She runs to me and I stoop down to catch her in my arms before lifting her up. We hold the embrace and I move her to my hip as she chatters excitedly about her day. “I missed you,” I say as she snuggles into me, before she wriggles free and runs off to find her friends.

This is how I greet my six-year-old when I collect her from school. It’s been like this since I first waved her off to daycare and has become something of a ritual. But lately I’ve started to notice that none of the other school mums are picking up their first graders.

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