When Your Teen Has an Eating Disorder by Lauren Muhlheim

Author:Lauren Muhlheim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2018-08-21T17:10:03+00:00

Be creative—­there are many possible solutions! Just take care to adopt a strategy that protects your teen from any embarrassment caused by being seen with you at school.

If another adult supervises on your behalf, be sure to provide guidelines. Many teens with eating disorders will dump part of their lunch and then show up with only a portion of what was packed at home. You will want the supervisor to know exactly what your teen is supposed to eat. You may want to have a standard meal and relay it: “Her lunch will always contain a sandwich, a drink, chips, and yogurt.” Or you can send a daily email detailing what is packed so the supervisor can verify that all items have been eaten. Alternatively, you can deliver the packed lunch directly to the school office each morning to prevent tampering.

The supervisor should not be expected to have the skills to make your teen eat—­only to report back to you. You will need to let the supervisor know how to handle things if your child doesn’t complete the lunch and what he or she should do if your teen exhibits trouble during the meal (the supervisor should relay any problematic behaviors and send uneaten food home so it can be made up).

Consider who will prepare and supervise all of your child’s meals and where they will be eaten. In general, a child should not be put in charge of her own meals until she can do so without eating disorder behaviors. Until then, I believe it is the parents’ job to manage the meals. Your child may have little or no motivation to get better and may be struggling with very strong urges. The promise of future independence, including the opportunity to eat unsupervised or out with friends, may sometimes be the best or only motivator for a teen to eat appropriately.

ONLINE ACTIVITY 8:

Responsibility for Meals and Snacks

Creating a weekly schedule of who will prepare all of your child’s meals and snacks, and who will supervise your child when eating them, is crucial to recovery. Download this planner from http://www.newharbinger.com/40439 to stay organized.

Taking Time off from School

At the outset, you should address whether your teen should take time off from school. In many instances, the best-­case scenario is for parents to pull a teen out of school for a short time to establish the importance of regular eating and to supervise all meals and snacks. In more severe cases, you can consider homeschooling. Doing so can kick-­start the recovery with an intensity and level of attention equal to the severity of the disorder.

Pulling your teen out of school serves a number of specific functions:

It allows your teen to focus solely on the most important issue—­getting healthy—­because the distraction and pressures of school have been removed.

It can provide relief for all involved when the stress of eating is not compounded by the stress of school.

It sends an important message that the teen’s health will be prioritized above everything else.

It allows you to establish a routine of regular supervised meals.

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