It occurs to me that there's nothing new about a family that has three or four parents... Lots of families split up, find new partners, and continue being a family because of the children these days. They work together and continue to be friends, and from the outside or the child's perspective, it may look EXACTLY like a poly situation. And in most respects, it IS the same. Just not the sex, which is really none of the children's business anyway.
I absolutely agree. Kids shouldn't know about the sex anyway. SluttyUnicorn has a daughter and an ex who takes the LittleGIrl (LG) for visits. LG has been raised somewhat poly in that her mom has had multiple partners before and it is not unusual for the LG to se her mom in bed with numerous people. Because of this, LG pretty much immediately began crawling in bed with us in the mornings.
At first she would only crawl in bed if it was SU and I, after DaJoshy went to work (he works 3AM-9Am and then again in the afternoon) and would wake her mom up if he was in the bed. We sleep with him in the middle, and the LG crawls on the opposite side of her mom, which she just naturally did. Thee have now been mornings where her mom is not in the bed in the morning because of the car or work schedule situation, so she has crawled into the bed with just me, but even then she stays on the other side of the bed and doesn't yet cuddle with me.
She doesn't really ever ask why we all sleep together. SU ex knows the situation completely, including that LG sees us in bed, which helps a LOT, but then again, the fact that SU was honest with him about her preferred living situation, it wasn't a shock to him that she was in this relationship.
LG seems to love climbing in bed when DaJoshy is in the bed now because her favorite thing to do is wrestle with him (which is also his FAVORIEST THING to do as well) and I have made the three of them breakfast in bed, which LG absolutely thought was THE GREATEST thing in the world!! To her the whole being in the same bed thing is like a big sleepover all the time. Everyone always has clothes on before anyone sleeps when she is in the house.
It has often worked out that SU and DJ would go into the bedroom while LG is still dong her "bedtime routine" which includes watching a movie in her room. She isnt asleep, but she is isnt up with us either. There is a chance she could get up and come into the bedroom, so DJ and SU would both have gone without sex if it was just them. Because my sex drive isnt as strong or frequent as theirs is, I have no problem being on the computer doing school work or other stuff while they give each other what they both need. I join in when I want to, and in my own way.
We have had a laughable moment or two in all this. The other say we were talking about her mommy being a unicorn, LG said "I want to be a Unicorn!!!!" and we all laughed and DJ told her that was a decision she had to make when she got older LOL
There was also the time in the car over the weekend when we sent her mom in to grab something from the food store and LG said "Go get my mom, get him (pointing at someone in the parking lot) get everyone in here now" I jokingly said "Yes, Joshy would love that wouldnt he" LOL. We laugh about these things that would never have happened if we hadnt made the choices we made.