"But the warning I’d give is that if that blows up and becomes an issue while the children are still maturing and creating their own identities, it can have a big impact."

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"There was a lot of love in our home. That's pretty much the only thing that seems different to me. (Compared to my friends whose parents were divorced or always fighting.) I wouldn't change a thing about how I grew up or my parents' poly relationship."

"Suddenly, the trips they all take together made sense. I'm in my 30s now, and they still go on trips, and I still consider them my aunts and uncles. They do not know I know that the relationship is a bit more than just really good friends.

Maybe I'll tell my mom one day, but I don't actually care. It showed me you can be loved by multiple people in different ways, and as long as everyone is happy and communicating, do what you want."

"She was our boarder as far as I was concerned. It was completely normal to have another random adult just live with us and be semi aunt/parent/thing-ish because she paid board, y'know? 'Twas a business arrangement. My dad tried to talk to me about it once, but we're both very awkward people, and we awkwarded over it, and I blocked it from my memory.

Eventually, my parents and her broke up, about the time I was moving out of home at 18. She'd been part of my life for about 10 years. I still keep in touch occasionally, we had a good chat a few months after it happened where we talked about it from her point of view, how she'd always said coming in that we were a family unit and if anything happened she always knew it was her that would just leave. I don't know all the details, and I don't really want to.

My parents have a new lady now that they're seeing, a few years later."

"I also felt insanely jealous of the other partners when I was younger. I felt like my parents cared about them more than me, and that they would leave me to go and start a new family with them.

I didn't mean to paint the whole experience as negative! There were a few positives, and I feel like, because of how open my parents were about their situation, dating was much easier for me than for others. Plus, the extra Christmas presents were always a bonus."

"I think that as long as parents’ choices on their personal life are kept away from the children, and that most importantly, the primary parents/caregivers of the children are able to role model a healthy and loving relationship, then it doesn’t matter.

But the warning I’d give is that if that blows up and becomes an issue while the children are still maturing and creating their own identities, it can have a big impact."

"I honestly respect their relationship so much more than anyone else I can think of. It's open and entirely based on the love they have for each other (and others). In my dad's view, if you really love somebody, then you want what's best for them. You don't want to put restrictions on their freedom to do what they want in their lives. If someone does feel the need to put restrictions on the freedom of their partner, they think that it may be rooted in the insecurities they have about themselves, which is their own problem to be fixed within themselves. Mostly, he just believes in love; sexual, romantic, familial, or anything in between."

"Anyway, my blissful existence changed around the time I was 14/15. We woke up to find that wife #2 had moved herself and her children out in the middle of the night. These were my sisters and brothers. We were devastated. My parents tried to protect us from a lot of the fallout, but it was pretty inevitable.

I'm 30 now, and don't really have any relationships with my half-brothers and sisters from either wife. My mom and dad now remain happily married in a monogamous relationship, and I have my two full siblings to love on. As I've gotten older, though, I've learned that the household wasn't as happy as I thought it was. There was a lot of resentment to go around, but no one was forced into anything either. Everyone went into it as consenting adults.

I don't know if it's affected my view of love. So long as there is consent among ALL parties, and open communication if someone wants to do it, I really don't care."

But to be fair to my family and their friends, they were always great to us kids. Never felt neglected or like we were weird or anything. My family was always very sex positive, but also taught me that sex is a private thing. So we were never exposed to anything other than seeing adult humans being a bit more affectionate to each other than you'd expect. But I always thought that was kind of sweet, even as a kid. Like, why aren't more people like that? I was always told growing up that whatever your preferences are, as long as it's safe and consensual, it's okay. Nobody needs to know your business, though, and it's nobody's f*cking business either. Be yourself and be happy."

"I'm happily married, and I've been with my wife for 14.5 years now. We have dated women together for about 7 years. We have a girlfriend right now, and she's very lovely. I hope that she's in my life for a very long time, and my wife feels the same towards her. I'm a very lucky man. They're both so amazing."

"And on a more personal level, seeing my parents interact with each other and overcome their jealousies taught me that love is more than just an emotion. It's a commitment. That being said, I don't think I could ever commit to more than one person. I'm not that selfless😅."

"Many of you have said not to bring kids up in this environment. I'm not certain that's a hard-and-fast rule, IF the relationship is poly BEFORE they're born, because some people here have been fine with that when that's how life started. But I definitely agree that you should not turn a kid's world upside down while they're in the house. If my parents had listened, I would have told them to wait until after I moved out."

Responses have been edited for length/clarity.