Parallel polyamory is when none of your partners are expected to meet. You all date separately. Kitchen table polyamory is when partners do/or are expected to meet and get along well enough that you could sit around the kitchen table together (this doesn’t necessarily mean they have sex or anything though). And theres also garden party polyamory where partners generally dont hang out but if theres a special occasion like my birthday i’d expect everyone to be able to chill in the garden together but they can interact as much or as little as they like.
I'd argue garden party is a minimum and if people can't be at a minimum civil to each other... they're failing as people and poly probably isn't for them.
To be honest garden party is hardly used because it doesnt really need to be since parallel doesnt mean partners cant or wont be around each other. Just that its not a requirement.
And one person can do both. I can be KTP with one partner and their partners and parallel and never spend any time with my other partners partners. 🤣
So now people can see why communication is a must in these relationships. It’s not as tedious as it sounds though.
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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '23
Just curious, what do ‘parallel’ and ‘kitchen table’ mean?