Marybeth Hicks

HICKS: Time to give celebs a break?

"Wow," my daughter said as she strolled into the kitchen on Sunday morning. "Billy Mays died. It's officially celebrity death week."

July 1, 2009

HICKS: Subaru ‘love’ isn’t rational

Have you seen the television advertisement for the Subaru Impreza that asks the rhetorical marketing question, "What makes a Subaru a Subaru?"

June 24, 2009

Letterman’s faux apology

Perennial late-night class clown David Letterman has at last apologized to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family for his "flawed" joke about her daughter.

June 17, 2009

HICKS: Don’t fume; teach virtues

Next week, the U.S. Senate is slated to take up a long-planned and unprecedented overhaul of the American health care system.

June 10, 2009

HICKS: Happiness myth traps parents

There's a parenting proverb that says, "Prepare not the path for the child, but prepare the child for the path." I can't find the source of it, though I once had a lovely decorative tile with this phrase that I kept in my kitchen until my son broke it. At the time he apparently was on a path of destruction.

June 3, 2009

HICKS: Jon & Kate, ‘re-prioritize’

It's not scientific, but it's telling nonetheless that 80 percent of those who took People magazine's online survey about reality-TV stars Jon and Kate Gosselin say the couple's current struggles aren't just the typical ups and downs of married life, but instead are reason for them to "step back and re-prioritize."

May 27, 2009

HICKS: Obama speech may guide staff

This may come as a surprise to folks who know me well, but I want to go on record as truly admiring President Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame University on Sunday.

May 20, 2009

HICKS: Faith tutoring boon to young

Yesterday, Google's alert service let me know that a blogger had written a review of my parenting book "Bringing Up Geeks," released last summer by Penguin/Berkley.

April 29, 2009

HICKS: ‘Sexting’ uncool, but also wrong

I've been told that if I'd been a parent in the 1950s, I probably would have spoken out against Elvis Presley's pelvic thrust as a dance move.

April 15, 2009

HICKS: A woman’s place in the church

A couple of weeks ago, in observance of International Women's Day, the Vatican made headlines by proposing it was not birth control, abortion or the freedom to work outside the home that had most liberated women, but rather the invention of the washing machine.

March 25, 2009

HICKS: Filling potholes of life

It's been a week of rough rides in the minivan. Midwest potholes being what they are, I wish I had a Lunar Roving Vehicle in my garage. Our roads resemble pictures of craters on Mars, or worse, the new federal budget - big, dark and dangerous.

March 4, 2009

HICKS: Britain’s bizarre sex advice

A week ago, the bizarre story of 13-year-old Alphie Patten landed on the front pages of Britain´s tabloid press, subsequently circulating around the globe. Even Britons, known for bawdy humor and infamous sex scandals, were shocked by the news that a boy could have fathered a child.

February 25, 2009

HICKS: Realistic family ‘ideals’

One of these days someone is finally going to trip and fall off the landing in front of the back door. There will be blood. Perhaps a concussion. But then at least one of my children will understand why I've nagged all these years about putting the shoes where they belong.

February 18, 2009

HICKS: ‘Tween’ cynicism coming?

I walk into the kitchen just in time to hear my 11-year-old daughter summarize for her father the destiny of anyone cast as a celebrity apprentice for Donald Trump:

February 11, 2009

HICKS: Teens not with ‘stupid’

This is what people always say when they learn that I'm the mother of three teenagers and a tween - "Whoa ... I guess you spend a lot of time hearing how stupid you are."

February 4, 2009

HICKS: What Obama can teach

"Mom," Amy said in her most serious tone, "I have to get dad to run for president. That's the only way I'm going to meet the Jonas Brothers."

January 20, 2009

HICKS: Guilt part of good parenting

Last night for dinner, I served butternut squash. Despite the fact that I drizzled it

January 14, 2009

HICKS: Truth in ads a bit too much

I never thought I'd miss Mr. Whipple. You remember him - the character played by Dick Wilson whose famous admonition, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin," was meant to embarrass hundreds of sufferers of a secret toilet paper obsession who staked out the aisles of grocery stores to grope rolls of irresistibly soft paper products.

January 7, 2009