An Oregon-based family has proven that the traditional nuclear family isn't always the best fit, after revealing that they parent four children with two moms and two dads.
Married couple Alysia Rogers, 34, and her husband Tyler, 35, hadn't entertained the idea of polyamory until they began developing feelings for another married pair - their friends Sean Heartless, 46, and his 28-year-old wife Taya, PEOPLE reports.
Tyler and Alysia were already parents to a son and daughter - who are now seven and eight - but decided to give a polyamorous relationship with Sean and Taya a try, so they all moved in together, kids included.
"Our kids already knew we were dating Sean and Taya. 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,'" Tyler recalled.
Then, a year after becoming a quadruple, two more babies were born, with Alysia and Taya each giving birth to a child - one in March 2021 and another in October of the same year.
In an unusual twist, however, neither woman knows which man is the father, as Alysia told TODAY that the foursome "did not regulate the biology."
She further explained: "We're all equal parents to all of the children and it's not up for debate or discussion. 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."
Taya then added: "We wanted to do everything we could to make sure that everybody feels like an equal parent. At this point, finding out their genetics would change nothing."
Sean did reveal to the outlet, though, that there have been some challenges when it comes to differences in parenting. "I tend to be a little more - some would use the word 'harsh,' I use the word 'structure'. I think that there's benefits to the way I do things, and there's benefits to the way they want to do things through gentle parenting.
"Kids are ever-changing, so if you get stuck in one style of parenting, it's not going to work. I'm struggling the most with learning that, so we still have conversations about that daily," he added.
The foursome regularly posts content to their Instagram page, where they often make light-hearted fun of their relationship and the most common responses they receive from people about their uncommon situation.
Sean, Taya, Alysia, and Tyler aren't alone in their unique relationship, as a 2021 study by Frontiers in Psychology found that one in six adults surveyed "wanted to be polyamorous. One in nine revealed they have been polyamorous at some point, and one in 15 people reportedly knew of others in polyamorous relationships."
