E very morning from 2022 until late June 2024, I battled to get my son to school. Some days, he managed only to get to the front seat of the car— curling against the door with tears streaming down his face as I drove the half-mile to his middle school. Other mornings, he sat on the curb in front of the school’s front doors, arms wrapped tightly around his knees, unwilling, unable even, to step forward. On the worst days, I had to physically pull him from the car and frog-march him through the