Is this out of bounds?

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I’m working on a story of a highly-sexed, faithful M&F couple with kids aged 6 and 7, putting their nuclear-family responsibilities first and having their exploratory fun only in their closed, curtained bedroom. There would be absolutely, positively, no suggestion of any kind of sex involving the kids. As things stand now, the kids wouldn’t even appear in the story, and the parents would mainly keep an ear on the monitors in their bedrooms, to make sure that the kids’ sleep isn’t disturbed.

The premise is that the adults’ desires run up against the practicality of shielding the kids from what might upset them (or make the parents really uncomfortable). There are no grandparents nearby to take the kids on sleepovers, and the couple’s babysitting budget is used for the parents to get an occasional date night (dining and entertainment, not sex). The parents intend to sit the kids down for the Mom-and-Dad-love-each-other-in-a-special-way talk, but are trying to time it to when the kids might start to process awareness of grown-up desire (and procreation), getting through to them from the culture at large (perhaps from the dreaded screen time).

This kind of story situation has existed for a long time, but isn’t erotic, because it tends to be from the viewpoint of the kids, who know vaguely that something is going on in their parents’ bedroom. The story has also been permuted into the after-split situation, with the kids observing (and passing judgment on) the people with whom the divorced parents have become romantically involved.
My question is, it is acceptable to tell this story from the parents’ viewpoints, erotically?

The story’s focus is the constraint the parents put on themselves, seeking wild thrills but doing so as adults responsible for shielding and protecting their children (and thus denying themselves some of those thrills). The story content is actually quite light-hearted, with the specific fun being pretty tame and not at all dark. What I'd like input on, however, is this: Is the presence of kids under the same roof, with parents enjoying sex acts that are described in detail, a deal-breaker? Either for Literotica or for the readership?

 

[ElectricBlue]

The story’s focus is the constraint the parents put on themselves, seeking wild thrills but doing so as adults responsible for shielding and protecting their children (and thus denying themselves some of those thrills). The story content is actually quite light-hearted, with the specific fun being pretty tame and not at all dark. What I'd like input on, however, is this: Is the presence of kids under the same roof, with parents enjoying sex acts that are described in detail, a deal-breaker? Either for Literotica or for the readership?

You have to make sure there is zero connection between the parents sexuality and the children. Even including pre-pubescent children in a story begs the question, why are they being mentioned at all? You can't suggest the kids might see, hear or even know something is going on, so really, it's far easier to lose the kids completely. Literotica isn't the right platform for social conscience drama such as you propose.

If you do keep the kids in the house, I'd be limiting their presence to one or two libido crushing moments where a child wakes up from a nightmare or needs to pee at the wrong moment, but keep them short and right away from the bedroom.

When you submit, I'd mention in a note to Laurel what the story theme is, where in the story the children get mentioned, and it's down to her.

 

[NotWise]

What I'd like input on, however, is this: Is the presence of kids under the same roof, with parents enjoying sex acts that are described in detail, a deal-breaker? Either for Literotica or for the readership?

The concept isn't a deal-breaker for the site, but as always the result will depend on how you execute it. If the kids watch or listen, for instance, then it may not fly.

Two of my early Lit stories were about a married couple with kids in the house. The presence of kids wasn't a big problem, but their role in the story was mostly to help build the parents' character and tell the story. I didn't explore the issues that you're considering.

While Laurel had no problem with the story, some of the people who read and commented through the feedback forum were uncomfortable with kids being in an erotic story in any capacity. That's something to keep in mind.

 

[MelissaBaby]

The main characters in my Mary and Alvin series have kids who appear frequently. In one chapter, the baby waking up and crying every time they try to have sex is a sort of a running gag throughout the story.

Laurel had no problem with it.

 

[SimonDoom]

My thoughts:

1. The presence of the kids in the home, and their impact as an inhibiting factor, alone should not be a problem.

2. Tell the story from the POV of the parents only. Do not include POV of kids.

3. Don't have kids stumble upon or witness any sexual activity. Keep them out of sight in the background. It's OK for the parents to be concerned about the kids but separate kids from actual sexual activity.

4. Don't overdo the description of the issue. A little will go a long way. Don't write anything that gives the impression that the presence of children makes this more titillating. Keep mention of the kids to a minimum.

 

[Kojak01]

There are countless stories on this site where children of divorced or widowed adults are part of the storyline, often even functioning as the driving force behind a single parent finding a new partner (I read and write mostly Romance). So I don't see a problem on that front.

I've had a little girl climb into bed with her mother and the main character just to snuggle on a Sunday morning and that was no problem at all as I made it clear that this was not sexual.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Agreed with other authors that this is well within the range of what Literotica has published before. However, I would suggest putting something in the Notes field along the line of "there are children in this story but they're never present during sexual activity", to avoid rejection by mistake.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Thanks for the input. I'll probably put a boilerplate note at the start of the story (not in the description line) that the characters engaging in sex acts are 18 or older. In the finished first draft, the kids are only mentioned, and later listened to from bedroom monitors. I see no reason for that to change. The kids fall asleep, unaware of what's going on, and their effect on the adults is parental due diligence that's always in the back of the parents' minds, even at their peak sexual frenzy. The narration is first person by both characters, back and forth. The parents' exploration of a tame new experience is all happy fun.

Anyway, the original poster is willing to let this thread end. Thanks again.