My 10-year-old daughter always rushed to the bathroom as soon as she came home from school. When I asked, “Why do you always take a bath right away?” she smiled and said, “I just like to be clean.” However, one day while cleaning the drain, I found something. The moment I saw it, my whole body started trembling, and I immediately…

and sometimes it is a fierce attachment to routines that make sense only inside their own growing minds.

Maybe, I thought, she had become self-conscious.

Maybe someone at school had teased her for being sweaty after recess. Maybe she had become aware of body odor or dirt or the sticky discomfort of long school days. Maybe she simply liked the feeling continue reading …