Every autumn we end “daylight savings,” and turn the hands of our clocks back 1 hour. Why? In a way, we’re making the sun get up earlier for us, since it’s rising later each day. Wherever the sun is at 7 am, we’re now calling that 6:00 instead, so we can wake up in sunshine. Best of all, since you’ll repeat 1 hour of tonight, you’ll live a 25-hour day — and get an extra hour of sleep.
Wee ones: Which sunset time is earlier, 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm?
Little kids: If right now the clock says 5 pm, what time will it say exactly 24 hours from now after the clocks fall back tonight? Bonus: If people grill twice a week if it’s still sunny at dinnertime, how many more nights do they get to grill over 4 extra weeks of Daylight Savings?
Big kids: When the clocks “fall back” we get an extra hour of sleep. If the clock says 8 pm when you go to bed and 6 am when you wake up, but the clocks fell back 1 hour at 2 am, how long did you sleep, and why? Bonus: If on Halloween you started trick-or-treating at 4:30 until the sun set at 6:20, how long did you get to trick-or-treat in daylight?
Answers:
Wee ones: 7:00 pm.
Little kids: 4 pm. Bonus: 8 more times.
Big kids: You slept 11 hours, not 10, because the 8 pm was really 7 pm on “real” time. Bonus: 1 hour 50 minutes.
