We're Back, Just in Time for Pride! 🌈

And with a new addition.

Hi friend!

It’s been a minute (ok, maybe a few… months…). But I promise, the hiatus came with good reason.

Let’s catch up.

First of all… we welcomed a new baby to this ever-insane world at the end of March. The sex? A boy! I guess as the creator of “Bringing Up Boys,” it only makes sense that the universe would continue to hand me baby boys!

I have to admit that when I first learned I was having another boy, I felt an undeniable pang of gender disappointment—the same gender disappointment that I judge other soon-to-be parents for having. And to be honest, the same gender disappointment I experienced with my first.

To read a bit more about this experience with baby #1, see my Motherly article here.

A part of me longed for the experience of raising a daughter. As I sat with that feeling, I realized that—even though I work to disentangle and dismantle gender norms for myself, my kid, and for Bringing Up Boys parents on the regular—my disappointment was tangled in these same gendered scripts I try to resist and teach others to resist (key reminder to myself and to anyone who needs to hear this: gender norms are unavoidable; AND they don’t have to be harmful.)

I had unconsciously bought into the narrative that raising a girl would somehow be more emotionally rich or meaningful—falling for the same reductive stereotypes that depict boys as simpler, rougher, and less emotionally complex. I had to confront my own bias: the idea that parenting boys means giving up a certain tenderness or emotional connection. That parenting boys means giving up the fantasy of them being close to you forever, even when they find their own partners and have their own kids.

And beneath that was something just as unshakable—an awareness of just how much work it takes to raise boys who reject the rigid script of masculinity.

I’m ready to do it all again with kid #2. And I actually can’t wait.

Some more news:

While our newest little guy is just getting started on his journey, our firstborn is leading us down a brand new path. Over the past year, we’ve come to understand that they are gender diverse. They’ve made it clear that “he” and “she” don’t quite fit at this time.

While we’re still discovering the words and pronouns that feel most right for them, what we are 100% confident in is that identity is a journey—not a fixed destination.

So, as June rolls in and 🌈 Pride Month 🌈 kicks off, I find myself reflecting on how important this moment is—for our family, for our kids, and for the future we’re shaping together. Teaching positive masculinity has always been core to my mission. And now, though it’s evolving a bit, it remains ever the same. It also has become even more clear just how crucial it is.

Because raising boys — and humans in general — isn’t just about navigating gender roles. It’s about

• modeling empathy, respect, fluidity, and strength without the armor.

• instilling the understanding that identity is expansive, and that love never asks someone to be less than their full self.

• ensuring that kids like our eldest, who are carving out their own identities, feel seen and empowered.

I want both our kids to know that masculinity doesn’t need to be rigid. Masculinity looks like kindness. Masculinity looks like tears. Masculinity looks like supporting others. Masculinity can grow and change.

Raising boys who embody empathy, courage, and self-awareness is not just good parenting—it saves lives.

When boys are taught to value vulnerability, to listen deeply, and to stand up against injustice, they become the kind of men who make the world safer for everyone, including LGBTQ+ people. In a moment when these communities are under attack—from legislation to cultural erasure—raising boys who reject dominance, entitlement, and bystanderism is one of the most meaningful forms of resistance I know.

This is how we shift the future.

I’m back, with renewed energy and a clear purpose: to keep reimagining what it means to raise boys in a world that’s finally making space for new ways of being—yet also pushing back harder than ever against that change.

June is here. Pride is here. And we’re going to show up—not just in celebration, but in solidarity. For our LGBTQ+ family and friends, for the right to live fully and freely, and for a vision of masculinity that’s different and better than the one we were handed. A vision of masculinity that makes room for vulnerability, joy, and justice.

Thanks for sticking with me. Let’s make this a month of celebration and radical love.

Dr. Taylor