If you get older and your special cells are slower at mending, how come children can break their bones too?

Question: If you get older and your special cells are slower at mending, how come children can break their bones too?
- Keywords:
  age,
  bone,
  break,
  fracture
Asked by 2cvenus to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Will on 20 Jun 2012.
- Sarah Martin answered on 20 Jun 2012:
  
  Hi 2cvenus!
  
  Great question! Children actually break very few bones considering how they bounce about the place and fall over! That’s because their bones are very flexible, as they have to be so as to not spend childhood stuck in plaster. If you tried those moves with adult bones you’d be straight in hospital! But sometimes it’s even too much for kiddy bones, and they can break under extreme forces like a big fall or a car accident.
  
  So actually children don’t break bones that often considering how much strain they put them under all the time!
  
  🙂 Sarah
- Amy Birch answered on 20 Jun 2012:
  
  Hi 2cvenus!
  Sarah is right, when you are younger your bones are quite bendy!
  When I was a kid I bent my collarbone instead of breaking it falling out of a tree. I was very glad for my bendy bones back then as it would have been very painful to have broken it 🙂
- Karen Reed answered on 20 Jun 2012:
  
  As Sarah and Amy have said – children have bendier bones – but they can still break if they bend too far. As adults our bones are more brittle (less bendy) so easier to break.

Question: If you get older and your special cells are slower at mending, how come children can break their bones too?