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Welcome!
Charla Belinski is the author of the weekly feature, "Are We There
Yet?" which shares her common-sense style and humorous world
view on raising happy, healthy kids.
A certified parenting instructor, Charla’s real advice comes from
lessons learned on the front-lines of her own living room. As a wife
of 19 years and mother of three school-aged children, her
observations and advice on family-life are meant to encourage,
engage and make us laugh in the face of the toughest job on the
planet – parenting.
For information on positive parenting, click here.
For this week's column, read on!
Editors and Media, please click here to contact Charla.
Yet?" which shares her common-sense style and humorous world
view on raising happy, healthy kids.
A certified parenting instructor, Charla’s real advice comes from
lessons learned on the front-lines of her own living room. As a wife
of 19 years and mother of three school-aged children, her
observations and advice on family-life are meant to encourage,
engage and make us laugh in the face of the toughest job on the
planet – parenting.
For information on positive parenting, click here.
For this week's column, read on!
Editors and Media, please click here to contact Charla.
This Week's Column
Charla Belinski
parenting humor writer...columnist... author of weekly feature "Are We There Yet?"
parenting humor writer...columnist... author of weekly feature "Are We There Yet?"
Driving Decisions
Here is what I know to be true: Today we will elect a new president; and my fifteen year-old son is
driving.
While these may be completely unrelated events, it doesn’t negate the accuracy of the facts. No
matter who is elected today, my son will still be a newly-minted driver with a mother and father sitting in
the awkward position of passenger.
That is to say, the world will go on.
My family (and presumably yours) will wake up tomorrow morning and go to work and to school.
Next weekend we will rake leaves in the yard and line out our ski gear in anticipation of bountiful snow.
We will still visit family for Thanksgiving and make plans to host them here for Christmas. In the face of
worst economic crisis of my lifetime, I may spend a little more wisely this holiday season, but I admit to
continuing on with plans for that romantic getaway next summer for my husband’s and my 20th
wedding anniversary.
This coming winter and spring will be much like the last; my kids will outgrow their clothes and
need braces and catch colds. They will play the piano and audition for theater shows and lift weights.
My husband and I will sit in the stands on the basketball court and freeze on the slopes of local ski
races. Our family will eat meals together, pray together and go to church.
What I know to be true is we will have a new president-elect tomorrow, and my life will be relatively
unchanged.
However, what I want to be true is this: the new president will inspire confidence in America and
friendship around the globe. I want us to elect a president who will restore our tarnished reputation
and foster communication worldwide. I would love to know we elected a president who cares deeply
about the environment and about creating alternative sources of fuel while protecting the beauty of
our natural landscape. What I want to be true is we are one step closer to peace.
My list of wants is longer than this space, and much of it has to do with the world our kids will
inherit and the tools they will have to lead us. And while achieving these things would have a dramatic
and lasting effect on our lives, the simple truth remains: while the new president toils away in
Washington, we will do what we have always done; we’ll be living our lives.
Mother Theresa said not everyone can achieve great things, but we can all achieve small things
with great love. Unless a presidential candidate plucks me out of my living room to be his vice-
presidential running mate (an unlikely proposition until Sarah Palin came along) I doubt I will achieve
world peace on my own. But I can certainly achieve peace at home, and that’s something I will strive to
do with great love.
So, like you, I’ll make my way to the polls with these things in my heart. Hope springs eternal.
And I may even let my son drive me to the polls.
Denver Post
Published Nov. 4, 2008
Here is what I know to be true: Today we will elect a new president; and my fifteen year-old son is
driving.
While these may be completely unrelated events, it doesn’t negate the accuracy of the facts. No
matter who is elected today, my son will still be a newly-minted driver with a mother and father sitting in
the awkward position of passenger.
That is to say, the world will go on.
My family (and presumably yours) will wake up tomorrow morning and go to work and to school.
Next weekend we will rake leaves in the yard and line out our ski gear in anticipation of bountiful snow.
We will still visit family for Thanksgiving and make plans to host them here for Christmas. In the face of
worst economic crisis of my lifetime, I may spend a little more wisely this holiday season, but I admit to
continuing on with plans for that romantic getaway next summer for my husband’s and my 20th
wedding anniversary.
This coming winter and spring will be much like the last; my kids will outgrow their clothes and
need braces and catch colds. They will play the piano and audition for theater shows and lift weights.
My husband and I will sit in the stands on the basketball court and freeze on the slopes of local ski
races. Our family will eat meals together, pray together and go to church.
What I know to be true is we will have a new president-elect tomorrow, and my life will be relatively
unchanged.
However, what I want to be true is this: the new president will inspire confidence in America and
friendship around the globe. I want us to elect a president who will restore our tarnished reputation
and foster communication worldwide. I would love to know we elected a president who cares deeply
about the environment and about creating alternative sources of fuel while protecting the beauty of
our natural landscape. What I want to be true is we are one step closer to peace.
My list of wants is longer than this space, and much of it has to do with the world our kids will
inherit and the tools they will have to lead us. And while achieving these things would have a dramatic
and lasting effect on our lives, the simple truth remains: while the new president toils away in
Washington, we will do what we have always done; we’ll be living our lives.
Mother Theresa said not everyone can achieve great things, but we can all achieve small things
with great love. Unless a presidential candidate plucks me out of my living room to be his vice-
presidential running mate (an unlikely proposition until Sarah Palin came along) I doubt I will achieve
world peace on my own. But I can certainly achieve peace at home, and that’s something I will strive to
do with great love.
So, like you, I’ll make my way to the polls with these things in my heart. Hope springs eternal.
And I may even let my son drive me to the polls.
Denver Post
Published Nov. 4, 2008