The Backpack Drop Zone: One Sixth-Grade Truth That Exposed Our Quiet Crisis

have to.

My heart clenched so hard it almost hurt.

“Thank you for telling me,” I said, and my voice did not break because I refused to let him carry my panic too. “You did the brave thing.”

He stared at the floor.

“I can’t tell my mom,” he whispered. “She already worries.”

That sentence—she already worries—is the soundtrack of so many children right now.continue reading …