What I Wish I Knew as a Parent of a Child with an Eating Disorder

For Eating Disorders Awareness Week this year I wanted to gather some experiences of parents.

A lot of parents reach out to me asking for advice and support and whilst I try my best, I can never truly know how it feels to have a child with an eating disorder. So I thought it might be helpful to collate some things parents want others to know about caring for a young person with an eating disorder, and these are some of the responses I had.

• Having an eating disorder is nobody’s fault, not the carer/parent or the sufferer.

• You have to separate the evil that is eating disorder from your child.

• You cannot bargain with an eating disorder, stay consistent and strong, even if it takes hours to get a glass of milk drunk.

• In the early stage of our AN journey, I spent literally hours talking about my…