Question: How do I help my teen stay positive as she recovers from a sports injury?
Dr. Kevin Skinner: That is a hard, hard thing because usually what comes with sports is a regular exercise routine and community with sports teams. And so the injury itself takes you away from the connection. You're not able to perform and you're not getting the feel-good chemicals of exercise. And so after a situation like that—surgery or other injuries—what happens is it's not atypical to feel depressed or down.
So, specific solutions for that, there's probably four or five that I would recommend.
One is, the team could actually be very supportive if they were to reach out. So maybe as a parent, it’s like, "Hey, coach, could I get a little bit of extra TLC here? It would really be helpful for my daughter."
Number two, find things that your child likes to do that will be motivating. Maybe that's an opportunity to spend a little bit of extra time for them to connect with you. So spend a little bit of extra time asking, learning, learning something together, doing a skill together, or cooking something together. Taking a short course together in the community, doing things that maybe are helping them in the rehab, and having these conversations.
All of those are possibilities of ways to help your child through this time. So if anything, it might be a time to grow your relationship because they're not gone all the time. It may be an opportunity, or a window if you can look at it this way, to connect with your child in a deeper way.
Then, supporting them as much as possible in their frustrations and really trying to hear their frustration. "How are you doing? What's it been like? And what can I as a parent do? I just want you to know that I'm here." And if you'd like to go get an ice cream, you have the "get an ice cream with parent" card anytime that I can do it.
