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A Conversation With my Kids About Non Monogamy
When I’m ready, here is what I am going to tell my kids about my other partners
I recently wrote about why my husband and I had decided not to tell our kids that we were seeing other sexual partners. We have lots of reasons to keep them in the dark at this point.
For one, we feel that we are entitled to a private life as the adults in the relationship. We are also aware of our role and responsibility in providing our kids with the stability and security they need to thrive; sometimes that means shielding them from mature conversations that we feel they might not be developmentally, emotionally or intellectually ready to deal with yet.
We also kind of want to work out some of the new dynamics of non monogamy before bringing them into the conversation. Navigating the change in our relationship, from monogamy to non monogamy, has not been easy and it feels wrong somehow to burden them with these difficulties before we’ve got our shit together.
And, yes, yes, yes, part of the reason we haven’t told them yet is because we are scared silly about their reaction. Our kids are teenagers — it’s a tough time in their lives as they navigate hormones and growing up — and it’s not quite the same as introducing non monogamy to a 2 year old. Two year…