A concerned mother has been urged by members of the public to seek professional help for her 11-year-old son.
The boy didn't eat his own birthday cake due to his dad's obsession with fitness and healthy eating.
Taking to Reddit, the worried mum raised her concerns to get advice, she wrote: "My husband is very conscious of fitness and appearance.”
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"I haven’t seen him eat a bite of cake since our wedding. He exercises religiously.”
"My husband expects our oldest son to be just like him. He’s named after him and my husband sees him as his mini me. My husband loves him but his love can be tough."
"He just had his eleventh birthday. And I had a wake up call."
"He only ate two small bites of his cake. I asked what was wrong and why he wasn’t eating it. He told me 'I don’t want to disappoint dad'.
"I asked my husband to tell him it was okay to eat it. He said 'why would I do that? I’m not eating it so why would I encourage my son to? He tasted it, he’s fine'."
"Our son should enjoy his childhood. I don’t want him to be afraid to have a piece of cake on his birthday.
"I saw him watching his little brother eat it and he looked so sad. Even when he opened his presents, I could tell he was masking sadness.
"My heart is breaking for my poor child. I see now how much my husband’s behaviour has affected him."
Responding to the mothers question, Consistent_Dirt1499 posted: "Spending an hour or two now with a psychologist who specialises in treating eating disorders could save a lot of trouble down the line when your son enters adolescence."
Another claiming to be a professional therapist, Kosullivan2018, replied: "Eating disorder therapist/specialist here. I have seen this more times than I can count and it’s heartbreaking.
"It’s so difficult to unstick a brain stuck on this thinking let alone a kid who learned it from the most important person in his life.
"Unfortunately the mom has possibly reinforced it by letting it go this long. I truly hope this family can look at the dynamics and get some help."
Untimely_manners wrote: "My dad used to make me eat vegetables as punishment. So I grew up with vegetables equals bad. So I hated eating them. I am in my 40's now and though I do eat and love vegetables I still have this thing in the back of my mind that equates vegetables as bad."
The Reddit post has also gone viral on twitter after @Maladroithe shared the story, commenting "instant divorce".
Earlier this week, the head of the UK Government's food watchdog appeared to suggest people should not bring cakes into the office and other workplaces for the sake of their colleagues’ health.
Professor Susan Jebb, chairwoman of the Food Standards Agency, compared the practice to smoking in pubs and other public places - which was banned in the UK more than 15 years ago, in 2007
She also lamented that the advertising of junk food is “undermining people’s free will”.
Prof Jebb said that while it is a choice to eat sweet treats, people can help each other by providing a “supportive environment”.
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