By Kayleigh Cronin, a professionally certified Youth Coach

It’s easy for us adults, as well as children, to take our bones for granted.

After all, they do all their work behind the scenes, but when a bone breaks, it’s a pretty big deal and bones take time to heal.

The very same as building a house, before you do anything else you will need a very solid foundation. Having strong bones in childhood is the exact same thing, this lays a foundation for bone health throughout life. We build almost all our bone density when we’re children and teens.

Childhood is the time when you lay the foundation stone of your mental, emotional and physical health. Children, however, are unaware of how to make a healthy start. This responsibility, thus, falls upon the parents. As a parent or guardian, you should ensure that your kids are receiving sufficient nutrients needed for their growth.

Kids with strong bones have a better chance of avoiding bone weakness later in life. As a parent, you can help by making sure kids get the three key ingredients for healthy bones: calcium, Vitamin D, and exercise.

High-calcium foods

Calcium is a mineral that’s known for building healthy bones. Developing dietary habits that support bone health should start at an early age. Instilling healthy lifestyle habits in young children will go a long way in protecting them from osteoporosis in the future. Foods that are great for building strong bones include: milk, yoghurt, cottage cheese, mozzarella, tofu, orange juice, and salmon. Plants high in bone-protective antioxidants such as kale, broccoli, and parsley will also help create healthy bones during childhood.

Vitamin D supplement

Vitamin D (sometimes labelled Vitamin D3) helps the body absorb calcium. But most kids don’t eat many foods that contain Vitamin D. And because this vitamin is so important, health care providers recommend all kids take it if they don’t get enough in their diet.

Encourage kids to exercise

If you want strong bones, you have to use them. Bones grow in both size and strength during childhood, and one major contributor to bone development is exercise. Children should have at least 35 to 60 minutes of exercise each day. The bone mass gained through physical activity during childhood helps determine how healthy bones will be throughout their life.

Weight bearing exercise is the best type of exercise for growing bones. Bone is living tissue, and weight bearing activity causes bones to build more cells and become strong. Bone constantly reforms due to everyday stress placed upon it, and physical activities work bones and muscles against gravity.

Exercises for bone health: walking, running, jumping, landing, hiking, climbing, crawling, dancing, football, basketball, skateboarding, gymnastics, lifting weights, and skipping.

Activate has a youth Strength and Conditioning programme which is run five days a week in different age groups:

* ActivateKids (5-8-year-olds) – Runs on Mondays and Thursdays at 3.30pm
* ActivateKids (9-12-year-olds) – Runs Tuesdays and Fridays at 3.30pm
* ActivateYouth (13+) – Runs on Wednesdays at 3.30pm and Fridays at 5.30pm

Kayleigh Cronin is a Professionally Certified Youth Coach with Brand X as well as holding a BSc in Athletic Therapy and Training and a MSc in Strength and Conditioning.