Lectures for Parents and PTA's

Infancy and Early childhood

The Obscure
“Eating” Disorders
Feeding Disorders and Picky Eating in Infants and Children

Picky eating and food refusal in young children is typically not a matter of food preference, a passing stage, a bid for attention or a demonstration of attempts to gain power and control. In all too many case, because they do not typically affect a child’s growth pattern, they are not identified by pediatricians as being a cause for concern. Feeding problems are real; they are hard-wired and neurological. Their far-reaching effects are nutritional, interpersonal, behavioral and developmental, altering the sense of self and self-esteem, family relations, sociability, as well as academic and professional performance. Typically the result of sensory integration disorders or other neurological syndromes, eating problems that underlie more pervasive neurological problems are wholly reparable if recognized early on and treated effectively at a time when the brain is most malleable. A knowledgeable and proactive response sets the stage for the prevention of clinical eating disorders later in life.

Four and five year olds who exhibit food fears, food refusal, weight-related rituals, or compulsive eating habits are most likely not suffering from clinical eating disorders, but from anxiety, confusion about what healthy eating is, and a temperament and genetically determined susceptibility to  developing a clinical eating disorder in years to come. The sooner parents recognize, understand, and effectively respond to early sign s of eating dysfunction, the better the child’s chances to avoid the lethal consequences of clinical disease and resolve the underlying emotional issues that drive them. Eating disorders are the product of "nature," (heredity, inborn temperament, anxiety and compulsivity,) as well as "nurture," (the child's modeling after parental attitudes and behaviors, beliefs and lifestyles); enlightened and empowered parenting and child care can virtually "immunize" a child against developing these diseases.

Children, Teens and Young Adults

Body Image Concerns:

A New Face to Childhood Fears

Combating body image fears fortifies a child’s healthy connection to self and to family

Body size acceptance is not related to weight or actual body size, but to self-esteem and emotional health.  The true indicator of a healthy body image is the child’s sense of security, confidence and well-being - not her ability to fit into size 2 jeans.  It has been reported that 80% of girls in grades three through six have bad feelings about their bodies, an issue diverting attention from schoolwork and friendships; 25% of first grade girls have already been on diets. It is up to parents to insure that children grow up with all the emotional tools and resources they need to love and accept self and body. Body image concerns may be precursors to eating disorders. Even when they do not lead to clinical disease, they deserve attention so the child can learn to enjoy a healthful relationship with food, with the self, and with loved ones.

“Monkey See, Monkey Do”

Parental attitudes about eating and weight control wield significant influence on the development of a child’s eating patterns

How parents feel about themselves and their own relationship with food are critical forces in determining how children learn to feel about themselves, particularly with regard to eating and weight management.  In many cases, a parent’s fears, insecurities or preoccupations with food and body image are as central an influence on a child’s relationship with food as what they eat. Children are keen observers, and parents are potent teachers, teaching best by example. By becoming knowledgeable about healthy eating, aware of one’s own personal attitudes, biases and beliefs, and mindful of their consequences in raising children, parents take charge of their own lives, their parenting, and the physical and emotional well being of their children. By rectifying misconceived beliefs and attitudes of their own, parents develop healthier eating habits and exercise lifestyles and become better able to impart these important life lessons to their children.

Eating Healthfully in a Food Phobic World

Learning to eat healthfully in a society than mandates thinness and that promotes widespread misconceptions about healthy eating is not easy these days.  Even more complex is the job of teaching healthy eating habits and a healthy exercise lifestyle to our children. Children are “quick studies;” parents are their most potent teachers, teaching best through example. Parents need to become educated about what healthy eating is, and about how to communicate with their children to counteract self-destructive eating mythologies and promote eating health. If you or your child believes that fat-free is healthy eating, that junk food is “bad”; that people should only eat when they are hungry; that dieting is the best way to lose weight; or that “nobody eats breakfast,” you will benefit from this workshop.  Healthy eating is a way of life, a healthy relationship between food and the self that requires the capacity for sound judgment and decision-making, accurate self-perception, self-regulation and -care. Mastering the art of healthy eating underlies effective functioning in all other spheres of life, forming the backbone of the loving and connected family and virtually immunizing children against the onset of clinical eating disorders.

 

Stepping Up to the Plate:

When Parents are MVPs on their Eating Disordered Child’s Treatment Team

Knowledgeable and proactive parents who collaborate with health professionals on treatment teams become powerful mentors and in many instances, the “magic bullet” insuring their child’s recovery success.

It is essential for parents to find qualified and enlightened health professionals to work with their ED child…professionals who will embrace parental and sibling support, recognizing their value to the child patient and the professional treatment team.  Abigail's potent message is as healing for parents as for their children afflicted with lethal disorders.  Eating disorders maim and kill 6 to 13 percent of their 11 million victims, 87 percent of whom are children and young adults under the age of twenty, living at home or otherwise closely connected with family.  Her guidance to parents and families about how to support to their child through a complex and challenging recovery process, thereby mentoring recovery, enhances and streamlines the work of the child and health professionals, dramatically cutting recovery time and the cost of treatment services to these children. CLICK HERE for full details on this exciting and new workshop.