Every night my 5yo stepdaughter pushed her plate away: “Sorry Mom, I’m not hungry.” My husband shrugged. But when he left for a trip, she whispered the chilling reason she never eats. My breath hitched, my hands shook violently, and I immediately locked all the doors, realizing we had to run…

and maintaining that same agonizing hush. She poked a single croquette with the very tip of her fork, nudging it perhaps a centimeter across the porcelain. Then, she recited the mantra that was quickly becoming the soundtrack to my nightmares.

“Forgive me, Mommy… I’m just not hungry.”

By the culmination of our first week under one roof, I had exhausted continue reading …