This morning, school drop offs revealed the impact of lockdown on parents. Their clothes were creased, stained and looking tired. No evidence of make-up was found and caps/hats were on most heads, as a convinient cover up. Most noticeable was the parents’ haggard faces – seeming to have aged significantly in the past lockdown weeks. Yet these same parents betrayed a twinkle of excitement at the prospect of leaving their children at school. Multiple parents rushed forward to the school gate with one hand carrying their children’s school boxes and bags, and with their other pulling forward their slow and bouncing children. They were heard nervously recounting to their children all the things they needed to bring: readers, notebooks, pencil cases, printout of work, jackets, lunch boxes, water bottles- fearful they may have forgotten anything – as if it were their first day of school. Quick goodbyes were exchanged at the gate, as children walked in slow motion looking anxiously back at their parents. Multiple eye witnesses spotted parents returning to their cars wearing a wide smile of relief.