Information and resources for parents who want to learn more about eating disorder recovery
Hey there! This blog by eating disorder expert and parent coach Ginny Jones provides information and resources for parents who want to learn more about eating disorders. You will learn more about eating disorders and get some practical tips for helping your child navigate recovery.
Coaching Support for Parents With an Estranged Child
Having an estranged child is hard on parents, and getting coaching and support can help you reconnect. When children become estranged, it’s easy (and understandable!) for parents to slip into helplessness and overwhelm. While it’s talked about more today than it was 10 years ago, parental estrangement is still considered taboo by many people, so…
Parent Coaching for a Child or Teen with ARFID
If your child or teen has Avoidant Restrictive Feeding Intake Disorder, called ARFID, you want to find the most effective and healthy way to help them get back on their growth curve and expand their food and eating flexibility. ARFID is hard to deal with because it can look like the child is just being…
Help! My sister blames me for my daughter’s eating disorder
Hello! Today I’m going to respond to a letter from a mom whose daughter has both autism and an eating disorder. Her sister’s judgment and criticism are making family events unpleasant, so I’ll review how to set boundaries and provide education to family members. The letter Dear Ginny, My 11-year-old daughter was diagnosed with autism…
I’m so terrified that I can’t sleep – what can I do?
It’s both exciting and stressful when a child returns from residential treatment for an eating disorder. Parents can optimize success by planning a recovery routine. Here’s a letter from a parent who’s going through this right now. The letter Dear Ginny, My child is coming home from almost two months of residential treatment. Before that,…
How to handle guilt when your child has an eating disorder
There are many reasons parents feel guilt when their child has an eating disorder. The biggest one is that our society blames parents for kids’ behavior even though kids have their own unique biology, psychology, and social experience. Parents are just one part of the complex puzzle of child behavior. And yet, when something goes…
3 reasons your child gets anxious when they eat
Does your child get anxious when they eat? Here are some things your child might do when they feel anxious about eating: Feeling anxiety is mentally terrifying and physically awful. And you know what people want to do when they feel anxious? They want to avoid doing the thing that makes them anxious. It makes…
Podcast episodes for parents raising anti-diet kids
Here are four podcast episodes to listen to if your goal is raising anti-diet kids who are free from diet culture, weight stigma, and eating disorders. Diet culture is a set of beliefs that promotes intentional weight loss, thin bodies, and limited and privileged ways of eating. Basically, it says that fat bodies are bad…
Secrets to success: outpatient eating disorder treatment
An eating disorder diagnosis can throw parents into a tailspin as they try to figure out the best course of action. The alarm you feel when your child is diagnosed is appropriate and necessary, because the sooner you mobilize treatment for your child, the greater their chances of recovery. It is never a good idea…
A parent’s guide to residential eating disorder treatment
Choosing to send your child to residential treatment for their eating disorder is a big decision. I have yet to meet a parent who doesn’t feel nervous and unsure about how to decide how to handle this. Following are some of the most common questions and my answers to help you make the best decision…
Parent support for eating disorders
Getting parent support when kids have eating disorders can make all the difference in treatment and recovery. Parents are not the cause of eating disorders, and yet the way they approach treatment and recovery can make all the difference in whether their child accepts and ultimately embraces recovery. What causes eating disorders? The first (very…
Parent coaching for a college student with an eating disorder
If your college student has/had an eating disorder, you may want parent coaching to help you support them in making the transition to school. College students are at high risk of eating disorders, and unfortunately things are getting worse. About 15% of college students were at risk for an eating disorder in 2013, but today…
Parent coaching for ADHD and eating issues
If your child has ADHD, you may want parent coaching to help with eating issues, ranging from very picky eating, forgetting to eat, disordered eating and eating disorders. Eating issues are scary for parents, but they’re not uncommon. More than 1/3 of people who have eating disorders also have ADHD. This rate is much higher…
How to help a child who is binge eating
Watching your child when they’re binge eating is stressful, but you can help. Your confident support before, during, and after binge eating episodes will help them recover. Here are my top five tips to help your child during a binge eating episode: 1. Remember that the binge is a symptom of a problem Seeing your…
Daughter accuses me of being an almond mom
Today I’m going to address a letter from a mom whose daughter accuses her of being an almond mom. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with this term, so I’ll start by giving you a quick overview. An almond mom is a trend that blew up on TikTok in late 2022. It’s driven by girls…
Getting support for your child’s eating disorder
If your child has an eating disorder, you want to get support for yourself as a parent. This is because eating disorders don’t only affect the person with the diagnosis – they affect everyone. And often parents becomes overwhelmed, stressed, and burnt out with the caregiving required when a child has an eating disorder. These…
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About Me
Hi, I’m Ginny. I’m on a mission to help parents raise kids who are free from food and eating issues.
I created this blog to give parents important information and advice when their kids have eating disorders.
I write about a combination of topics, from movies that are “safe” for eating disorder recovery to details about why eating disorders occur and how parents can help with recovery.
My goal is to educate parents about eating disorders while also empowering them to support their kids’ recovery. I try to include real-world examples to help illustrate common situations that I encounter when coaching parents.
I work from a place of education and compassion because I know that the best way for you to help your kid feel better is for you to feel better. You matter, and I’m here to help.
Let’s hang out
This eating disorders blog is written from a Health at Every Size® and Intuitive Eating perspective. These foundational beliefs drive my work as a coach, my life as a person in recovery, and how I parent. I adopted these beliefs, which are based on solid scientific evidence, during my recovery from a 30-year eating disorder. After spending decades at war with my body, I found peace and healing in learning to trust it as wise, intuitive, and powerful.
If you’re curious about this approach, please reach out and I’ll be happy to tell you more about it.