Having an inclusive household starts with simple conversations. Showing your children that you’re an ally, or explaining your identity to your child will help them better navigate their own sexuality and gender. Plus, teaching your children to be empathetic and kind from an early age will only make them a stronger members of the community.
While it’s important to educate your children on the prejudices that the queer community faces, it’s also incredibly necessary to celebrate pride. Seeing that joy and feeling the spark of pride will not only inspire your child, it will help them understand the beauty of the queer community.
If you’re unsure of where to start, here are some ways you can celebrate pride with your kids.
Attend a local pride event
There are many different pride events nearby, including Ypsi pride. Depending on the age of your child, you can partake in marches, shopping at queer stores and attend festivals like Ann Arbor Pride. Ann Arbor Pride even has a Kid Zone this year, plus it’s free to attend.
Incorporate LGBTQIA media
Showing LGBTQIA stories is one of the best ways to show your child happy, queer relationships. If you don’t already have these books, stop in any of your local bookshops, such as Literati in Ann Arbor or Serendipity Books in Chelsea. They would be happy to guide you to the right book for your child’s age.
You can also watch queer media. “Steven Universe,” “the Legend of Korra,” “She-Ra,” “The Owl House and “The Dragon Prince” are all kid friendly shows that highlight queer couples. Some movie examples include “Nimona,” “Love, Simon,” and “The Babysitter’s Club.” Each has a variety of queer characters.
Don’t just stop at watching or reading about it. Discuss it after. Ask your child what they liked about it, and highlight that joy is important, and being yourself is what matters most, regardless of who you are with.
RELATED: The Importance of Teaching Inclusion at a Young age
Support an LGBTQIA cause
This is a wonderful way to learn alongside your child. Research different LGBTQIA+ causes and donate. It can be as small as a $5.00 donation, but reading where your money is going and explaining that to your child will help a tremendous amount. You can donate locally, like to the Jim Toy Community Center, or donate to one that supports specific causes, like how The Trevor Project focuses on suicide prevention.
Virtual Pride
If your child is a visual learner, you can start with a brief history lesson. Talk about Stonewall using the Stonewall forever site, or watch one of the many virtual tours of the Stonewall monument. Even if you have a smaller child, you can explore queer art, or even find a queer person in media you look up to and share their story with your child.
Decorate your body
Queerness is all about expression. You can thrift clothes or find something new out of what you have. Grab makeup and explore. Let your child experience it too! If you’re not fantastic at makeup, grab some temporary tattoos or gemstones and decorate from there. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You simply need to show your child the beauty of expression.
Arts and Crafts
I’m a huge fan of incorporating art into everything, especially pride month. If you have an artform you love, find a way to make it queer. Crochet a rainbow, paint a queer couple. You can use your children’s hands and feet to add to the art! You can even use food as a medium and eat your healthy, vibrant snack after.
If you’re not creative and need a push, try one of these:
- Paint rainbow rocks with your little one and hand them out at pride
- Do a word map of what pride means to your child and create art from there
- Collect different colored flowers to make a rainbow bouquet
The beautiful thing about pride is that it looks different to everyone. Connect with your child, share the beauty of queerness, and learn something new, too. Pride is for everyone.
