One hour, two houses
On Sunday 25 October the clocks go back an hour across Ireland. One change, the same night, every home in the country.
For a family living across two homes it rarely feels like one change. It lands as two. The same dark evening and the same unsettled bedtime, sorted twice, a few miles apart.
The handover has not changed. The light has. A five o'clock that was bright all September is pitch dark by November, with car seats, school bags and goodbyes all a little harder to manage.
When something goes wrong on that first dark Tuesday, it can look like conflict. Most of the time it is just logistics nobody agreed.
Agree the dark run once, a fortnight early
Pick a handover spot that still works after dark. Lit, easy to pull in, safe for a child to cross between two cars.
Name the new evening shape in both homes before the Sunday, not after. Same wind-down, same bedtime, so the lost hour throws a routine and not an argument.
Keep it in one shared place you can both see. A plan you have both opened is a plan nobody has to remember two different ways.
The row is rarely about the dark. It is about a text sent on Thursday and remembered two ways by Sunday.Say the small change out loud, early, to the other house, before the child has to carry it across.
The small stuff, sorted once
The clocks, the mid-term week, the Halloween costume that only needs buying once. Seasonal admin is where two homes quietly double their effort.
ParenThing keeps the schedule, the handover plan and the messages in one calm, shared place, so the few things that matter get agreed once and seen by both.
Start free at parenthing.ieSources
- Irish Times, clocks will move back a day earlier this year (irishtimes.com) https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/09/07/clocks-will-move-back-a-day-earlier-this-year/
- time.now, Ireland daylight saving time changes 2026, clocks back Sunday 25 October (time.now) https://time.now/time/change/ireland/?year=2026
- Solarwatch, Dublin sunrise and sunset times, November sunset before five o'clock (solarwatch.app) https://solarwatch.app/en/sunrise-sunset/ireland/dublin