So I picked up the phone and it was the Deputy Head from school saying Ben had gone AWOL in central Manchester while on the school trip today... For an hour, staff searched the area trying to find him to no avail. Eventually, one hour later, Ben answered his phone, saying he was making his way back to base. Deputy Head phoned me to say he'd met up with the teacher and continued on the school trip.
Ben innocently says he "went shopping" and raved on about how amazing Manchester's Arndale Centre is; bought himself a shirt from NEXT and had a coffee in a studenty cafe. Meanwhile staff were tearing their hair out, calling school 60 miles away, Deputy Head calling me, Ben not answering his phone, etc etc... for one hour...
Personally I think it was Ed, the Eating Disorder, that did it. Faced with the prospect of "sitting around all day doing nothing in history lectures", he couldn't handle it. So when everyone else went to Cafe Nero to kill time when they got to Manchester early, he went AWOL for an hour.
But, so far, Ben's not talking about it...
Boys get eating disorders, too, just like girls. In 2009 my 15-year old son developed anorexia. Now, aged 23 and studying for a Masters Degree at university, he is thankfully recovered. This blog is our story.
No comments:
Post a Comment