Every Morning, My Eight-Year-Old Said Her Bed Felt “Too Small.” When I Checked the Camera One Night, I Finally Understood Why.

My name is Laura Mitchell. My husband, Daniel, and I live in a quiet suburban neighborhood outside San Jose. Our house is bright and cheerful during the day, full of movement and ordinary noise. At night, though, it becomes very still. The kind of stillness where the ticking of a clock feels louder than it should.

We have one child, our daughter Emily, who was eight at the time this all began.

We chose to have just one child intentionally. Not because we were afraid of responsibility, but because we wanted to pour everything we had into her. Stability. Education. Opportunity. We planned carefully, saved diligently, and built a life we believed was secure and thoughtful.

From an early age, I also wanted Emily to feel confident on her own.