In Brighton for a family vacation, my kids joined a lively British-themed Halloween parade. My daughter shone as Queen Elizabeth, while my son marched proudly as her royal guard, toting a plastic rifle. The locals loved it, cheering and passing out biscuits, making me feel like a parenting champ until we ran into her.
An elderly woman pulled me aside during the Brighton Halloween parade, her tone icy: “Are you seriously raising your kids to glorify the monarchy?” She labeled it a symbol of oppression and colonialism. I was floored it was just a fun costume event. Her words lingered, though. Back at our rental, I couldn’t let it go. I dug into the monarchy’s history colonialism, inequality and realized there was more to unpack than I’d thought.
I didn’t intend to make a political point my goal was just for my kids to enjoy the Brighton Halloween parade. But maybe fun and history aren’t so easily untangled. Months later, my daughter asked, “Why do people still like the queen if she wasn’t kind to everyone?” And just like that, we started the real conversation.
The Brighton parade showed me that joy and unease can go hand in hand. As a parent, I realized my role isn’t to protect my kids from tough truths but to guide them through understanding them. We won’t always get it perfect, but we can keep growing.
