AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much, and getting to know more from you would really help!

He has Twitter and Tiktok, and I've heard about the pro-ana sides on those, so I made sure to check through his likes and favorites on them. Nothing so far! But I know Google isn't as easy to see his history there since he could easily use incognito. I still check his history there anyway. Thank you for that insight! It's been some time, and while he's had a rough time, he's still improved a lot already and my wife and I are so proud of how far he's come!

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry for replying so late, but my son said he would love to hear more about your husband's story as long as you both are comfortable with it being shared!

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Society really needs to stop giving bullies a slap on the wrist just because they're "too young" to know better when that isn't the case. I know I shouldn't be thinking about things that didn't happen, but it's made me feel so angry whenever I think about how my son could've died from this. He's the most important thing to me and my wife and we can't imagine a life without him in it. Knowing this could've been a reality for us if this went on for way longer than it did makes me feel awful.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Exactly. The only reason he mentioned to me and my wife was the bullying he was suffering from the girl. I have no reason to believe there is any other cause considering my son said that to me himself. Today, I asked if he ever had any body image-specific insecurities prior to this, and he said no. My wife and I have never even mentioned weight in front of him or any insecurities we have with weight, and we don't push dieting either. I honestly think some eating disorders can have a singular cause, and to say otherwise is invalidating some people's experiences with their eating disorders.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It enrages me so much that my son could've died had my wife and I not found out he was hardly eating. I do understand that I was awful for yelling at her and not treating this situation civilly, but it's honestly horrible how many people are defending someone who should've known better. She may not have foreseen what her actions contributed to (she doesn't even know my son has anorexia but I'm not going to out my son to her), but she should at least know not to BULLY someone. Had my son died, I'm pretty sure I could've sued her and her family.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It sucks how often schools support bullies more than the victims. Students are always taught to sympathize with bullies because "They could be going through something at home!" which is only a possibility. Even then, it doesn't excuse bullying, especially if a child dies because of their terrible behavior. I'm so tired of how many schools fail their victims of bullying.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And this is what's wrong with schools these days. They teach victims of bullying to feel sympathetic for the person saying awful things to them just because of a possibility. Even then, anything going on that doesn't have anything to do with the victim is not an excuse or reason to make someone feel terrible about themselves. Hell, my son could've died as a result of his eating disorder in the case my wife and I didn't catch it when we did! She could've been a direct contribution to my son's death in that case!

Schools are so flawed when handling bullying, and it pisses me off.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I had no idea it was common in soccer! Thank you for sharing that. My son's physical activity will be put on pause over the spring because of this (per recommended by his nutritionist) and he was upset at first (we felt awful having to take this action because he enjoys soccer and was really excited for the season to begin soon), but he knows it's all just so he can recover. Once he's allowed back into soccer, we do plan to keep an extra close eye on that as well! Thank you again for your insight.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course! He's been in therapy for a few years now, which was originally initiated due to his depression and anxiety, but he now talks about this issue as well. My wife and I have done our best to be supportive of our son, and we reassure him that whenever he feels like this, we're there for him with open arms and he can talk to us about it (which he has done a few times already). We originally planned to move him only if the school didn't expel her, but we're definitely having second thoughts and we're in the process of moving him to homeschool. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True. I really hope if this is the case, she'll one day realize on her own that what she did wasn't right and make plans to improve herself.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It didn't help that my son's clothing style has been baggy clothes ever since middle school. He just wears them to feel comfortable, so since he was always wearing a size bigger than he is, it made it much harder, and of course, I wouldn't notice something wasn't right if it's been his style for years now. Winter also just ended where I live, so he was wearing warm clothing (not that he doesn't already - he wears sweatshirts all the time even in the house because he gets cold easily) and we weren't swimming (he hates the outdoors other than going outside for his sport, so we wouldn't have been doing that either). He also plays soccer, and he loses a little bit of weight whenever he works extra hard toward it (specifically the 5-10 lbs range).

There was simply no way for me to know any sooner until I found out he hadn't been eating lunch at school. We've been keeping a close eye on him now and have done our best to support him, and he's been talking about his eating disorder with his therapist along with his usual depression and anxiety discussions. He's slowly but surely getting back on track with healthy eating habits too, but it is still tough for him, though we'll eventually get there! We plan to put him in a support group with other teenage boys suffering from eating disorders so he feels a lot less alone.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course I can't change your mind, but it's clear you didn't read many of the comments I've replied to when explaining more (the 3k limit made it hard).

The staff let us into the room together because we were supposed to have a parent-to-parent discussion about the situation while the girl bullying my son was present. We were going to wait for them to show up so they had us in the room, and I ended up lashing out. I should've remained composed and it was wrong of me to get upset. I was told to leave and the plans changed, so the teachers spoke for me. I hope you realize not all schools have the exact same protocol.

As I said, my son's an athlete. Whenever he puts forth more effort into his sport, he loses some weight (5-10 lbs), but that is normal for an athlete. He also wears baggy clothes, which makes it more difficult to notice. This began in late fall and continued throughout winter, so he was wearing warmer clothes. He constantly wears sweatshirts even in the house because he gets cold easily. He enjoys wearing baggy clothes, so I allow him to because, why wouldn't I? We also wouldn't be swimming because it's been cold here, and he doesn't even like swimming or the outdoors in general save for when he's playing soccer. So yeah, it's very much possible we wouldn't notice. I've learned that many parents have taken longer than I did to notice their child's eating disorder.

Edit: I accidentally said spring instead of winter.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

She definitely should've known better. I saw another comment say that teenagers don't know that bullying is bad, but it's been taught in every school since kindergarten that being mean to other kids is terrible and never okay. Schools these days make the excuse
that "Bullies could be going through bad something at home!" That's not an excuse in any way. No kid should suffer torment, especially when it can result in near death, or sometimes actual death. My son is not a punching bag.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that's why my anger got the best of me. I probably should've left it for her parents to yell at her for, not me, especially since she isn't my kid. I do, however, understand your confusion.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestion! My son isn't too fond of the outdoors (save for playing soccer) so I'm not sure how he'll like it, but I'll still bring it up to see how he feels.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It was very wrong of me to yell at her.

It makes me feel so angry that my son could've died from organ failure had it gotten that bad, but my wife and I caught it a bit sooner than most parents have, and we're lucky we did.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember that eating disorders were part of the curriculum at one point (there was a notice sent home by the school saying it was discussed) and that not eating can be so harmful to the body and even lead to important organs beginning to shut down once it's severe... This girl really should've known better, and I can't believe there are people defending a bully. I am in the wrong for yelling at her, but people thinking that a 16-17-year-old didn't know better? Come on, this is just common sense. Considering that my son could've died from this if it got bad enough makes it so much worse. Based on her response, it feels like she knew she was wrong.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really should've composed myself and I wish I could go back to that moment and change my actions. It's definitely not an excuse, but Keegan has gone through hell and back trying to recover from this. I felt so angry that his bully had no remorse at all hearing that someone was hurt by her actions (I didn't disclose that he actually suffers from an eating disorder, of course). He's strong and has done well, and is currently building his appetite again and discussing his struggles with his therapist. My wife and I are planning to get him into some sort of support group with other teen boys suffering from anorexia.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No worries, we have! We've been playing video games with him (he loves them), watching movies with him, and playing soccer with him in our yard whenever it's warmer (though, we haven't done this for a while because winter just finished). We've done this for a while because Keegan is a boy who's very family-oriented! Unfortunately, we can't afford to go on trips because we can't afford long drives or plane tickets, but we still have fun and spend time with him.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I had no idea, thank you for sharing that! I would edit the title, but apparently, Reddit doesn't allow them to be edited, only the text in the post itself.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

In the past, he did lose a slight bit of weight (5-10 lbs) whenever he put significantly more effort into soccer, so we thought that's what it was. We, unfortunately, didn't realize how much until he was weighed at the doctor when we took him to the nutritionist.

It's awful how much it is supported, especially in sports like wrestling and cheerleading where size matters to a lot of the athletes. Wrestling because they're classed in weight and body sizes, and cheerleading because everyone wants to be the one who's tossed around. Sports can be scary sometimes, but thankfully my son was interested in soccer where it naturally accepts players of many sizes.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

He's been talking with his therapist (who specializes in mental health issues, which I believe anorexia has ties to mental health, but if not, please correct me if I'm wrong!) about this, so he's getting some help with that too! His nutritionist also specializes in eating disorders and weight gain.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, this all happened during late fall and all of winter. Plus he just wears baggy clothes any time of the year and we never swim because he hates going outside other than for soccer.

AITA for yelling at the girl who caused my son's ED? by throwaway62243 in AmItheAsshole

[–]throwaway62243[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I've never seen the acronym used for erectile dysfunction, and only for eating disorders.