Eating Disorders In Children
By margeryann
@margeryann (1845)
United States
March 30, 2011 6:48pm CST
Eating Disorders in Children is real scary.A person can try to prevent obesity or anorexic disorders in kids or other eating disorders but what scares me is sometimes someone might tell a kid that you need to eat healthier so you don't get big and they might go the opposite way and not want to eat much and lose too much wait and gets sickly that way.
Somethings can be a catch 22 in some situations. I will give you an example. My son which is only 10 he is a skinny boy he is at the right weight for his age and tallness. One night he didn't eat all of his supper because he said that he was full and it was something he likes and he usually can eat more of then he did. The next day the same thing. I thought something was weird about that and started thinking because around that time he started talking about exercising to be better built and not wanting to get big.So, I asked him last night and tonight you didn't eat all of your food and it was something you usually eat all of . Were you really full or you didn't want to eat all of it because you were afraid of getting big. He said that he isn't wanting to eat everything from now on so he can lose weight and not get big because being big isn't healthy. I told him that being too skinny isn't healthy either. He needs to eat until he is full and just not eat a lot of junk food is all he has to worry about because he is skinny already. You don't need to get skinnier. There is people that get too skinny and get sick.You don't need to worry about getting too big by eating because you are skinny as it is. If you want to continue to be in shape you can exercise but to have fun doing it and not to try to lose weight because he is in a good weight already, Just to get your muscles stronger.
2 people like this
7 responses
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
4 Apr 11
I fear that this healthy kick that the nation is going on, while the intentions are good, is going to do more harm than good. We could very well swing from one extreme to the next when one does think about it. And neither extreme is really a good thing to think about it. In our quest to eliminate obesity, we might close one gate, but open another, with a much larger problem being developed and I don't think this was thought of too much.
Children are impressionable and let's face it, there's a certain disturbing trend pointing towards what is acceptable by the image that celebrities put off and not to mention, if a celebrity gains a little weight, they tend to be the subject of much ridicule. That cannot be sending the proper message to children to begin this and they might be getting the message, but they might try and go along with it in the wrong way. So yeah, intentions are good, but more harm than good might be done in the long run.
1 person likes this
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
4 Apr 11
I agree with everything you said. It is scary. Kids can misunderstand things and do things that can be very destructive to their health thinking they are doing something that is good for them 
.
.1 person likes this
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
4 Apr 11
I think the focus needs to be on being healthy, and all aspects of being healthy. Starving yourself isn't healthy, and it's actually a really crummy long-term weight loss plan. (Because your body will store all available food for the next starvation cycle. When you eat, you'll blow up because you'll have scarred your metabolism. Post-anorexia survivors have a huge problem with gaining lots of weight and not being able to get it off again.) I don't know why so many people think that cutting down on food is going to fix the problem. It's not just the quantity, it's the quality.
I like that the schools and the public are getting more health-conscious. There will probably be episodes like the one with you and your son, but that's why the emphasis should be on healthy living and quality of food eaten.
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
5 Apr 11
I think you misunderstood me... I never said people don't lose weight by starving themselves. I said it wasn't healthy, and it was a real crummy long-term weight loss plan. People who starve themselves have to continue to starve themselves or else blow up the next time they start eating because the body will store all available energy. So in the long run, one starvation cycle to shed a few pounds is still a very poor choice. Starvation is destructive behavior.
And actually people who have been overweight for a long time and then lose all the weight will almost always have excess skin to deal with afterwards, regardless of how fast or slow they lost it.
I think all healthy and unhealthy habits should be put on display, and that includes highlighting starvation as an extremely unhealthy and equally destructive (perhaps more so) habit. I don't think the problem is education, it's just that it's not complete education.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
6 Apr 11
I know you didn't say that people don't lose weight by starving themselves. I was agreeing with you.Have a good week!
1 person likes this
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
5 Apr 11
I know that people that do lose weight by starving themselves instead of eating less of something or eating healthier snacks or food. They might lose weight fast but they sometimes don't lose it to where there skin is tight also people that try to lose it real fast instead of gradually sometimes have skin that isn't tight and has loose skin in different areas of there skin they have a hard time losing.I agree.Thank you for giving your honest opinion.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
2 Apr 11
It is really scary when kids start worrying about their weight, especially if they are already skinny. Does he tend to eat a lot of junk food? When (if?) he snacks, does he eat healthy foods or junk food? It might help for him to look at some articles on maintaining a healthy weight or something. It might make more sense to him if he reads something than to "just be told by mom". Good luck with that.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
2 Apr 11
He doesn't eat a lot of junk food. He does every now and then. I try for it to be healthy snacks but sometimes he eats junk food after he gets done with his meals, if he does a good job eating his meals and as long as it is a long time before it is time to eat another meal. Most of the time his snacks are healthy like fruit,packaged fruit snacks that are made with 100% fruit,fiber one bar. Things like that.Good idea about the reading material about maintaining a healthy weight.Not losing weight but maintaining a healthy weight. Thank you for your advice. You have a good weekend!
@JenInTN (27514)
• United States
1 Apr 11
There is a lot of emphasis on children and their weight right now. I'm not sure about where you are at, but here, they have passed a law or two in regard to this. There are no longer any other sodas allowed in highschool unless it is diet, there are no snack foods allowed unless they are healthy, and there are no parties allowed that have cake or pizza. I understand why they are worried about children that are obese, but they are not all obese. Between this and the media, well, I think it sets children up for the possibility of eating disorders for sure. Even moreso than in the past.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
2 Apr 11
I heard of some of those laws. My sons school doesn't have that rule. His school sells regular pop in the concessions.I understand them being worried about kids that are obese too but like you say not all of them are obese and the ones that are kids sometimes don't understand things and take things to the extreme to where they might go the opposite and start not eating right.It is a catch 22 when it comes to kids weight. If you don't try to stop them from getting bigger if they are over weight they can get bigger and that's not healthy but if you say something and they don't understand how to do it properly it can be unhealthy too. It is scary.Thank you for sharing and commenting! You have a good weekend!
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
31 Mar 11
Oh yes how we especially at home utilize our words towards children is certainly to be done with caution. This is a very touchy area for me, because while in High School a friend of mine had the Anorexia disease.
As a child and teenager she was not big at all, quite slim actually. But because she was taller then her siblings and they were way skinnier they use to tease her and say she was fat. Long story short as a freshman in High School she was so bad with it that she passed away at 34 pounds. I remember giving he a hug one day and felt like she was bones and so fragile I though she would break.
To date no one in her home understands how they affected her with her words. As parents today with so much media hype about the need to be skinny parents really need to get help as soon as first signs arise.
We cannot simply say they will grow out of it because most do not, they get worse. Words of encouragement and sports would always be a great start.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
31 Mar 11
I bet that was a real sad situation.That is awful. I bet it does still get to you.My sister had that problem when she was younger but no one told her that she was fat but she wanted to lose weight because she thought she was getting that way.She was getting too skinny. I told her that she was getting too skinny that I could see her bones and that I was scared for her. She didn't believe me so I took a picture of her when she had her bathing suite on and showed it to her when it developed. She said that the reason why she looks so skinny is she must of been holding her stomach in. She didn't believe it for a while. I was so scared.Some day luckily she stopped being like that.
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
18 Jul 11
I do hope it has gotten better for her these days, an eating disorder is very difficult to overcome. The side-effects are really bad and or can cause someone to loose their life. 
Thank you margeryann for the BR! 
Thank you margeryann for the BR! @margeryann (1845)
• United States
26 Jul 11
It has gotten better for my sister. She isn't a skinny lady no more but she is healthy now.I'm glad that she got over that before she did get health problems from it or die. You welcome and thank you. You did a real good job answering this discussion and shared a touching experience.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
31 Mar 11
I agree with what you are saying too as long as you do it without mentioning weight. I tell my son that sometimes when he likes something so much that it wants to over do it like have 3rds on eating cereal. I tell him you've already had seconds that's enough you don't need anymore. You can wait, you might still feel hungry but it takes a little while for your food to digest to make you feel full.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
24 Aug 11
Personally I was one of those kids, and such who was always too skinny. But part of it was I was sick from the time I was 10-12 yrs. old and so that could be part of the reason I also deal with some of the Health problems that I do today. But it is true that you need to have your son making sure he is eating healthy instead of Junk food but at the same time making sure he eats everything until he is full so he does not get too skinny as well, as that is not good either.
