If one Babble author's personal account of polyamorous parenting wasn't quite enough for you, you might want to check out Carol Morotti-Meeker, a social worker and family therapist who will be speaking on the topic around 2:40 pm (if they're on time) at the 6th Annual Polyamorous Pride picnic and rally in Central Park on Saturday (headlined by the Village Voice's Tristan Taormino).
Carol has a decidedly sensible and kids-first approach to the question of parenting in a multiple partner or open relationship. She says it's crucial that kids have stable, reliable parental figures and are given time to process if an adult who has been in their lives for a while will be departing (sounds like rules that oughtn't to be limited to us fringy weirdos). She thinks teens ought to be involved in discussions about how public their families are.
At base though, says Carol, if kids get what they need socially and developmentally, "they don't give a rat's behind" what the actual configuration of their families is. Amen.
Carol won't have a real long time to speak as the schedule is packed, but she's interested in talking to anyone out there who has parented in a polyamorous/open family—about what worked and what didn't. So if you've even dabbled in such arrangements, pack up the whole family and go have a chat in the park, in the name of research.
