When my daughters were high school cheerleaders, I sat in the bleachers biting my nails and covering my eyes, hoping they wouldn’t get hurt. After they both graduated I gave a big sigh of relief that my worrying about cheerleading injury days were over. Not so. Now they both have daughters of their own in cheerleading – whole new generation for me to worry about.
According to the United States Sports Academy, cheerleading injuries account for more than half of calamitous injuries in female sports. Most injuries are caused by direct hits on the body from falling on a gym floor. Studies have shown that other surfaces such as grass, rubberized track and artificial turf are not any safer. The safest surfaces for cheerleading are spring loaded floors or foam mats, which usually are not available at sporting events such as high school football games.
This is my granddaughter Natalie now at age 13 and at 9. She and her sisters have been cheerleading since they could walk. Her family owns Tilt Tumble and Cheer in South Lyon (Michigan), where Natalie practices safe tumbling and cheer stunts daily. Natalie and her sister Alli just completed their competitive cheer season with the South Lyon Paws UNDEFEATED! Here’s what Natalie has to say about Cheerleading Safety (the girl knows what she’s talking about!)
Cheerleading Safety by Natalie Tilt
There are many rules middle school cheer teams must follow in order to keep athletes safe. One important safety rule is that you can never let your flyer hit the mat. This means that the girl who is being held in the air can’t fall and hit the ground. This prevents injuries such as broken bones and concussions from an athlete falling to the ground from high in the air. It also prevents the flier from losing trust in her stunt group. Another rule to go along with that concept is that the backspot must be looking at the flyer the whole time or the team will receive a penalty. This rule was also established to protect the flyer because if she is falling the most important part is to catch is the head and neck, this is the responsibility of the backspot. Another rule strongly enforced in cheer is that all participants must remove all jewelry. This prevents any incidents in which the jewelry gets caught on something or hurts the cheerleader. The final, most important rule, is to always try your hardest. This rule is very important because without trying your hardest, you are putting yourself and others in danger. This may not sound like a dangerous situation but if you are slacking and only putting in half effort you could not land your tumbling pass and injure yourself. Also when you are in a stunt group everyone’s effort counts and effects the stunt group. If you aren’t giving it your all then the stunt could come down and many people could get injured. These are some of the many very important rules of cheerleading.
It’s never too early to start reading to the grandkids. It’s just hard to tell who enjoys it more them or us!
100
Books to Read Before Kindergarten
Miss
Nelson Is Missing by Harry Allard
Old
Black Fly BY Jim Aylesworth
Big
Fat Hen by Keith Baker
Ten,
Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
When
Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang
I
Ain’t Gonna Paint No More! By Karen Beaumont
Madeline
by
Ludwig Bemelimans
The
Mitten by Jan Brett
Stone
Soup by Marcia Brown
Big
Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
Good
Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
The
Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Mr.
Gumpy’s Outing by John Burmingham
Mike
Milligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Stellaluna
by Janell Cannon
The
Grouchy Lady Bug by Eric Carle
The
Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Five
Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
Freight
Train by Donald Crews
Click
Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Strega
Nona
by Tomie DePaola
Jamberry
by Bruce Degen
The
Empty Pot by Demi
Llama
Llama Red Pajamas by Ann Dewdney
The
Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
Gossie
by
Olivier Dunrea
Are
You My Mother? By P. D. Eastman
Planting
a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Chicken
Little by Ed Emberley
Olivia
by
Ian Flaconer
Bark,
George by Jules Feiffer
Time
For Bed by Mem Fox
Corduroy
by
Don Freeman
The
Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone
The
Three Bears by Paul Galdone
The
Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone
The
Three Little Pigs by Paul Galdone
Kitten’s
First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
Lilly’s
Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Owen
by
Kevin Henkes
Duck
& Goose by Tad Hills
Amazing
Grace by Mary Hoffman
Rosie’s
Walk by Pat Hutchins
Harold
and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Jump,
Frog, Jump by Robert Kalan
Wolf’s
Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza
The
Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Miss
Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk
The
Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Alexander
and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni
Swimmy
by
Leo Lionni
Frog
and Toad (series) by Arnold Lobel
Froggy
Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
George
and Martha by James Marshall
Chicka
Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.
Brown
Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.
Guess
How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
Make
Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
Elmer
by David McKee
Little
Bear
by Else Minarik
Love
You Forever by Robert Munsch
If
You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Amelia
Bedelia by Peggy Parish
The
Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
The
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
The
Ugly Duckling by Jerry Pinkney
The
Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
The
Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Good
Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
Curious
George by Hans Rey
My
Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
We’re
Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
The
Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
Skippyjon
Jones by Judy Schachner
The
True Story of the Three Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Where
the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The
Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Green
Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
How
the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
One
Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
A
Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Duck
On a Bike by David Shannon
No
David! By David Shannon
It
Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw
Sheep
in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
Caps
for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
There
Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly by Simms Taback
The
Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani
The
Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Alexander
the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judity Viorst
Mouse
Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
The
Legend of Sleeping Bear by Kathy Jo Wargin
Scaredy
Squirrel by Melanie Watt
Flotsam
by
David Wiesner
Don’t
Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems
Knuffle
Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems
Bear
Snores On by Karma Wilson
The
Napping House by Audrey Wood
How
Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night? By Jane Yolen
Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
For personalized stories, click the picture below to be directed to “Put Me In The Story.”
For reading that comes with adventure, check out Little Passports!
Coming soon, we’ll be revealing our favorite stories and yours too, so please send us a message below and let us know what your favorite stories and books are.
Where did the summer go?! School is starting in the next few weeks, so I put out this little survey asking for input from students, teachers, parents, everybody.
As promised and anticipated, here it is – real help from the experts. We have “Special” days when only one grandchild comes over and spends the whole day and night. For example, when it’s Samantha’s special day, we go where Samantha wants to go, we watch on TV what Samantha wants to watch on TV, we eat what Samantha wants to eat and we play what Samantha wants to play. As my little angels are growing and participating in more activities, our special days are becoming fewer and farther between. I cherish every minute I can get.
Samantha is nine years old and very caring and lovable. She always makes sure everyone else is taken care of, especially her Grampy. Samantha is also a very talented ice skater and cheerleader and just got A’s on both her Social Studies and Science tests. Here is some advice from Samantha.
special days
It seems like there aren’t enough gifts for ice skaters available. Here’s a good one. Disney Frozen Silver-Tone Clear Crystal Iceskate Pendant from Walmart. Click on the pendant.
by Samantha
When your granddaughter has a special day with you, you could take her to the ice rink. Also, here are things they might like to play with at a pool. They might go to a store called Pool Town. Here are some of the things we like to get from Pool Town: Blow up animals that you can sit on in the pool and float. A big “human hamster” wheel you can sit and flip in.
You could also get diving rings. Those are some of the things you could do in the summer. Some things you could do in the winter are go to the skating rink, movies, play house, play store (we always play Nino’s, a store Grammy likes to go to). And the thing we love most is our salon. You and your granddaughter can create a salon in your basement if you have extra room down there.
ALEXANDRIA (Alli)
Alexandria is Samantha’s twin. She is about the most determined little girl I know. She is a dancer and cheerleader. Aside from doing well in school, her days and weeks are filled with endless practices. She’s determined and she’s good! Here is some expert advice from Alexandria.
TUMBLING
by Alexandria
Did your granddaughter ever do tumbling before? If she didn’t then she should try it because there are so many things you can do when you tumble. Tumbling is best at Tilt Tumble and Cheer, where I go. You can probably get a skill in two or three weeks if you go to one or two classes during the week. Open gym is on Saturdays from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. It’s important to practice. You can tumble on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you don’t live near Tilt Tumble and Cheer, find a nice gym in your area. Here’s a picture of Grampy and me after one of my many dance recitals.
NATALIE
Well, this whole grandparent business started with Natalie almost 11 years ago. Natalie is a cheerleader and very smart. When I get stuck on something (like getting photos onto this website), I go to my ten year old angel for help. Here is some expert advice from Natalie.
HOLIDAY GIFT ADVICE
By Natalie
Little girls can be hard to buy for, but I can help you decide what will be from you under the Christmas tree this year. A lot of girls are into the new DreamWorks movie, Trolls. You can get Troll dolls from Walmart, ToysRUs, etc. Also, now there are a lot of cheerleader programs and a lot of cheerleaders. Most cheerleaders LOVE big bows. At Claire’s there are Jojo bows and those are very popular. Some stores that are “in” right now are Justice, Claire’s, Abercrombie, and Ivivva. Disney is also releasing a new movie, Moana. Moana products are now being sold at the Disney Store. Tsum Tsums are also popular from Disney. These are some gift ideas for little girls between 5 and 11 years old.
OLIVIA`
Olivia just turned two and is learning to talk very quickly. She could probably give expert advice on wrapping Grammy and Grampy around her little finger, but I’m sure you all already know all about that. She spends most of her time just being cute!
Olivia can’t write or type yet, but she did ask me to pass on this advice. If you don’t have a paint brush, just use your hands and feet like she did here. Oh – and Olivia loves stickers! – and paint!
Where did the summer go?! School is starting in the next few weeks, so I put out this little survey asking for input from students, teachers, parents, everybody.
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