DS is 17. He's not in education or employment at the moment but claims to be job searching daily and hes looking into getting back into formal education as he's finding it hard to self study. As of recent hes been eating a lot of my fridge supply. Part of me wonders if he was eating this much before and that I've just gotten used to buying less now with just me and my 14 Yr old daughter at home (he stays on the weekends.. i buy a few sandwiches and snacks on Friday for him but weve cut down on excess food) but he's increasingly talking about protein, calories, how he needs to eat a certain amount.. He's had a history of mental health issues - he seems to be doing much better generally, maybe its the environment but something has changed- but he's not shown signs of body dysmorphia beyond height in the past and he hasn't historically had eating issues (I'm only worried because my brother is schizophrenic and my sister passed in her 20s from an eating disorder ) .
I've brought him 'creatine' powder in the past after verifying that it wasnt a steroid but I'm not sure what other fitness supplements he's looking into or what type of men are promoting these things. On top of this he's been asking me to purchase lightening soaps and hair dye as of recent. His sister wears coloured contacts and has a skin care routine, I'm not opposed to my son doing the same and it's not a gender thing at all , but the marketing of the products concerns me in combination with racial remarks hes made towards others in the past. He offered to pay me in cash if I ordered these products online for him but I refused and said that he could purchase soap himself.
He's been talking a lot about height as of recent too. There's a family gathering schedueled soon. It's not everyone and the family members that he's had bad experiences with won't be there but he doesn't want to meet his cousins (who he had an excellent relationship with)/ any extended family because he's bitter that my nephew of the same age is a few inches taller. I told him that himself will still grow as he's 17 but he started growing a moustache early for a boy so I do wonder if he's mostly done growing... I've never made DS feel poorly about height, ive never talked poorly about any man because of height from the top of my head, weve never focused on it and hes surrounded by short men albeit my short brothers are a few inches taller than him. The only comment ive made on his height were assurances that he'd grow taller.. when he started wearing cheap rubber height insoles at 15 and I mentioned that his father used to do the same. All of a sudden he's talking about getting leg lengthening abroad and he's stopped asking me to measure him every week. I know nothing about that but it seems extreme. I do think its mostly fantasising and i doubt that he has the foresight to plan that yet. He used to blame me for his genetics and height previously but there's a lot less of that at least..