Andrea Chacos

Vail Daily • July 2021

July’s rules and regulations

“Read, now!” said no one ever to my children during the hot, hazy months of summer break. Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I promote having literate teenagers in early June with routines around the house. For the better part of July, we still value their education, but seemingly not as much as their curfew creeps to later hours and the chore chart slides off the refrigerator door, wedging between a cabinet and a potato chip, forever gone.

Post Independent | Citizen Telegram | Chacos column: Disability and the road to humanity • May 2021

Disability and the road to humanity

If you’ve ever cared for someone with a “disability,” you know the outdated label hurts more than your ears. The word ignites the deepest parts of you because it can be the first sign of discrimination calling you to support someone with an ability that falls outside the average bell curve on a variety of metrics we’ve come to agree upon.

Vail Daily | Chacos: The real game is on the sidelines • April 2021

The real game is on the sidelines

That sideline parent is me, parading to the field with a foldable chair, carrying an iced-coffee, armed with a bag of band-aids and a salty vocabulary ready to slay the referee or opponent that meddles with our players. I am part of the 12th man, a mom yearning for the coach’s battle cry and for a friend to ask if I want a hot dog from the vendor two fields over.

Vail Daily | Chacos: Owning up to the 2020-21 school year • March 2021

Owning up to the 2020-21 school year

We named our newest endeavor “Zoom class” and it was zippy and fun to say. Some friends called their quest “hybrid learning,” depending on what part of the country they were from, while others opted for the highbrow tongue twister, “asynchronous education.”

Post Independent | Citizen Telegram | Chacos column: A pandemic Valentine’s Day • February 2021

A pandemic Valentine’s Day

This bloated, overblown, consumer-driven holiday makes me abhor pink and red for the entire month of February. No matter my outward disdain, every year my family finds me sheepishly sitting at the kitchen table with a bottle of glue in one hand and glitter in the other making homemade cards anyway. Despite my heartfelt protestations, I’m easily sucked into the bedazzlement of this gimmicky holiday and shower everyone in my path with saccharin treats and silly sentiments. This season feels more

Vail Daily | Chacos: Still marching, but in a different way • January 2021

Still marching, but from my couch eating enchiladas

Four years ago, I wrote about being an Awesome Mom in my first op-ed as a columnist. With a wink and a smirk, I lauded Awesome Mom because she volunteered at her children’s school, exercised daily to fit into her skinny jeans, read books for fun, and celebrated her ability to nourish a family with home-cooked meals that her kids eagerly ate.

Scary Mommy • January 2021

How I Beat My Teens At Their Own Game

My husband and I have been playing a game with our children (ages 12, 14, and 16) we affectionately call “Adolescence.” It appears to be a brutally long game with no end in sight and because I’m fiercely competitive, I won’t rest until I win.

Scary Mommy • November 2020

I Have A Teaching Degree And I Flunked Homeschooling My Kids

During eight savory months at home with my children, I became a homeschool mom multi-tasking at the kitchen counter, in the car, and worse, while hiding in the bathroom. I spent 243 days baking muffins and filling the pantry with snacks while expertly navigating 5,840 dicey hours weathering the emotional tornado that is three juveniles with nowhere for their hormones to go.

Vail Daily • October 2020

Halloween in 2020 doesn’t have to be scary

October ranks as one of the most beloved months of the year for a multitude of Americans. This year, however, many are filled with that sweaty, uncomfortable feeling, like the one that creeps up on you after drinking a 20-ounce pumpkin-spice latte with no available bathroom in sight.

Vail Daily • September 2020

My parents are stalking me

My parents have been following my brother and me around the country for years now. They’ve tried to be nonchalant, but I’ve seen through their shady reasoning and flimsy alibis. I’m not buying, “There’s better property tax in your state” or “We were just looking for a warmer climate.” They’re hunting us kids down to get to the grandchildren, and worse, they’re trying to be our adult friends.

Post Independent | Citizen Telegram | Chacos column: Desperately seeking A 3G family life coach • August 2020

Desperately seeking A 3G family life coach

At some point, we’ve all skimmed the classified section of the local newspaper looking for ways to make extra money. During these unprecedented times, however, most jobs still look unfulfilling enough to dust off the resumé and apply. However, here’s a real heroic job with six-figures for an open-minded, passionate individual. Applications are now being accepted to be part of a High-Performance-Family (HPF) as their Family-Life-Coach (FLC) in a confidential mountain town (39.1911° N and 106.817

Post Independent | Citizen Telegram | Chacos column: Opinion, truth and fact: The powerful difference • July 2020

Opinion, truth and fact: The powerful difference

As the saying goes, opinions are like that unspoken, timid body part. Everyone has one. And as an opinion writer for a couple of local newspapers, I stick mine where the sun doesn’t shine every month. And although opinions are the lowest form of human knowledge, I love sharing my intellectual laziness on a variety of topics.

Post Independent | Citizen Telegram | Chacos column: Dealing with death • June 2020

Dealing with death

In recent days, however, I’ve reluctantly transitioned conversation about life and death yet again. This time it was more abrupt than I ever imagined and much too soon for my taste. And since there’s no real delicate way to talk about what’s going on in the news today, I decided to be blunt.

Vail Daily • May 2020

Getting lost in the forest of entangled ethics

Political leadership today is causing quite a partisan dogfight. This goes far beyond the current incoherent briefings, rotating merry-go-round staff appointees, and subjective rhetoric. We can accept some presidential vices and excuse moral failure, however, our commander in chief is pushing the boundaries of ethical leadership to new levels. In the long run, I fear we may all end up suffering for the implications of his behavior.

Vail Daily • April 2020

Climbing out of April’s black hole of time

COVID-19 is causing the social disruption I’ve been yearning for since watching the early 1960’s television show “Leave it to Beaver” as a child. And it’s not for the ability to clean my house wearing a dress and pearls like June Cleaver, but it’s for the new normal I want to embrace on the other side.

Post Independent | Citizen Telegram | Chacos column: My bout with public transportation • March 2020

My bout with public transportation

One of those annoyingly rational environmentalists said I probably couldn’t handle public transportation’s obvious ease and practicality. With a dare dangling so fruitfully low, I figured I could easily tolerate being in an uncomfortable petri dish for two hours a day.

Post Independent • February 2020

It’s a huge election year — here’s what I need to do

Some say I’m a snowflake; condemned to be an activist with no platform, a rebel without a cause, a delicate flower with little resiliency. I’m pretty sure these aren’t compliments, even though flakes are scientifically spectacular, each ice crystal creating a unique path toward the finish line.

Vail Daily • January 2020

Anyone can cross-country ski

When you’re a kid, trying a new sport or hobby is what you’re expected to do. Parents layer you with all the right gear and say all the right things with such forceful enthusiasm that you may have once joined the chess club, tried your skill at figure skating, played soccer, volleyball, or even spent time in a dojo.

Vail Daily • January 2020

Freedom is never really free

Gun talk is passionate, and I eagerly awaited responses for my recent column on the topic. I heard from some privately while others posted publicly; some stated views on parenting in an age of gun saturation while other responses proved irrational, no matter how many times I reread for clarity and understanding.

Post Independent • December 2019

We love our guns: So how do we address it responsibly?

As a mother of three, I’ve spent a lot of time observing the esoteric connection children have with guns. A stick, a broom handle, or part of a cardboard box can be magically transformed into rudimentary weapons. Then, as my children got older, and their dexterity and imagination grew, I watched them make expertly shaped pistols out of rolls of duct tape and play elaborate games of war.