Four parents. Four kids. Two married couples. One polyamory foursome. One happy family. These are the numbers behind the Rodgers-Hartless household.
There’s Alysia and Tyler Rodgers. They are married.
Then there’s Taya and Sean Hartless. They are also married.
However, in 2019, the two couples found themselves developing feelings for each other. They met online, hoping to spice up their marriages but they all felt a spark.
“We didn’t even know what polyamory was, until we started getting feelings for each other,” Alysia tells TODAY.com.
Better with four
They decided to act on these feelings and start a polyamorous foursome. As the polyamory foursome explains on their Instagram page, their relationship is much more than just swinging. While it started out this way, they all developed feelings for one another and fell in love.
Swinging or partner swap is purely physical. Polyamory means to have multiple romantic partners.”
Alysia and Tyler have two children together. Taya and Sean didn’t have any children, but, in 2020, they all moved in together in a house in Oregon, USA.
So you’ve got Taya, Sean, Alysia, Tyler, and their two kids, who were 4 and 5 at the time.
“Our kids already knew we were dating Sean and Taya,” Tyler explained. “We told them: ‘You know, Mom has a boyfriend and Dad had a girlfriend and we’re going to move in together, and we’re all going to be a big family and they’re going to help parent you, so we’re going to need you to treat them like you treat us — like parents.'”
‘The men switch beds every second night’Â
The polyamory foursome is very open about their unique lifestyle and do everything as a team. They share household duties. They go on vacations together. They raise the kids together.
The pairs swap nightly so, some nights you’ve got Sean and Taya together and Alysia and Tyler together. On other nights you’ve got Tyler and Taya together and Sean and Alysia together.
Two more babies
In 2021, their foursome grew when both Taya and Alysia welcomed babies, both boys. The boys are now 23 months old and 16 months old and raised like brothers. It’s unknown if Tyler or Sean are the fathers as they “did not regulate the biology”.
Tyler may be the father of both. Or Sean may be the father of both. Or they may have one each.
For the foursome, it really doesn’t matter.
“We’re all equal parents to all of the children and it’s not up for debate or discussion,” Alysia explains. “It’s not something that we’re trying to hide from the children either. If they want to know where their DNA comes from, we will absolutely go down that path with them. But at this point in their lives, it doesn’t matter.”
“We wanted to do everything we could to make sure that everybody feels like an equal parent,” Taya adds. “At this point, finding out their genetics would change nothing.”
Much more than just biology
The foursome often posts videos of what it’s like to be in this type of relationship, explaining that they don’t have relationships with other people outside of their little foursome. They also remain heterosexual with their partners.
They also seem to work quite well together. Sean is the master of mopping while Alysia is the queen of cutting the children’s nails. Tyler is in charge of baby bath time and Taya is the party planner of their quad.
Of course, they get a lot of criticism about their family structure but the foursome tries not to take it to heart.
“At the end of the day, we’re just like any other monogamous family — there’s just four of us,” Tyler says. “Being a parent is so much more than just biology, and that’s what we’re about.”
1 Comment
I would want the house divided into 2 and both ” new couples stay on their own sides. Preferrably part of the yard divided.