I decided to post this again as a reminder to all parents and caregivers. Pay attention to your child/children. Make sure you know what is upsetting them. It is a brand new world we are living in. It is the new world order and children are the target. They hurt themselves and they hurt each other.

On a personal note.

One day in my daughter’s last year of junior high, she came home from school and she said, “Mom I am getting fat.”

“What!?” was my first response because she is X-small in size. I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. At that moment she looked smaller than X-small. “Why did you say that you are getting fat?” I asked.

“When I look in the mirror I see how fat I am.”

“You are not fat,” I said, but I was concerned and I decided to pay attention to her. That day I had cooked one of her favorite meals —stew chicken, red beans, basmati rice and salad. When I dished out her food she looked at it and frowned as she said, “I am not hungry.”

“What did you eat?”

“The bagel and cream cheese I took to school for lunch.”

“It is now 4:00 o’clock so lunch was 5 hours ago.”

“Mom, I am not hungry!”

“You are going to eat some of the food that is on the table so sit and eat.”

She sat down and I did as well. I watch my daughter pick up the fork and struggle to eat the food. It hurt to see the moments when she was acting as though she was going to vomit. I would tell her to stop and take deep breaths. She ate four forks filled with food and then I told her to stop, but I watched her all evening, making sure she did not go to the bathroom to vomit. Later that night I made her a cup of hot chocolate and I gave her 6 Crix biscuits with cheese, which is another of her favorite meal, but it was a struggle for her to eat. She drank half of the hot chocolate and ate three Crix biscuits with cheese. Again I kept an eye on her all night, even when she was sleeping. I was upset with myself because I did not notice that this was going on with her. The next morning we went to the doctor. When the doctor weighed her she had lost 12 pounds from the last time she was at the office. The doctor asked her what was going on. I listened to my daughter try to convince her doctor that she was fat.

“You have been coming to me since you were a baby and you have never been fat,” Her doctor said, then she gave her a real good talk and the final thing she said to her was, “I am giving you one month to put on 5 pounds. If you don’t, I am going to admit you to the hospital. That was the turning point. She is still small in size, but eating is not a problem anymore. Pay attention to your daughters and sons…