Marybeth Hicks

HICKS: ‘Che’ shirt reflects poorly on culture

We're a culture whose young people think Che is cool because "The Communist Manifesto" is required reading for thousands of college freshmen, but not "The Federalist Papers" or even the U.S. Constitution. What happens to such a culture?

April 28, 2010

HICKS: Teens in need of character

The problem isn't that kids don't know how to behave. It's that kids don't know how to be.

March 31, 2010

HICKS: ‘Best practices’ in whose eyes?

The high-stakes political maneuvering leading up to the passage of Obamacare included a few moments of candor not often exhibited by members of Congress.

March 24, 2010

HICKS: At 26, it’s time to be real adult

Twenty-six isn't terribly old, but it's old enough to know better. It is not adolescence, no matter what the American Psychological Association says.

March 17, 2010

HICKS: Abortion at 14; shhh, it’s OK

A minor girl can have an abortion and maintain her "right to privacy," and her folks don't necessarily need to sign a thing.

March 10, 2010

HICKS: Union pushes day care diktat

There's a reason why unions are on the decline. Most workers don't need one, and they don't want one. Least of all a fake union that takes money from honest business owners.

March 3, 2010

HICKS: Child obesity in nanny state

It's not only an obesity crisis we face; it's a parenting crisis and a crisis of adulthood that has convinced too many Americans that our federal bureaucracy has an appropriate role in teaching us not just how to eat, but how to live.

February 24, 2010

HICKS: A conservative creed for today

"Mom, I need to ask you something," my daughter begins as she buckles her seat belt. Knowing the drive to school lasts only six minutes, she must figure the answer will be either concise or embarrassing, so I brace myself for a question about the meaning of a phrase I will undoubtedly have to look up on Urbandictionary.com.

February 17, 2010

HICKS: ‘Stand’ against preteen sexuality

File this under: Unintended irony. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) released a report Tuesday titled "Stand + Deliver: Sex, Health and Young People in the 21st Century."

February 12, 2010

HICKS: Take PC out of parenting

Political correctness is wreaking havoc on our nation's children. The public schools are fraught with bold and bizarre ideas such as "gender education" and graphic sexuality classes that make the former notion of "health" class look like a reading primer from the 1950s.

February 3, 2010

HICKS: Shocking report no real surprise

Perhaps most curious of all the results of the recently released Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) study "Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds" are the headlines it has generated.

January 27, 2010

HICKS: Parents must talk about sex

The television hanging above my head in the waiting room airs an episode of the syndicated talk show "The Doctors." The topic? Sex.

January 20, 2010

HICKS: MTV’s assault alive in ‘Jersey’

A message for Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi: I am not a hater.

January 13, 2010

HICKS: Fatherhood by billboard?

Positive images of fathers engaging with their children are a welcome message in a culture where families struggle to remain intact and mothers generally bear responsibility for childrearing.

January 6, 2010

HICKS: Year-end recaps reflect life cycle

They don't call it a "news cycle" for nothing. As surely as the minute hand winds down the waning moments of 2009, headlines bombard us with a now familiar theme for every New Year's week: The Recap. This time, we're reviewing not only the year that ends at midnight Friday, but the decade as well -- a period one of the newsmagazines is calling the "Worst Decade Ever."

December 30, 2009

HICKS: Little ho ho ho in Santa satire

It turns out that Dr. Nathan Grills of Australia's Monash University may not be the ultimate Christmas curmudgeon, but in fact is simply a bad comedy writer.

December 23, 2009

HICKS: Indecent ads are a no-sell

Sneakers? Check. Morning TV show to pass 40 minutes on an elliptical machine? Check. Soft-core porn advertising for the commercial break? Check.

December 16, 2009

HICKS: Common sense in Constitution

Back in September, my husband, a law professor, asked if I would host one of the student groups for which he serves as a faculty adviser for a gathering at our home. I spent a delightful afternoon helping the group put on a barbecue to launch the semester while listening to them banter about myriad issues, as law students tend to do.

December 9, 2009

HICKS: Climate fears harm children

Here in the Midwest, we know a thing or two about climate change. Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes. It'll change.

December 2, 2009

HICKS: Don’t diversify Thanksgiving

My community is a state capital and a college town, which means I live in a geographic bastion of political correctness. To wit: A recent headline in my hometown newspaper actually read: "Celebrating diversity."

November 25, 2009