I have a slightly different parenting tale than most but I'll gladly share it here.
My own kids are all adults now, my youngest will be 21 in just a couple of weeks. However, I've had custody of my oldest granddaughter, who is now 11, for over 3 years and I've recently gained custody of an 8 year old grandson and 3 yr old twins, a grandson and granddaughter.
Without the love and support of my polyfamily, there is no way that I could do this as a 45 year old single mom/gramma.
While the change in my circumstances has caused us to put on hold plans to have the entire family under one roof, we are in truth a single, rather large family.
Having so many adults around to be a consistent part of the kids' lives has been such a benefit for them. They all adore their grownups and as things unfold, special relationships are blooming between individual kids and adults.
The 3 year old girl can be quite a handful, but she's taken a shine to Rosevett's boyfriend, M and when the rest of us are at wits end with her, he has a way with her that calms her down.
Another bonus is the availability of other adults for some of the logisitics; Rosevett and M watched the kids so R and I could get away for our one year anniversary. In what other world would my boyfriend's other girlfriend and her other boyfriend babysit so that could happen?
The guys have also watched the kids so that Rosevett and I could have our Girls' Night Out.
The young adults in our family are wonderfully accepting of all the members and have also become a huge part of the little one's lives.
Rosevett's daughter and her boyfriend took the kids to get pumpkins for Halloween and to the playground for the afternoon so that the adults could have some quiet time to catch up, my daughter and her boyfriend help out in many ways and even my son has stepped up to the plate when I need him.
I'm not sure the littler ones grasps the "who's who" in our configuration, though the oldest granddaughter does. They all just know that this is our family and they love being around them.
We are far enough away physically that picking kids up at school or handling medical appointments really isn't an issue but the local folks are becoming accustomed to seeing a variety of configurations of our family in attendance at sporting or school events and I've not yet heard a negative word.
I am totally out at work and include the 3 other adults in as many work events as I can. Since many of my coworkers are also parents in our school district, that means they know of the situation and I've yet to see any negative impact on the kids from it.
As for my grown children, well my daughter describes our relationship this way: My mom's boyfriend has another girlfriend who has another boyfriend and they all hang out together.
As long as I'm happy (and I am!) my kids are happy and that is a wonderful thing.