These poly-parents say the lifestyle has made them better moms and days
For Nichole Gonzalez, giving birth to her now one-year-old daughter in late 2023 was a family affair.
As she pushed, her husband, Frank, held her left leg — while their girlfriend, Sasha, held the right.
'It was important to have both of my partners in the delivery room,' Gonzalez, 29, a stay-at-home mama of two from northern New Jersey, told The Post.
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As a polyamorous parent to both her little girl and a nine-year-old son, she's in the growing number of mothers and fathers exploring consensual non-monogamy (CNM).
It's an unrestrictive relationship style that allows couples to pursue sexual and romantic connections beyond the confines of a two-person partnership.
The avant-garde arrangement is an everyday setup for roughly one in five adults in both the U.S. and Canada, per a 2024 report from the University of Quebec, which noted, 'Among those who practice CNM, many have children.'
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12 The threesome tells The Post that their friends, family members and neighbors treat them with respect and kindness, despite their nonconformist family structure.
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Investigators interviewed 18 children of polyamorous parents to find that 'these children generally appreciated their parents' partners.'
'These adults were seen by our participants as someone who contributed positively to their lives,' wrote study authors, adding that the kids enjoyed fun, fuller lives with mom and/or dad's supplemental sweetie.
However, recent data via Cornell University, notes, '…Polyamorous families can exert positive and negative impacts on their children.'
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12 Gonzalez told The Post she and her partners are poly-parenting for keeps.
Courtesy Nichole Gonzalez
The findings indicate that pups raised in polyamorous families are susceptible to a number of disadvantages, including 'the potential loss of [an] adult partner relationships once a romantic relationship terminates and societal stigmatization.'
But Gonzalez told The Post she and her partners are poly-parenting for keeps.
The holistic healer, said her brood — whose names she chose to omit for privacy — even considers Sasha, 29, a third parent.
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12 Gonzalez says husband Frank welcomed the idea of adding another partner and parenting into their home, and found Sasha on the 3Fun app.
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12 The trio became an official throuple in late 2023.
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12 Gonzalez tells The Post she encouraged her son to call Sasha 'mom' after the boy expressed interest in embracing her as his third parent.
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'My son said, 'I like her name, but I'd like to call her mom,'' Gonzalez remembered.
The tike was seven when she and Frank found Sasha on 3Fun, a dating app for polyamorous people. And in the two years since becoming throuple, Gonzalez's family has been made whole.
'If you're bringing the right person into your family, your kids have more love,' she said, 'that's the best thing a kid could have.'
12 Gonzalez says she's the more nurturing parent, while Frank fulfills the role of 'fun' dad and Sasha serves as the structured homemaker mom.
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Gigi Engle, a certified sex and relationship psychotherapist, agreed. She told The Post, 'When raising a child inside of a polyamorous unit, you actually have more caretakers for your child.'
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'You have more hands, more guidance and more love to give the kids,' said Engle, an intimacy expert at 3Fun. 'It can really be a great thing.'
12 Gigi Engle, an intimacy expert at 3Fun, said polyamory has benefits for parents.
Penske Media via Getty Images
Courtney Boyers, a poly, self-described 'soccer mom' of three from Seattle, however, is happy keeping her boyfriends separate from the kiddos — and her monogamous husband, Nathan.
Unless, of course, the family expresses an interest in getting to know her men.
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12 Courtney Boyers
Courtesy Courtney Boyer
'None of them wanted to meet [my ex] except for my oldest and my husband,' said Courtney, 42, a relationship coach. 'It was the first time Nathan met any of my partners, and he actually really liked the guy. He was sad it didn't work out between us.'
But Nathan wasn't always keen on his wife of 20 years having other men in her life.
'When Courtney came out as poly, it really made me reexamine what I wanted as a parent, partner and husband,' Nathan said, crediting therapy with helping him embrace her polyamory.
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12 Courtney and Nathan Boyers
Courtesy Courtney Boyer
Courtney, a once pious traditionalist, expressed her desire to date other guys during their 17th anniversary dinner. It was a hard pill for Nathan, a military man and doctor, to swallow.
'It wasn't easy, and there was a lot of hurt and pain to deal with, but we decided to stay married and to make each other better,' he said. 'I've become more supportive and loving.'
Courtney, who meets most of her partners on Hinge, has become more liberated since coming out to her children in June 2023.
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12 Courtney and Nathan Boyers
Courtesy Courtney Boyer
'I was terrified they'd think of me as a monster or disgusting,' said the mom, admitting she engaged in several casual 'hookups' with men who made her feel 'disposable' during her polyamory infancy — dalliances she 'really f- -king hated.' She's since refocused her sights on more meaningful relationships.
And her kids couldn't be happier for her.
'They said, 'We love you. We don't care,'' a tearful Courtney recalled. 'It was the most beautiful thing.'
Honesty has transformed Courtney's parenting.
'I take each of my kids out for one-on-one dates each month,' she said. 'If I can make time to go on dates with men I don't know, I can do the same with my kids — we go to a restaurant and talk about everything.'
12 Barrett and his wives tell The Post that they are all happily cohabitating, and considering adding a sixth woman into their blended home.
Jam Press/@nextgenbarrett
For Los Angeleno Jame Barrett, his five wives and their 11 kids, there wasn't much discussion about moving into a 5500 sq. ft., six-bedroom house as one big poly family.
Barrett, 30, simply proposed the idea to his tribe of brides — Reda, 28, Cameron, 29, Gabriela, 30, Diana, 30, and Jessica, 31— in a group text.
'It was a shock when he sent the text,' said Jessica, a mother of two, who's currently expecting.
12 (From left) Reda, Gabriela, Jame Barrett, Diana, Jessica and Cameron enjoying a cowboy-themed family outing.
Courtesy Jame Barrett
She and Diana, the mother of the polycule's oldest kids, sons ages 13 and 11, are due to give birth on the same week in September. Cameron, Barrett's only legal wife, is also pregnant and due on June 30.
'But now, my children are living under the same roof as their dad,' Jessica continued. 'It's what I've always wanted.'
All the women tell The Post they're happily monogamous to the Left Coast real estate pro, who says polyamory's made him a better father.
'I get to be there for my sons and daughters — I'm not missing out,' he said. 'I'm their first example of love.'
But he's not pushing polyamory on the pack.
'I joke around with my three older sons and ask, 'How many wives are you gonna have?,' laughed Barrett. 'They're like, 'One!''
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And that's how you have to look at it.' Advertisement Manual elevator operators were once the lifeblood of vertical living in New York City. In the mid-20th century, the census counted more than 90,000 elevator operators nationwide. But after the 1945 citywide elevator strike — when 15,000 operators brought New York to a halt — technological innovation and changing attitudes accelerated their decline. Today, the role is all but extinct. The city Department of Buildings estimates only about 50 hand-operated elevators remain across Manhattan, including a few in Brooklyn, mostly in older co-ops and historic hotels. In an age of automation, a human behind the wheel is a charming anachronism. Advertisement 'We don't have computer systems. Just us,' he said. 10 Manual elevators were once quite common in the city, such as at the Woolworth Building downtown, which at one point was the tallest in the world. Getty Images 10 The crowds of tenants stranded outside of 1385 Broadway as the building's elevator operators went on strike as part of the general Building Service Employees Union labor dispute, New York, New York, February 18, 1935. Getty Images Sciallia's workplace overall is a charming remnant of the old New York. The 1908 building, designed by Pollard & Steinam in a restrained Beaux-Arts style, boasts limestone detailing and 23 units. It also has one home currently for sale — a three-bedroom with beamed ceilings and a renovated kitchen asking $2.5 million, represented by Compass — not to mention historically little turnover. Advertisement 'It's a very cool feel. That old-world feel,' said Sciallia. 'It's a different era for them. They come from that era. They're very prim and proper,' he said of the homeowners who call the building their home, many of whom have done so for more than a half century. Sciallia, from The Bronx, was a student at SUNY Westchester Community College when he landed the job for the summer. 'A friend of mine recommended me … so I could make some extra money on the side. And it was perfect. I fit right in.' 10 For 25 years, Sciallia has worked the antique, hand-operated elevator in his 1908 Beaux-Arts building, greeting residents, leveling floors with expert precision, and becoming an integral part of tenants' daily routines and lives. Tamara Beckwith 10 Archival and current views of 863 Park Ave. Decades later, he still takes the 5 a.m. train from Cortlandt Manor in Westchester, stops at Dunkin' Donuts for his usual — hot coffee, light cream and sugar — and transforms from commuter to concierge. He's only the fourth person to operate this elevator in more than a century. 'The guy I took his place [from] was there for 35 years. And the guy before that was there for 35 or 36 years, so he started in the 1950s,' Sciallia said. By 7:20 a.m., the co-op's lobby buzzes with dog walkers, schoolkids and residents heading to the office. And there's only one man to bring them around. Advertisement 'I am the first one at the door in the morning,' he said. 'We do all the dry cleans, the pickups, the drop-offs we bring upstairs, we do the mail. We wear all the hats.' 10 Once a widespread profession, manual elevator operation has all but vanished, with only about 50 operators remaining in the city. Tamara Beckwith 10 Sciallia knows the elevator's days may be numbered. Tamara Beckwith The elevator itself is a relic of another era — wood-paneled, brass-accented and manually operated by a rotary lever. It requires finesse. Advertisement 'You have to level it yourself,' Sciallia said. 'There's a trick. The elevator does whatever you want it to do. That is the trick. So if you're playing around with it, messing around with it, the elevator will mess around.' When Sciallia recently began training newcomers (believe it: the building is in the process of hiring a new elevator operator) he gives them three tries to land it smoothly. 'You don't want the elevator to keep going up and down. Three shots — you're good,' he added. 10 Sciallia, the fourth person to operate this elevator since its installation, starts his day before sunrise and often ends it with a story — like the time a couple in their seventies surprised him dressed as the Flintstones. Tamara Beckwith Advertisement Over the years, Sciallia has seen more than what many see in a lifetime: blackouts, the onset of technology making online-order parcels arrive in mass amounts, as well as celebrity sightings. Brooke Shields once visited regularly to see a friend, always with ice cream in hand. But it's the relationships, not the surprises, that make the job meaningful. 'That is 2 or 3 minutes you have to build a relationship,' he said of passengers riding with him. 'You're not just an elevator operator. You play the psychiatrist role. You hear their issues, problems … you can read it on their faces.' Sciallia has watched children grow up, from stroller rides to driver's licenses. He's been the first person residents see in the morning, wishes them safe travels before they jet to the Hamptons and sometimes the last when they leave for good. Advertisement 10 'You have to care,' he said, contrasting his role with the cold convenience of automation. Tamara Beckwith 'There was an older lady, in her 80s, they wanted to put her in a home,' he said. 'And she goes, 'Tony, I don't want to go.' She just started crying and said 'I can't believe this will be my last time in the elevator.'' Sciallia added. 'She passed away like a year later.' Inside the cab, trust is currency. 'There are [residents] that have been there for over 50 years,' Sciallia added. 'You have to care about the people, their problems, their successes. A robot … won't care. We care.' It's a sentiment echoed by the building's residents, who have supported Sciallia through personal losses with letters and big bouquet of flowers when his parents passed away over the last few years. 'That was the biggest act of kindness,' he said. 10 He's witnessed generations grow up, helped residents through difficult chapters and believes the job is about far more than just moving between floors. Tamara Beckwith And as modernization goes, Sciallia knows the day will come that the lever is replaced by a button. 'I don't know how much longer I have,' he said. 'But when the time comes … I will miss the people the most. Nothing lasts forever.'
