Christina Hergenrader

Today, I competed in a noon ping-pong tournament in my pajamas while eating leftover pizza. I went on walks with three of my four kids. I ran the dishwasher twice. Our day also included Zoom Wars—the dreaded competitions when more than one kid has an online meeting.

Like you, COVID-19 has brought a weird new normal to our home. It’s also brought lots of idle time—and bored kids are fighting kids. I just broke up an argument that was headed for a Cain and Abel situation over the remote.

Summer is officially here. Now that school is out, it is a constant battle to keep the kids entertained. To all the hardworking, selfless, tired youth ministry servants…

First, the bad news . . . our teen girls are in crisis. I'm worried about them, and you should be too. My oldest daughter, Catie, is in high school and my younger daughter, Elisabeth, is in middle school. We’re living the teen girl life around here, and I see what’s happening to these young women. These girls believe they have to be perfect, and they are so hard on themselves when they don’t live up to impossibly high standards that they see on the internet.