There are so many things to love about daylight savings, but the fact that it mucks around with our children’s body clocks isn’t one of them. Here’s a couple of items that may just make the transition to longer daylight hours a little easier.

For those of us who live in daylight savings states, there’s an air of anticipation as the days are about to get longer, the sun is (mostly) shining and summer is on the horizon. But, as parents, there’s a certain amount of trepidation. If you have children who are sleeping wonderfully, getting up at an acceptable hour and heading off to bed at a reasonable time, that’s more than likely to about to go very, very pear-shaped.

I’ve heard of all sorts of tricks to get children to adjust to the sun peaking through their windows at 6am, and being sent to bed while the birds are still singing. There’s one school of thought that suggests adjusting their bed time by five minutes per night for the week leading up to daylight savings, to ease them into a new bedtime. But in all honesty, I’ve never had the inclination to be so organised. If you fear bedtime struggles are brewing, take a look at these clever helpers.

If you have a baby, the adjustment to daylight savings may be as simple as controlling the amount of light entering their nursery. The GRO Blind is a blockout blind that uses suction cups to simply attach to the window. It’s also a great portable item to take on holidays.

If you have a toddler, you’ll understand just how much they love asserting their independence. The GRO Clock is the perfect item to teach them when they are allowed to get out of bed. It has a blue star on the screen when it’s time to stay in bed, and when they are allowed to get out of bed, the screen turns yellow and shows a sun. Parents can choose whether or not to display the digital clock, which would be great for older children.

The GRO Clock is $79.95 and the GRO Blind is $84.95 from Urban Baby.