Parenting for Pride starts with a mindful pause. Before you keep reading, take a moment to ground yourself.
Notice how your body is resting. Feel the points where your body is in contact with something else: your back against the chair, your feet on the floor.
Take a breath. Exhale slowly. See if there’s any tension you can let go of, just for now.
In my practice I talk about the ways that grounding helps both parents and children tune into themselves. It’s how you begin to make conscious choices from a place of care rather than autopilot reactions.
In the U.S., in June attention turns toward LGBTQIA+ Pride.
Pride is often seen as celebration: joyful, colorful, filled with music and movement. But at its core, Pride is also protest. It’s resilience. It’s community care.
As you read the words “LGBTQIA+ Pride,” notice what you feel. What images, memories, or thoughts arise? Simply welcome whatever comes up. Just observe it.
If you’re raising LGBTQIA+ kids, gender-creative kids, or if you are queer, trans, or non-binary yourself, it’s important to know that you’re seen AND celebrated!
This post is for you and for every parent who wants to engage with Pride in a meaningful, liberatory way. You may be wondering: How can I raise kids who are rooted in love, resilient in spirit, and ready to shape a more inclusive world?
Let’s get into it.
Understanding the Roots of Pride
Pride isn’t just a spontaneous celebration. It’s rooted in survival, resistance, and joy.
The very first Pride was a protest. The Stonewall uprising of 1969 sparked a movement that still pushes forward today. The joy you see during Pride month is hard-won. It came from people who demanded to be seen, respected, and protected.
In Brooklyn, New York, the theme this year is “Rooted in Pride.” It’s a reminder that Pride grows from a foundation of activism and care.
Other boroughs are using themes like:
- “Rise Up: Pride in Protest” (Manhattan and Staten Island)
- “Existence is Resistance” (The Bronx)
- “Defiant Joy” (Queens)
These themes echo one another. They’re a reminder that the celebration is deeply intertwined with the struggle for dignity and justice.
As a parent, your work can also be rooted. Rooted not only in love for your child but in your shared liberation. Pride month is an invitation to disrupt systems that attempt to erase identity and enforce conformity.
Pride Parenting Tip: Share a Story
Start small. This week, tell your child a brief, age-appropriate story about LGBTQIA+ history. You could share what happened at Stonewall. Or read a children’s book that explores Pride or queer history.
If you can access them, look at old photos or videos of early Pride marches. Seeing real people express themselves and advocate for rights is powerful. It creates visual connections to the past and opens dialogue about the work still needed.
“Existence is Resistance”: Celebrate Identity, Challenge Norms
The Bronx’s theme, “Existence is Resistance,” offers a powerful message. It’s a reminder that simply being yourself, openly and fully, is a radical act.
This is especially true for people who have been historically – and continue to be – excluded, punished, or erased.
So how can this inform your parenting?
It can inspire you to examine the hidden scripts you may have inherited. Many traditional parenting approaches are rooted in control, obedience, and “normativity”. These approaches are often shaped by colonialism, white supremacy, and patriarchy.
These ideas can show up in subtle ways. Maybe you feel discomfort when your child wants to wear something “different.” Or you correct the pitch of their voice, or steer them toward “typical” (gender stereotyped) interests.
What if, instead, you chose curiosity?
What if you practiced accepting your child exactly as they are, without needing to change them?
Children are born with the capacity to embrace difference. Often, they lose that openness when they’re taught to fear or judge.
Pride Parenting Tip: Shift Your Language
Instead of asking, “Why are you wearing that?” ask, “How do you feel when you wear that?”
This small change opens a door to connection. It tells your child they are safe being themselves with you.
If you attend a Pride event as a family, look for the joy! Name it. Talk about what it means to be celebrated for who you are.
Let your children see that being fully themselves is beautiful – and that others deserve that same right.
“Rise Up: Pride in Protest”: Take Action
In Manhattan and Staten Island, the theme this year is “Rise Up: Pride in Protest.” This is a call to action.
Pride Month isn’t only about celebration. It’s also about fighting for equity and inclusion, especially for the most vulnerable members of our communities.
This is where being a co-conspirator comes in.
Being a co-conspirator means more than being performatively supportive. It means standing up, speaking out, and using your privilege to create space for others.
Pride can live in your home through your language, your stories, and your everyday choices. For queer, trans, racialized, or neurodivergent kids and adults, even existing authentically is an act of resistance.
Pride Parenting Tip: Create a Pride Bookshelf
Curate a “Pride Bookshelf” or a “Freedom Shelf” in your home. Fill it with books about LGBTQIA+ joy, struggle, and resistance.
Make sure those stories include people of color, people with disabilities, and trans and non-binary voices.
You are modeling that these stories matter – that these lives matter.
Pride Parenting Tip: Teach the Taking of Actions
Brainstorm ways your kids can be co-conspirators. Ideas include:
- Learning inclusive language
- Making signs that affirm LGBTQIA+ rights
- Speaking up when they hear unkind or hurtful words
When your child sees something unfair, model how to respond. Show them that you can be kind and firm. This is how you raise kids who are not bystanders but changemakers.
“Rooted in Pride”: Build an Inclusive Future at Home
Brooklyn’s theme, “Rooted in Pride,” is a reminder that history, identity, and hope are all part of this movement.
Your home can be a space of inclusion, joy, and deep safety. It can be a place where all people feel seen and valued.
But first, it requires unlearning.
Everyone has biases. Everyone makes mistakes. The work is not to be perfect, but to stay accountable and keep growing.
An essential parenting skill in this work is repair.
You may misgender someone. You may dismiss your child’s experience. You may say something rooted in old beliefs.
When this happens, don’t defend your intention. Instead, honor the impact your misattunement has had on the other person.
Pride Parenting Tip: The “Name and Claim” Repair Method
Teach your kids that love and accountability go together.
Here’s a three-step practice:
- Name what happened.
- Claim responsibility for your part.
- Ask what’s needed now to make it right.
For example, you could say, “I interrupted you and didn’t listen. That wasn’t okay. What do you need from me now?”
This method builds trust. It shows your child that repair is always possible, and that relationships can hold mistakes.
Pride Parenting Tip: Plant Seeds of Liberation
Ask your child: “What do you think it means to be free?” or “Do you think everyone is free?”
These simple questions open doors to deep, transformative conversation.
You’re not just raising a child. You’re planting seeds that may blossom in the generations to come. Think of your parenting as tending a garden – slow, steady, and rooted in care.
Reflection
As you’re reaching the end of this post, take another intentional breath.
What’s staying with you from what you’ve read here? What thoughts, emotions or images are present in you right now?
Are you remembering something from your own life? Are you imagining what might be possible in the days ahead?
What are you curious about now?
Notice any sensations in your body. Do you feel lighter, heavier, softer, more open? All of it is information. All of it is nonjudgmentally welcome.
Pride isn’t just a moment. It’s a movement. And your parenting is part of it.
Every day, you make choices: what you say, what you model, how you respond. Each choice can be a quiet act of justice.
Pride didn’t begin as a party. It began as a riot.
You don’t have to parent with rage, but you can parent with fierce, liberatory love.
Raising kids who understand joy and justice is revolutionary work. Keep learning. Keep practicing. Keep showing up.
Check out more ways to raise kids who feel accepted.
Looking for additional support?
Dr. Nanika Coor of Brooklyn Parent Therapy offers services to help you implement respectful parenting strategies and build strong, lasting relationships with your children. Consider a customized Parent Intensive program designed to tackle specific parenting challenges. These tailored sessions can help you break intergenerational cycles of disconnection and build a more connected, respectful family dynamic.Ready to work on your parenting with Dr. Coor? Click here to schedule your free consultation.