In this blog I am going to share a short poem written by a ten year old girl with anorexia nervosa who came to Kartini Clinic years ago for eating disorder treatment.  I have never forgotten her because of this poem and because she and very young children like her taught me how biologically-based anorexia is and how blameless our patients are.  Children with anorexia nervosa are like children with any other illness: still children!  

    When I am with kitties
        the light in my life comes shining through,
                       
    they open my heart to playfulness
        just like something I never knew.
                       
    When I am with kitties
        I am calm while at the same time I have lots of energy.

    When I am with kitties
        I could live to infinity.

At Kartini Clinic we like to say that our patients are our teachers. It is from them we truly learned about this illness in children and how to treat it: with kindness and understanding.