As you and your family have been settling into the back-to-school routine, it’s important to recognize that this is a time of change. The stress that is felt by youth and their families often goes beyond the first week back in class. The back-to-school season, and any period of transition or change, can bring about additional stress and the possibility of significant mental health concerns.
In returning to school, children and youth often experience heightened anxiety. It is especially important to be available and physically and emotionally present for your child during these potentially challenging times. The connection and the relationship that you maintain and have with your child will contribute to the overall mental health and well-being of your child. Social pressures, especially during the back-to-school season, can have a profound impact on your child’s mental health. The desire to fit in with peers, amplified by social media, can lead to unhealthy comparisons and distorted body image. The pressure to succeed academically, challenging schedules and deadlines, along with the threat of bullying—whether online or in person—can exacerbate these issues, increasing the risk of developing disordered eating behaviours. Talk to your child to determine if they are experiencing any changes in their social relationships or with their peers.
Periods of transition and stress can influence the development of an eating disorder. During this time of year, it is important that parents pay attention to any possible changes in their child’s mood and changes in eating behaviours.
Eating disorders are among the most common chronic illnesses affecting adolescents, particularly girls, though they can affect individuals of any age or gender. At any given time, there are an estimated 840,000 to 1,750,000 people in Canada that have symptoms sufficient for an eating disorder diagnosis (Statistics Canada. (2021). Population and demography statistics. Statistics Canada. https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/subjects-start/population_and_demography). According to The National Eating Disorder Information Centre of Canada, about 40% of girls have dieted for weight loss by age nine, and approximately 50% of “normal weight” adolescent girls are trying to lose weight (National Eating Disorder Information Centre. (2022). Dieting & weight loss: Facts & fiction [Pamphlet]. https://nedic.ca/media/uploaded/31809_NEDIC_Dieting__Weight_Loss_Facts__Fiction_Pamphlet_-_2022_-_Online.pdf). As a caregiver, it’s essential to stay vigilant for signs of disordered eating or body image issues. Early detection and support are key to ensuring your child’s well-being during this critical age range.
Potential indicators of an eating disorder could include:
- Drastic weight changes: rapid and significant weight loss or gain.
- Excessive concern with body image: constantly talking about weight, body shape, or appearance.
- Diet restrictions: following extremely restrictive diets, eliminating entire food groups, or avoiding social eating situations.
- Excessive exercise: engaging in compulsive and intense exercise routines, even when injured or fatigued.
- Avoidance of meals: consistently skipping meals or making excuses to avoid eating with others.
- Social withdrawal: avoiding social gatherings that involve food or body exposure.
- Mood swings: experiencing mood fluctuations, irritability, or heightened anxiety around food and eating.
- Constant self-critique: being overly critical of oneself, often tied to body image and appearance.
- Increased social media use: excessive viewing of social media content relating to health and beauty.
Be aware
Being observant to any changes in your child’s mental health and physical health functioning as well as their eating behaviours is very important. Changes in eating patterns or habits can be an early sign that your child is struggling to cope with the stress they are experiencing at school. Pay attention to any new or unusual changes to your child’s eating, their food choices or their decision to implement food restrictions. These changes could include avoiding or eliminating certain food groups, like carbohydrates, protein, or fats, or hiding food to eat secretly when others are not around.
If your child exhibits any of these behaviours, there are resources available to provide both you and your child support, guidance and evidence-based treatment options. Contact the team at Kinark Child and Family Services by calling 1-888-454-6275 with any questions you may have or access our Outpatient Adolescent Eating Disorders webpage for more information.
What can you do to support your child?
- Have open conversations with your child to determine if stress is contributing to any changes in their eating behaviour. Changes could include an increased or decreased desire to eat, or desire to change their physical appearance.
- Work to find foods that add to increased balanced nutrition. We know that when children and teens have brains that are well fueled with adequate nutrition they perform and function better at school and are better able to manage stress.
- Plan conversations with your child to talk about what foods they prefer on school days for their breakfast, lunch, and snacks at school and include them in the planning and decision-making around how they feed themselves when you may not be around.
- Include them in food ideas and decisions! Involve your children in the preparation of food for most meals. When possible, include them with the grocery shopping process in order to continue the conversation about food and what foods interest them.
- Find and create time to sit and eat meals together. Seeing how your child eats their meals is an easy way to monitor eating habits but also nutrition intake. Eating disorders can evolve when there is a lack of parental monitoring or supervision around meals, and this often is the case when teens reach the secondary school years.
- Asking your kids if they “enjoyed their lunch,” is a simple way to gently monitor their food intake, when not around as a first step. If they have a lunch bag for school, be willing to clean and empty it out for them. This will give you an understanding if your child or teen is eating at school.
We live in busy times and creating balanced nutrition for our kids can be challenging for the best of us. Take these small steps to manage your child’s stress and base your own food behaviours around adequate, regular, and appropriate nutrition. Talk to your child about other possible ways and activities they can use to manage stress besides using food. Listen and hear if they mention any concerns about their body, shape, size, or weight. The most important thing to do as a parent is to keep conversations about food open and curious. Discussions around food and eating should be out in the open and a usual routine each day.
To learn more about understanding eating disorders, how to recognize the signs and symptoms in adolescents, as well as strategies and resources for families to support youth with recovery, Kinark Child and Family Services is providing a free online family education session on September 26, 2024. In this informative virtual session, you can have your questions answered live by clinicians as well as access helpful resources. Kinark’s Family Education Series aims to build on a caregivers’ ability to identify, understand, and respond to childhood and adolescent mental health distress. To register for this session, visit www.kinark.on.ca/resources.