Anorexia nervosa is a condition where one becomes obsessed with losing weight and practices self-starvation in an attempt to achieve significant weight loss or to maintain extremely unhealthy level of body weight. Anorexics are terrified of gaining weight, and often believe they are very fat even though they are already very thin.

Anorexia is not just a condition related to food and eating, but takes its roots from a deeper psychological level. Food and eating becomes a destructive tool that one uses to deal and cope with other emotional problems. Anorexics will often reach out to other anorexics on internet in “pro-ana” sites whereby they encourage each other to continue their weight loss journey. Pro-ana sites argue that anorexia is a lifestyle choice and not an actual disorder, and offer dysfunctional support to other victims of disease. The risk to our youth from eating disorders is significant and there are things you can do as a parent to intervene:

WATCH FOR WARNING SIGNS

Excessive weight loss: A person suffering from anorexia is skinny and may end up losing more that 15% of their ideal body.

Diet restrictions: a person with anorexia continues to restrict foods and diet even when they are not overweight.

Food Obsession: an excessive preoccupation with food, calories, nutrition, or cooking methods is also a sign of anorexic behavior.

You can add bubble games to every birthday party - regardless of theme you choose - and it'll always be a blast (I mean burst!).

Bubble-making is one of coolest activities (even for grownups) and it's probably also one of cheapest to put together.

Bubble games set scene for great photo opportunities. Just imagine birthday child surrounded by a ring of guests, all holding bubble bottles and wands and blowing a cloud of bubbles, or each guest blowing a humungous bubble, or even a child inside a huge bubble. It's ultimate thank you card!

To prepare for bubble games, you'll need some tips on brewing very best bubble mixtures. A mixture of plain old dishwashing liquid and water just doesn't do trick, but a few drops of Glycerin can make difference between tiny, ordinary bubbles to humungous, colorful bubbles.

Bubble Recipes

Joy and Dawn (made in USA) are considered best detergents to use in bubble solution. Ivory and Palmolive are also OK.

But climatic conditions vary and take a big effect, so you'll need to do a bit of experimenting with your bubble recipe a few days prior to party.

The secret ingredient for sturdy, colorful bubbles is Glycerine (available at most pharmacies). Glycerine is a bit expensive, so you can try also experimenting with Karo Syrup (available at grocery store).

Soft water is good for bubbles. Any water containing high levels of iron is bad for bubbles. To get best mixture, try using distilled water. But first try it with tap water at your house (and you may be one of those lucky people who have a built in bubble water faucet…)

Gently stir ingredients together (avoid making a lot of foam) and store in a sealed container overnight (the solution seems to get better with age).

Here are a few bubble recipes to get you started:

Recipe 1: Dawn Ultra or Joy Ultra - 1 part Distilled Water - 15 parts Glycerine or White Karo Syrup - 1/4 part

Recipe 2: Joy - 2/3 cup Water - one gallon Glycerine - three tablespoons

Recipe 3: Regular Dawn or Joy - 1 part Distilled Water - 10 parts Glycerine or White Karo Syrup - 1/4 parts

Recipe 4: Ultra Ivory Blue - 1 cup Water - 12 cups Glycerine - 1 Tablespoon

Now that you've got potion brewing, you'll need some bubble tools for your bubble games. There's no need to look far. There's a bubble-making device hiding in many of objects lying around your house.

Bubble-Making Tools

First, though, take a look at your hands. They're one of best bubble making devices. Put your fingers together so they form an opening, dip your hands in a bowl of bubble solution to get a bubble film, and if you blow gently, you can make bubbles up to two feet in diameter.