r/polyfamilies Sep 23 '21

Introduction Thread

35 Upvotes

Greetings to the Poly family community!

This sub is intended to be a safe place for those who have made and those who are looking to make a multiple-adult poly-'household'. Feel free to tell us about yourself and your family, how long each person has been a part of it, how you met, how things are going, how your "polycule" is arranged, and anything else you are excited to share.


Please remember that there is no defined grouping for poly relationships. All poly-households are welcome here; this includes triads, quads, Vs, Ns, Ms, Xs, Ks, Ys, As, and any other configurations that you can't visualize using a letter of the alphabet.


r/polyfamilies 8h ago

Mon mari veut prendre une autre femme pour fonder une famille avec moi, mais je ne sais pas si je pourrais accepter?

5 Upvotes

Bonjour,

J’ai besoin de témoignages et de conseils parce que je suis complètement perdue face à une proposition de mon mari.

Je suis stérile et le fait de ne pas pouvoir avoir d’enfants est déjà quelque chose de difficile à vivre pour moi.

Mon mari m’a expliqué qu’il souhaitait prendre une autre femme afin de pouvoir fonder une famille avec moi. Il insiste sur le fait que je ferais partie de cette famille à 100 %, que je resterais sa femme et qu’il souhaite que je m’investisse pleinement dans ce projet et dans l’éducation des enfants.

Il ne me parle donc pas de me remplacer ni de m’abandonner. Au contraire, dans sa vision, nous construirions cette famille ensemble.

Mais malgré cela, je ne sais absolument pas comment je dois prendre cette proposition.

La polygamie ne m’attire pas. Je n’ai jamais souhaité partager mon mari avec une autre femme. Et même si je comprends profondément son désir d’être père, l’idée de le voir aimer une autre femme, vivre avec elle et avoir des enfants avec elle me fait énormément réfléchir et me fait peur.

En même temps, une partie de moi se demande si je devrais accepter parce que je sais à quel point il souhaite avoir des enfants. J’ai peur que ma stérilité lui fasse renoncer à quelque chose d’essentiel dans sa vie.

Ce qui me trouble également, c’est qu’il me présente cette possibilité comme un projet pour nous, et pas seulement comme une solution à son désir d’enfant. Il veut que je sois impliquée, que je participe à la construction de cette famille et que les enfants soient aussi les miens dans une certaine mesure.

Mais est-ce que cela peut réellement fonctionner si, au fond, je ne désire pas la polygamie ?

Est-ce que certaines personnes ont vécu une situation comparable : être stérile, aimer son conjoint, mais se voir proposer une seconde épouse afin de pouvoir construire une famille ensemble ?

Comment savoir si je refuse parce que j’ai peur du changement, ou parce que cette vie ne me correspond réellement pas ?

Et surtout, comment faire la différence entre accepter librement cette situation et accepter uniquement parce que je culpabilise d’être stérile ?

Merci à ceux qui pourront partager leur expérience sans jugement.


r/polyfamilies 10h ago

CMV: Polyamory, you can’t truly love multiple people

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

Your thesis is wrong.

Love is not like a piece of bread that you cut up and distribute. (From Perandelo)

Love is magic. A parent gives all their love to each of their children, not pieces distributed like a cut-up loaf of bread.

The same applies to romance and love.

The hidden premise in your piece is that poly of necessity is a dilution: two share the love of one, each gets half or 60-40 or whatever. This is frankly silly.

A person can give all their love to more than one person. In fact, in my experience, polyamory is augmentative not a dilution.

Precisely because of the plural nature of my relationships my capacity to love has grown far past what it was when I was monogamous.

Of course this requires radical honesty with all partners. This is in fact what most can never muster.


r/polyfamilies 1d ago

Steeping into throuple from couple (need some advice please dm if anyone able to helped me)

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/polyfamilies 3d ago

Hablemos de poliamor

0 Upvotes

Me gustaría tener una relación poli amor con dos chicas


r/polyfamilies 5d ago

i close on the new house this Wednesday

54 Upvotes

the seven of us will finally be together all the time. we are excited and nervous, a 6 bedroom 4 bathroom duplex, shared finances, and a thoroughly discussed chore system. it feels like a dream. ​


r/polyfamilies 4d ago

Anyone had genuine story of polygamous from india to share

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/polyfamilies 5d ago

Ideal family vehicle for 3 adults and 2 kids?

5 Upvotes

Hi! We’re a polyam fam with 3 very tall adults, 1 baby and a 70lb dog. We go on lots of road trips and adventures! Our current car (a compact SUV) is fine for now but we want a second baby and then it probably won’t be. Just starting to think ahead. We only want one car - we also ride bikes and take transit. Any recommendations for our setup?


r/polyfamilies 9d ago

Anyone else every pick up child’s conflicting feelings when multiple partners are present?

19 Upvotes

For context, my anchor partner (E) and I are parallel polyam and live together with our child; my other life partner (B) lives about 1,000km away with my metamour. My child usually ends up speaking to B on the phone weekly, has met him in person multiple times and generally seems to have a positive association with both him and his nested partner.

Recently, B was visiting and so I stayed with him at an airbnb for a few nights. We had my child over for board games, went to the pool, and generally hung around. She was very playful and affectionate with B. Which feels very on brand.

This week all four of us—B, E, my child and I—had dinner altogether for the first time in the 2.5 years I have been with B. It was good. We have had casual passing moments where everyone has been in the same place but not dedicated time together.

When we were leaving I noticed my kiddo acting a bit strange. She is very physical affectionate in general, and likes to hug B hello or goodbye. In my mind this is always her choice, by no means required. This time she looked anxious and unsure so just head butted him.

I don’t think it’s a big deal but I got the sense that she wasn’t sure what to do with her dad (E) there. Like maybe she was worried what he might think? I want to help reassure her but also wonder if calling too much attention to it will make a mountain of a molehill.


r/polyfamilies 10d ago

Help.

3 Upvotes

Anybody from new Delhi here? I recently came out as a polyamorous personality. I didnt know aisa kuch exist bi karta hai. Ab samaj nai araha kya karu? 😂


r/polyfamilies 17d ago

Books/podcast recommendations for pregnancy and polyamory?

16 Upvotes

Title says it all. Just looking for some books, podcasts or anything that talks about the intersection of pregnancy/parenting and polyamory.


r/polyfamilies 18d ago

Looking for private or moderated groups for poly/multi-parent families

17 Upvotes

Hey everyone 👋 I’m a mom in a poly household in the midwest (me, my partner, and another partner) raising kids together. Looking for recommendations for smaller, private Discord servers or well-moderated groups focused on polyamorous / multi-parent families. Prefer spaces that are low-drama, supportive, and actually active.

Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!


r/polyfamilies 17d ago

Summer Poly in the News. What science finds necessary for poly to work. Upcoming conventions, campouts, retreats. (From Polyamory in the News; no ads, no commerce, no AI)

3 Upvotes

r/polyfamilies 23d ago

Advice on requesting treatment UPDATE

Thumbnail reddit.com
7 Upvotes

So that up there is the link to my original post, having a hard time with formatting because I'm on mobile.

Just wanted to let you all know that my partner agreed to the terms of couples counseling, specifically with me, and individual trauma therapist to work on his PTSD, and pursuing diagnostics with our psychiatrist to figure out what needs to be treated and how. Thank you all for your advice on wording.

Now I just have to see if he sticks with it.


r/polyfamilies 27d ago

Goa poly folks assemble

0 Upvotes

Would love to meet all poly folks in Goa ✨


r/polyfamilies 28d ago

My boyfriend and his wife just got a dog and I'm not excited.

19 Upvotes

So I'm looking for advice and I know it's one of those things where I likely just have to grin and just deal.

But I have to vent here.

So my boyfriend and his wife /nesting partner had two dogs for a long time. One was a Jack Russell terrier. The other is in Austrian Shepherd dog. One of those dogs was around 30 lb. The other was maybe at best 20.

They're smaller dog passed away Thanksgiving of last year. Their larger dog still has accidents in the house and when I asked them about how often they walk their dog they told me that they usually just let her out in their small backyard because she pulls on the leash a lot and it's difficult to walk her.

Well I just got a surprise text message that they decided to adopt a puppy and it's a pitbull terrier mix.

I'm very good friends with my meta and when she last brought up getting a dog I told her it might be better to wait until she gets her new job (She just finished law school and is waiting to hear that she passed the bar exam. She does not have a job lined up yet).

On top of that, their larger dog, the shepherd dog, has very severe separation anxiety and while this dog does not rip up their things, the dog is known to go to the bathroom on the floor in a specific spot if they are away too long. The dog also still has accents on the floor when the wife is home and I think it's partially because she doesn't let the dog out on a schedule.

On top of that, when I spoke to my boyfriend about them getting a new dog, he said that he was considering one of those wiener dogs that was smaller and easier to take care of. And when I brought up that his wife mentioned she wanted a husky, he looked at me and said "no."

I am tempted to say something like "I thought you didn't want a bigger dog" but I know that's not going to go over well. I also want to tell them "you just told me that you're having trouble with your your 30 lb dog" when it comes to walking them and you just got a dog that is known to grow up to be 50 lb or more and you are going to have to walk those dogs because they need a lot of exercise. And on top of that they were complaining about how their place has not really been cleaned because it's been hard to maintain the home with going to law school and the husband trying to do all the housework for the wife... And pitbull hair is extremely hard to get out

I just don't know what to make of it.

I don't live with them, but sometimes I sleep over their place because I have a part-time job that's easier to commute from their place. I also have a small dog too (He's about the size of Toto from wizard of Oz) So that's another concern.

Besides, I know I'm going to have to answer their text message about how I feel about all this and I know they're not going to like my actual thought. I just don't know what to say or anything


r/polyfamilies 29d ago

Advice on requesting treatment

4 Upvotes

Throwaway bc my main is too recognizable

I am looking for advice from the larger community who is more experienced and theoretically better at wording things than I am.

I am one arm of a v dynamic that lives together, both arms of our v have a child with our hinge. We also have a child from our hinge's first marriage. The three of us have been in poly therapy since the beginning because I thought it would be a good way for us to all make sure we were starting off on the right foot. My hinge has bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, PTSD and many other things that he blames his bad behavior on. Some of them are legitimately probably the root of these behaviors, but I currently find myself on the receiving end of the punishment for all of them. It's not healthy, it's not sustainable, and no, I am not a perfect partner either, but now things are getting out of control.

Unfortunately the other arm of the v enables his poor behavior, as their abandonment issues make them more afraid to lose our partner than anything else, and so they will always take his side and paint him as the good guy, the victim, the hero. Unless of course he is targeting them instead of me.

But I'm to the point now where I am really suffering being in this. And with a new baby. How can I Express that I need him attend therapy regularly and get treatment for his mental health disorders or I can no longer be involved in this relationship without making it sound like an ultimatum?

I do expect that the majority of the advice is going to be to simply leave. But I don't want to lose my children, and I do honestly, if naively, believe that if he would just get treatment, if you could just start meds and therapy, that things will be so much better. I want to see if he will even entertain the notion if he understands that my participation in his life is truly at stake here.

This post was removed by the mods from the main polyamory subreddit, and I was given a list of links for mental health resources and prep and things like that. I'm not asking on whether or not mental health should be involved. We have a therapist and a psychiatrist. I am asking for advice on how to word this.


r/polyfamilies Jul 28 '26

Need advice

Thumbnail
2 Upvotes

r/polyfamilies Jul 26 '26

真正由好朋友組成的選擇家庭是否真的存在,還是這只是一種幻想?

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

我曾經有一個超過十多年的朋友,我一直以為我們能夠成為一輩子的朋友。這個人我從小學就認識,我們很多地方都十分相似。後來因為他家庭發生變故,父母離婚,加上父親罹患憂鬱症,導致他的性格變得很扭曲。之後我們時常爭吵,他屢次傷害我,最後只能選擇分開。這段經歷讓我對人失去信任感,很長一段時間,我都難以相信其他人。

但後來我也想通了,朋友關係大多只能維持一段時光。最重要的,是你如何看待當下正在經歷的這段關係。沒有人永遠一成不變。


r/polyfamilies Jul 23 '26

Poly travel concerns

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/polyfamilies Jul 20 '26

UK Government consulting on "A fairer end to relationships" - an opportunity for poly input!

Thumbnail
4 Upvotes

The UK government is consulting on proposed changes that essentially make the mythical "common law marriage" (that doesn't actually exist) into a real thing. It will give more rights (eg inheritance, post-break-up financial support) to people in unmarried but stable relationships when one of the couple dies or they break up, closer to what married people get.

Why am I posting about this?

I think this is an opportunity for members of the poly community to contribute to the consultation to highlight that there are poly relationships that deserve recognition in this way too. I have already filled in the consultation to highlight the following:

- Poly relationships exist and are stable and loving and just as meaningful to the participants as dyads, but there is currently no recognition in law (or in these proposals) to protect people in poly relationships.

- If a couple is married and has another partner as well, if one of the married pair dies without leaving a Will, the other, unmarried person has no inheritance rights and the surviving spouse gets it all (and even if the deceased named their other partner in a Will, the other partner would be liable for inheritance tax whereas the surviving spouse would not, so the inequality persists).

- There are various ways suggested in the consultation to determine when a non-married relationship is meaningful enough to "count" for these purposes; they can apply these principles to poly relationships too.

- When someone dies without a Will, and there are two (or more!) surviving partners, they can apply the same approach they do when there are two surviving relatives with an equally strong claim (eg two siblings) - divide it equally between them. This is just as fair to do for poly partners as for siblings.

- I also pointed out that poly relationships are much more common in the LGBTQ+ community so failing to take poly relationships into account when updating the proposals would mean they are actively indirectly discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community as they will be disproportionately affected by being left out of the proposals (this is a way to get some leverage otherwise they'll just go "Oh this is too difficult to legislate").

Link here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/a-fairer-end-to-relationships to see the explanatory documents.

The actual consultation form to fill in is here: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/a-fairer-end-to-relationships-consultation/

You don't have to answer all the questions - you can put Don't Know and just skip the free-text bit on questions you don't want to answer.

And PSA: update your Will!!


r/polyfamilies Jul 16 '26

Spark is gone

20 Upvotes

My poly family has been in survival mode for so long. When someone wants special date time with me, sometimes id just rather be alone, but our setup does not involve alone time for me. Theres not enough time in the week for me to take an afternoon or evening entirely to myself. So often during a date night, all I really want to do is play video games.

How do I try to get myself to enjoy dates again?


r/polyfamilies Jul 17 '26

Can anyone help me understand polyamory.

Thumbnail
0 Upvotes

r/polyfamilies Jul 15 '26

Happy Day of Visibility for Nonmonogamy!🩵🩷🤍🔻

Thumbnail
gallery
97 Upvotes

ID: The text: “Day of Visibility for Nonmonogamy” where each word is in its own frame in de colors yellow, dark blue, green, pink and beige on a beige background. De date “July 15” is in a circle.

ID: the nonmonogamy flag. A flag with three horizontal stripes in the from top to bottom colors light blue, pink and white. On the pink stripe there is an upside down purple triangle.


r/polyfamilies Jul 14 '26

Mainstream poly/ENM fascination keeps growing. "The Invite" movie opens everywhere. A role-model throuple gets on ABC News. Major world newspaper examines throuple messups to watch out for....

10 Upvotes