Over the years, the “traditional” family has evolved, giving way to new models of co-parenting. This is the case of Virginie and Sandrine, Nicolas and David, two homosexual couples, who raise their two children together, in a very original house. Testimony.
For a long time, for many, family automatically meant a dad, a mom and children. It was the so-called traditional model. But with societal developments in recent years, new patterns have emerged and have shown that it is entirely possible to start a family by going out of the woods. The next Zone Interdite, broadcast this Sunday, November 24 on M6, focused on its new families who are breaking taboos. Among them, there is the tribe of Virginie and Sandrine, Nicolas and David, two homosexual couples, who are raising two children hand in hand. Juliette, the eldest, 17 years old, and Victor, aged 10 and a half. They chose the co-parenting model, and for nothing in the world, they do not regret their choice.
Their great adventure began almost 18 years ago. At the time, Virginie thought that as a lesbian, she would not be able to have children. Except that as we approach thirty, “I told myself that this was the pattern that was being imposed on me and I wanted to get out of it by having my own child. For my part, and this is due to my family history, I am very attached to the “image of the dad I wanted a diagram in which there is at least a dad and a mom.” she tells us. Virginie then registered on co-parenting sites to hope to find a future co-dad. A mission far from easy. “I met a lot of them, around twenty. I really wanted to choose the right person, to have a feeling and to share common values”, she remembers.
Until the day she found the rare pearl in Nicolas and David. The crush is immediate and above all, it is shared. After taking the time to get to know each other, the project was launched: they attempted the first inseminations in August 2006 and in November, Virginie became pregnant with Juliette, whose father was Nicolas. Later, Virginie and David have little Victor. The tribe is then almost complete. All that’s missing is Sandrine, Virginie’s partner she met afterwards, who in turn became a co-parent.
But then what can the daily life of four parents and two children look like? “We have a childcare system that we try to respect as much as possible: Monday and Thursday are mothers’ days with children, Tuesday and Wednesday are dads’ days. Friday and weekends, we alternate like for vacations“, explains Virginie. To set up this operation, which is flexible if there are constraints, the parents have decided to live on the same floor. “We bought a set in an old factory and we were able to set it up with a space for dads, one for moms, everyone has their own private space and their own front door. And in the middle, there are the bedrooms of the children who communicate with both mothers and fathers. It’s practical and it also provides stability for the children. Nicolas explains to us. On the money side, “Everyone manages their own budget when we take care of the children. But when there are big expenses, like for the start of the school year, we have a common budget,” he adds.
For the rest, their everyday life resembles that of any other family. They share moments as a sixsome, they go on vacation, celebrate Christmas and birthdays with family, they laugh, sometimes bicker, and talk together every Friday to talk about the week, the news, the children and possible punishments. which were given. “I think I’m a dad like any other, a bit of a sugar daddy, but above all very attentive. What matters to me is that my children are happy, that they find their balance, and I strive to guide them without imposing anything on them”, underlines Nicolas.
