Athletic son in a cast for 6 weeks… what to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all so weird to me. My tween son was in a cast for 6 weeks one summer and pretty much nothing changed- he went to the pool, but didn't swim, just hung out and played volleyball (with one arm) and got snacks with his friends and did all of the non water stuff that our kids do at the pool club all summer. He attended his soccer team's summer camp (day camp) for a week like always, with his teammates, and didn't participate in scrimmages or anything where he might get hurt, just did the drills and hung out and had fun. We still went camping once. Hiked a bunch. Still went on our planned vacation to London for a week. It wasn't a big deal honestly!! It may have been a bigger deal if he'd been on summer swim team, that would have been a real bummer for him, but it's not like he's in a full body cast or hospitalized for 6 weeks. It's one arm. He's not an invalid.

Np. It’s nice that your summer wasn’t affected, but it sounds like your kid was not particularly athletic so you don’t have relevant experience. I have a very athletic boy right now in a leg cast and it’s hell. Another boy was in a cast a year ago and it wasn’t nearly as bad. It depends on the kid, but some boys are physical ALL the time and really need that (especially the ones that also have adhd).

Good luck Op!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so weird to me. My tween son was in a cast for 6 weeks one summer and pretty much nothing changed- he went to the pool, but didn't swim, just hung out and played volleyball (with one arm) and got snacks with his friends and did all of the non water stuff that our kids do at the pool club all summer. He attended his soccer team's summer camp (day camp) for a week like always, with his teammates, and didn't participate in scrimmages or anything where he might get hurt, just did the drills and hung out and had fun. We still went camping once. Hiked a bunch. Still went on our planned vacation to London for a week. It wasn't a big deal honestly!! It may have been a bigger deal if he'd been on summer swim team, that would have been a real bummer for him, but it's not like he's in a full body cast or hospitalized for 6 weeks. It's one arm. He's not an invalid.

Np. It’s nice that your summer wasn’t affected, but it sounds like your kid was not particularly athletic so you don’t have relevant experience. I have a very athletic boy right now in a leg cast and it’s hell. Another boy was in a cast a year ago and it wasn’t nearly as bad. It depends on the kid, but some boys are physical ALL the time and really need that (especially the ones that also have adhd).

Good luck Op!

Well excuse us with your adhd bro

[Anonymous]

Can he run? Do a couch to 5k program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so weird to me. My tween son was in a cast for 6 weeks one summer and pretty much nothing changed- he went to the pool, but didn't swim, just hung out and played volleyball (with one arm) and got snacks with his friends and did all of the non water stuff that our kids do at the pool club all summer. He attended his soccer team's summer camp (day camp) for a week like always, with his teammates, and didn't participate in scrimmages or anything where he might get hurt, just did the drills and hung out and had fun. We still went camping once. Hiked a bunch. Still went on our planned vacation to London for a week. It wasn't a big deal honestly!! It may have been a bigger deal if he'd been on summer swim team, that would have been a real bummer for him, but it's not like he's in a full body cast or hospitalized for 6 weeks. It's one arm. He's not an invalid.

Np. It’s nice that your summer wasn’t affected, but it sounds like your kid was not particularly athletic so you don’t have relevant experience. I have a very athletic boy right now in a leg cast and it’s hell. Another boy was in a cast a year ago and it wasn’t nearly as bad. It depends on the kid, but some boys are physical ALL the time and really need that (especially the ones that also have adhd).

Good luck Op!

What part of my post about my kid who played volleyball at the pool with one arm, attending his soccer team's summer camp, and going hiking makes you think "well it was no big deal for her because her son isn't athletic"?? No, it was no big deal for my son because he, after a period of understandable moping around about not being able to do certain things, was able to pivot and enjoy his summer and find plenty of ways to be active and participate in his sports stuff within the confines of having a cast on. I would even venture that it was a good experience for him in terms of resilience and branching out a little bit in terms of how he spent his time. For one, finite, six week period. No one is over here talking about their tween athlete getting both legs amputated. It's not that serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so weird to me. My tween son was in a cast for 6 weeks one summer and pretty much nothing changed- he went to the pool, but didn't swim, just hung out and played volleyball (with one arm) and got snacks with his friends and did all of the non water stuff that our kids do at the pool club all summer. He attended his soccer team's summer camp (day camp) for a week like always, with his teammates, and didn't participate in scrimmages or anything where he might get hurt, just did the drills and hung out and had fun. We still went camping once. Hiked a bunch. Still went on our planned vacation to London for a week. It wasn't a big deal honestly!! It may have been a bigger deal if he'd been on summer swim team, that would have been a real bummer for him, but it's not like he's in a full body cast or hospitalized for 6 weeks. It's one arm. He's not an invalid.

Np. It’s nice that your summer wasn’t affected, but it sounds like your kid was not particularly athletic so you don’t have relevant experience. I have a very athletic boy right now in a leg cast and it’s hell. Another boy was in a cast a year ago and it wasn’t nearly as bad. It depends on the kid, but some boys are physical ALL the time and really need that (especially the ones that also have adhd).

Good luck Op!

Thank you! Same to you… I wish I had sage words of wisdom for you but alas all I can say is that I hope that it gets less hellis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so weird to me. My tween son was in a cast for 6 weeks one summer and pretty much nothing changed- he went to the pool, but didn't swim, just hung out and played volleyball (with one arm) and got snacks with his friends and did all of the non water stuff that our kids do at the pool club all summer. He attended his soccer team's summer camp (day camp) for a week like always, with his teammates, and didn't participate in scrimmages or anything where he might get hurt, just did the drills and hung out and had fun. We still went camping once. Hiked a bunch. Still went on our planned vacation to London for a week. It wasn't a big deal honestly!! It may have been a bigger deal if he'd been on summer swim team, that would have been a real bummer for him, but it's not like he's in a full body cast or hospitalized for 6 weeks. It's one arm. He's not an invalid.

Np. It’s nice that your summer wasn’t affected, but it sounds like your kid was not particularly athletic so you don’t have relevant experience. I have a very athletic boy right now in a leg cast and it’s hell. Another boy was in a cast a year ago and it wasn’t nearly as bad. It depends on the kid, but some boys are physical ALL the time and really need that (especially the ones that also have adhd).

Good luck Op!

Thank you! Same to you… I wish I had sage words of wisdom for you but alas all I can say is that I hope that it gets less hellis

[Anonymous]

I just came across this because my son will be in a cast for a month! Sending positive vibes to all the kids going through this. It’s not fun.

[Anonymous]

My son is a runner and if you’re in an arm cast, it’s generally not recommended that you run because you can fall easily and injure yourself again due to balance issues. Also believe it or not, you use your arms when you walk or run, especially longer distances or hiking.

[Anonymous]

Can he volunteer to help coach younger kids, or umpire/run games or tournaments? That would keep him off the couch and involved in the sport, but still keep the risk of re-injury to a minimum.

[Anonymous]

Hang out with his friends, in an physically-modified way, Being with his friends is THE most important thing.

[Anonymous]

The bro should learn to read

[Anonymous]

ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

It's OK for him to be bored. Learning to be bored is a underappreciated skill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's OK for him to be bored. Learning to be bored is a underappreciated skill.

This seems to be a common theme. Yet I haven’t seen someone expand on it. When my teen was/is bored, they learned how to do xx. That’s the whole point of this thread, teen is bored, do you have any suggestions of hobbies that helped? What they could learn?

[Anonymous]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention