour of sleep in the Spring, but we sure do love that extra light as the days wind down!
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