Throuple are raising their combined five children as a parental trio

A polyamorous throuple are raising their combined five children together as a parental trio, it has recently been reported.

Cheyenne Barnes and James Chorman were in a monogamous relationship together, until one evening out with a colleague lead to a change in their relationship and lifestyle.

29-year-old Cheyenne Barnes had been in a relationship with her boyfriend James Chorman for a year when she suggested they add a third person into their romantic lives.

According to a recent report, Chorman had initial reservations, though that all changed after the pair spent a night with Barnes' then-co-worker Joelle Temporal, 24, back in 2019.

The trio became a throuple soon after.

Each of the trio has a child from a previous relationship, none of whom they wished to name in the interview, while Cheyenne and James also have two children together.

Now, they are raising their "rainbow family" together in Houston, Texas.

Cheyenne Barnes said of their living situation;

“People say we’re messing up our kids, but the kids don’t care.”

“All they see is three people who love each other – and love them." She continued.

In terms of the dynamics of their individual parenting styles, Barnes added, “Since I’m the one who watches them most of the time as James and Joelle work, I make a lot of the decisions.

“We have different parenting techniques, but overall, we usually agree on what we should do, and we do sometimes have a vote, too.”

“We decided I should be the one who mainly deals with discipline, so it remains consistent. Don’t get me wrong, I play with them too but when they are acting up, James and Joelle call me in to deal with them.

“They get to be the fun ones while I’m the bad guy! I’m pretty fair across the board with each child, regardless of whether or not they are biologically mine.

“I always make sure to have a talk with the kids to make sure they understand what they did wrong, so they can think about it in the future.”

Cheyenne had known that she was bisexual her entire life, and so it was she who suggested the idea of polyamory to James roughly six months after the couple's daughter was born.

“I’ve been bisexual my entire life,” Cheyenne said. “In fact, I knew I liked women before men. I’d never been in a poly relationship before, though.

“I sat James down and said, ‘How would you feel about bringing another woman into the mix?'

“He was pretty apprehensive and started saying one woman was enough for him, and that he didn’t want to complicate things.”

Six months later, after giving the idea some thought, James agreed. The couple set up profiles on dating apps, though they soon realized that it wasn't going to be easy to find an appropriate match.

After several dates didn't provide what the couple was looking for, Cheyenne once again resigned herself to a monogamous relationship and threw herself into her work.

It was then that she met Joelle.

“At the start, I wasn’t interested in her like that at all,” she remembered. “I’d actually sometimes go home to James and complain about her.

“But within a matter of weeks we started talking and bonding over work gossip and our love of 90s rap.”

After the trio went out for dinner, the idea of the couple inviting Joelle into their lives was born.

“To me, it still felt like it would just be a friendship, but James was quite keen to see if Joelle would be interested in taking things to the next level.

“I was the one that had picked the girls before, but this was the first time James seemed excited.” Cheyenne explained.

 “At first, I wasn’t getting the vibe that Joelle was interested in being in a poly relationship, but I invited her to a party to see what happened.

“Another girl started flirting with me, so I turned to Joelle and said, ‘This chick is trying to get with me, but I’ve told her I’m her with you. Is that okay?’

"She nodded, so I asked if I could kiss her, and she said yes.

“James was talking to someone else at the time and I told him about it later on. He giggled about it and smiled knowingly at me.

“The party got dull, so we headed back to my house. We went to the bedroom as a trio, and it was surprisingly natural.

“It was the first time for all of us, but it all felt so natural. Joelle had never had a female relationship but, like me, she knew she liked girls like that.”

A month after they became an official throuple, Joelle moved in with Cheyenne and James. The trio hope that by sharing their story, they can encourage further understanding of polyamorous relationships.