A little background:
difficult child never likes to admit the truth about anything. No matter what the "real" reason may be....she either can't or won't admit it and always covers with some kind of story.
difficult child's eating habits are terrible. She will only eat breakfast if there is something super-sugary in the house. Donuts? Check. Chocolately cereal? Check. If it's sweet enough, she will even stuff a baggie full of dry cereal to take with her to school.
But if there are only healthy choices for breakfast? Oh - there's no time to eat. Oh - I'm running late. Oh - I forgot about breakfast today. Oh - I just don't have any appetite this morning.
Same goes with lunch. Despite an assortment of things she could bring in a packed lunch, difficult child prefers to eat out of the vending machines....opting for soda and candy bars as her noontime meal each day.
When she arrives home from school - more sugary snacks. If there is nothing in the pantry that fits the bill, difficult child will eat from a candy stash that she hides in her bedroom (and keeps replenishing from the school vending machines).
Dinner is usually sensible as she eats with the family.
OK - so here's the new symptom:
difficult child claims she is unable to eat.
I asked her what she meant.
She explained that she has no appetite in the morning and wasn't able to eat her breakfast today. [but - difficult child usually skips breakfast???]
Then she explained that she wasn't hungry for lunch and wasn't able to eat her lunch. [but - difficult child didn't bring a lunch???]
Then she explained that even if she had a lunch, she wouldn't have been able to eat it because she couldn't even eat a second "Hunny Bun" with her soda today and she LOVES those. [I'm supposed to be worried that she is not getting enough Hunny Buns???]
Obviously, I'm a little suspicious of this whole storyline...
But difficult child kept to it all weekend long....changing it from "Oh - now that I'm older my metabolism must be slowing down", to 'Oh - I just don't seem to have any appetite", to "Oh, I've just been feeling very strange lately", to "Oh, my stomache is really acting up today".
Despite all of these stories....her eating looks to be about the same: plenty of room for snacks and soda, plenty of room for a healthy dinner. (In fact, she even complained about how hungry she was on Saturday when we had dinner later than usual.)
Today, for the first time in months - difficult child made a really big deal out of putting together a lunch to take to school. I can't help but feel that this is to "prove" that she can't eat lunch.
I'm really not sure how to respond to this because I can't for the life of me figure out what she is looking for in terms of a "payoff". Is she just seeking attention? Is she trying to come up with a more "acceptable" reason to refuse her medications? Is she going to make a request to come off birth control since something must be making her sick?
-or-
Is this a budding eating disorder and I'd better move fast to intervene?
-or-
Is this some other serious medical condition?
-or-
Is Mom just way too gullible and about to get played big time?
Your thoughts / theories / opinions would be most welcome...
difficult child never likes to admit the truth about anything. No matter what the "real" reason may be....she either can't or won't admit it and always covers with some kind of story.
difficult child's eating habits are terrible. She will only eat breakfast if there is something super-sugary in the house. Donuts? Check. Chocolately cereal? Check. If it's sweet enough, she will even stuff a baggie full of dry cereal to take with her to school.
But if there are only healthy choices for breakfast? Oh - there's no time to eat. Oh - I'm running late. Oh - I forgot about breakfast today. Oh - I just don't have any appetite this morning.
Same goes with lunch. Despite an assortment of things she could bring in a packed lunch, difficult child prefers to eat out of the vending machines....opting for soda and candy bars as her noontime meal each day.
When she arrives home from school - more sugary snacks. If there is nothing in the pantry that fits the bill, difficult child will eat from a candy stash that she hides in her bedroom (and keeps replenishing from the school vending machines).
Dinner is usually sensible as she eats with the family.
OK - so here's the new symptom:
difficult child claims she is unable to eat.
I asked her what she meant.
She explained that she has no appetite in the morning and wasn't able to eat her breakfast today. [but - difficult child usually skips breakfast???]
Then she explained that she wasn't hungry for lunch and wasn't able to eat her lunch. [but - difficult child didn't bring a lunch???]
Then she explained that even if she had a lunch, she wouldn't have been able to eat it because she couldn't even eat a second "Hunny Bun" with her soda today and she LOVES those. [I'm supposed to be worried that she is not getting enough Hunny Buns???]
Obviously, I'm a little suspicious of this whole storyline...
But difficult child kept to it all weekend long....changing it from "Oh - now that I'm older my metabolism must be slowing down", to 'Oh - I just don't seem to have any appetite", to "Oh, I've just been feeling very strange lately", to "Oh, my stomache is really acting up today".
Despite all of these stories....her eating looks to be about the same: plenty of room for snacks and soda, plenty of room for a healthy dinner. (In fact, she even complained about how hungry she was on Saturday when we had dinner later than usual.)
Today, for the first time in months - difficult child made a really big deal out of putting together a lunch to take to school. I can't help but feel that this is to "prove" that she can't eat lunch.
I'm really not sure how to respond to this because I can't for the life of me figure out what she is looking for in terms of a "payoff". Is she just seeking attention? Is she trying to come up with a more "acceptable" reason to refuse her medications? Is she going to make a request to come off birth control since something must be making her sick?
-or-
Is this a budding eating disorder and I'd better move fast to intervene?
-or-
Is this some other serious medical condition?
-or-
Is Mom just way too gullible and about to get played big time?
Your thoughts / theories / opinions would be most welcome...