On the fifth day of Christmas, the anorexia recovery gave to me... “Five million pounds”…

Back in April of this year I said to Ben: "I'm so proud of you, all these time-management skills and all that" (in relation to organising his final year's degree studying perfectly and not getting at all stressed. "What's brought that on?" he replied, suspiciously. So I told him I'd blogged about it and rambled on about how proud I was of him - and how many of these time management skills came as a direct result of those months that he spent studying at home for his GCSEs and A-Level examinations.


(You may remember that we had to take Ben out of school in the spring of 2010 when his eating disorder and behaviour became so extreme he was spending much of the school day in the school medical centre rather than in the classroom. Being at home made it easier for me to work with him on recovery. It also meant he had focus - doing schoolwork and studying for important examinations. During these months / years he honed his time management skills to perfection.) 

"Aw, thank you!" he said. Then, giggling (in a little boy's voice): "Okay, mummykins... I've been such a good little boy, can I have five million pounds, please? Like NOW! In CASH!!"

That's another bonus. Now that the eating disorder has gone he's got his fabulous sense of humour back, too.

Following that brief blog post in April 2016, Ben went on to sail through his university final examinations pretty much stress-free, obtaining First-Class Honours. As we speak he is studying for a Masters Degree.

I am one proud mama!!

(Unfortunately my bank balance didn't stretch to rewarding Ben with £5m, though!)

CLICK HERE to read 'The 12 days of (ED) Christmas' - a series of posts from Christmas 2011 which talk about the nightmare of living with a young person with an eating disorder (PDF)