We should make the Monday after daylight-saving time a federal holiday
My proposal: Get rid of Presidents Day and give us a new federal holiday for the Monday after daylight-saving time kicks in.
Carol Yepes
- Daylight-saving time starts early Sunday morning, which means it will stay light later.
- Monday should be a national holiday to accommodate the painful wakeup and joyful later night.
- Let's get rid of Presidents Day instead!
Is there any better feeling than that first Sunday evening in March when daylight-saving time starts?
After the brutal dark winter, that first evening after daylight-saving kicks in — when 6 p.m. rolls around and the sun is still out — makes you feel like your soul is a crocus pushing up from the warm earth. Joy and light expand your heart, and warm spring air fills your lungs until the sun kisses the horizon at nearly 7 p.m.
And then Monday morning hits. The problem is that suddenly, it's still dark outside at 6:45 a.m., and waking up is harder than ever.
That is why I propose a common-sense, everyone-wins idea: Let's make the Monday after daylight-saving time starts a federal holiday.
To the naysayers who think we can't just add a new holiday: Sure, we can. Many of our 11 federal holidays were added in recent history: Memorial Day in 1968 (and observed since 1971). And Juneteenth was made a national holiday in just 2021.
Of course, those days commemorate things with much more meaning than simply getting a day off work and school. But that is at least partly the idea behind Labor Day, one of our nation's great holidays.
And yes, federal holidays come with an economic cost; government workers still get paid for that day. Businesses that are closed lose money.
My plan for enacting a daylight-saving holiday
Don't worry. I have a plan. We can give up one holiday for a new one.
Get rid of Presidents Day in February. Everyone knows that's the worst of all the federal holidays, in the middle of dreary February. Unless you're jetting off to the Caribbean or a swanky ski lodge, it's just a random miserable Monday to sit home in the dark. The best Presidents Day has to offer in terms of cultural impact is that it's when mattresses go on sale.
The wintertime holidays are all just too close together. You've got Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and then Presidents Day — all bam, bam, bam right after each other. Then nothing — a long slog through March, April, and most of May before you get Memorial Day. Swapping Presidents Day and Daylight Saving Monday spreads things out more evenly. (I am personally in favor of the suggestion of moving Christmas to January 25 for similar reasons.)
We need an extra day to adjust
If you had off the Monday after daylight-saving time kicked in, you could really ease into that time-change transition. An extra morning to adjust to the lost hour and later sunrise.
Parents of young children know what havoc the time change can wreak on sleep schedules. Giving an extra day off work and school will give us all time to adjust, making everyone's life better.
Plus, you could really do it up on that first later-light Sunday night. Toss back a few margaritas while dining outside (it's the start of burrito season, after all) and not have to worry about work the next day.
This year, the Oscars fall on that first Sunday of Daylight Saving — that means that when it's 11 p.m., and the show is finally ending on the East Coast, your body will feel like it's midnight. That's too late!!! I can't stay up that late, and this is the first year in a while I have actually watched most of the nominated movies.
Can't we just get rid of the time change?
There is a movement afoot that wants to get rid of the time change altogether and keep the nights lighter year-round — 62% of Americans are in favor of ditching the time change altogether. There are serious reasons, too. Data shows a real increase in heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, and other deadly accidents. The time change is, in some cases, literally killing us.
I support freezing the clocks in theory, but I don't have much hope those fat cats in Washington will actually get around to making this happen anytime soon.
That's why we, as a people, must rise up and unite behind an achievable goal that is good for all Americans: Give us Daylight Saving Monday off! Please clap.