My ten-year-old daughter Lily had a habit that slowly began to unsettle me. Every single day, the moment she stepped through the front door after school, she would drop her backpack and rush straight to the bathroom. No snack, no greeting—just the sound of the door locking behind her.
At first, I brushed it off. Kids get sweaty, I told myself. Maybe she just liked feeling fresh. But as weeks passed, the routine felt less like a preference and more like something rehearsed.