How do I explain a breakup to young children?

I'm rereading now and just wondering how many of these "stepchildren" are from the boyfriend, and how many (if any) children were fathered by the boyfriend?

I mean, if boyfriend is not the father and is only seen as a "second father", and she's trying to repair a relationship with the husband (father?) then WHY continue seeing the boyfriend (or allowing children to see that man if they are not his) on weekends?

Oh my goodness!! That's sooo cool!

The question is that It doesn't matter what culture or how many father's there were. Gestation with humans is 9 months and normally breast feeding makes that next pregnancy wait a while longer. Anyone can do the math, so when was the first born?

Has your dog ever sung with you?

I could be wrong about this, but I'm guessing that whatever number of children the OP is claiming, they aren't all hers by birth, and that some originally belonged to the husband and to the boyfriend by different mothers.

I once knew a man who would tell you he had 5 children, but that's because he married a woman with 5 children, and he hadn't biologically produced any of them.

This whole story reminds me of a girl I used to know.

She had multiple kids by multiple fathers, and was currently with the father of the youngest and talking marriage. However, it was later rumored that he was cheating on her with another woman who also had multiple children by multiple fathers. The boyfriend vehemently denied that he had ever slept with this other woman.

Some time later, this second woman had another child, and so the first woman, wanting to test him, presented him with, "You know, I saw (the other woman) and her baby the other day, and that baby looks exactly like you."

She hadn't actually seen this other woman, nor had she seen the child. But he immediately answered, "I swear, it isn't mine! I'll take a paternity test to prove it!" And she looked at him and said, "If you've never slept with her, why would you need to take a paternity test?"

Hook, line, and sinker.

(I don't know if he turned out to be the father or not -- I didn't hear that part of the story.)

Now I know it sounds like something straight out of the Maury Povich or Jerry Springer show, but this was the daily norm for many of the girls I worked with (and most of the fathers of their kids wound up in jail.)

The most ironic thing is that one of these girls had a prominent relative who headed a local church, and so the whole family claimed to identify strongly with God and was in church every Sunday. But apparently, there was no such thing as sexual sin to them unless it was textbook adultery. Everything else seemed to get a pass, so they all thought they were right with the Lord.

I asked her once what her church's sermons were about, and apparently, there were certain things they focused on that stood out to them as "sin" and so that's all they talked about. Stealing and murder were apparently heavily preached against because it was an area where shootouts were common. Other things they were told was to avoid hard drugs (but weed was seen as ok, and this was way before any state had made legal exceptions,) and try to avoid joining a gang. These were seen as the biggest problems in the community, so apparently this is what the churches focused on. (I keep saying "apparently" because I'm only going by what I was told -- I never actually attended these churches myself to hear what was taught.)

I was genuinely shocked, as I was just a sheltered kid from a small town in another area.

I have often wondered if one of the biggest hurdles to evangelism and getting people nowadays is trying to get others to come into agreement of what sin really is.

Lol no. I stayed with some friends on my recent trip and they could get their little chihuahua to sing; it was so cute.

That is so cute!
My prairie dogs, Sarah and Samuel, would throw their heads back and sing with me too.
George liked to "sing" base with me. He was very talkative.

I could be wrong about this, but I'm guessing that whatever number of children the OP is claiming, they aren't all hers by birth, and that some originally belonged to the husband and to the boyfriend by different mothers.

I once knew a man who would tell you he had 5 children, but that's because he married a woman with 5 children, and he hadn't biologically produced any of them.

This whole story reminds me of a girl I used to know.

She had multiple kids by multiple fathers, and was currently with the father of the youngest and talking marriage. However, it was later rumored that he was cheating on her with another woman who also had multiple children by multiple fathers. The boyfriend vehemently denied that he had ever slept with this other woman.

Some time later, this second woman had another child, and so the first woman, wanting to test him, presented him with, "You know, I saw (the other woman) and her baby the other day, and that baby looks exactly like you."

She hadn't actually seen this other woman, nor had she seen the child. But he immediately answered, "I swear, it isn't mine! I'll take a paternity test to prove it!" And she looked at him and said, "If you've never slept with her, why would you need to take a paternity test?"

Hook, line, and sinker.

(I don't know if he turned out to be the father or not -- I didn't hear that part of the story.)

Now I know it sounds like something straight out of the Maury Povich or Jerry Springer show, but this was the daily norm for many of the girls I worked with (and most of the fathers of their kids wound up in jail.)

The most ironic thing is that one of these girls had a prominent relative who headed a local church, and so the whole family claimed to identify strongly with God and was in church every Sunday. But apparently, there was no such thing as sexual sin to them unless it was textbook adultery. Everything else seemed to get a pass, so they all thought they were right with the Lord.

I asked her once what her church's sermons were about, and apparently, there were certain things they focused on that stood out to them as "sin" and so that's all they talked about. Stealing and murder were apparently heavily preached against because it was an area where shootouts were common. Other things they were told was to avoid hard drugs (but weed was seen as ok, and this was way before any state had made legal exceptions,) and try to avoid joining a gang. These were seen as the biggest problems in the community, so apparently this is what the churches focused on. (I keep saying "apparently" because I'm only going by what I was told -- I never actually attended these churches myself to hear what was taught.)

I was genuinely shocked, as I was just a sheltered kid from a small town in another area.

I have often wondered if one of the biggest hurdles to evangelism and getting people nowadays is trying to get others to come into agreement of what sin really is.

Nobody gains eternal life by cleaning up their lives or maintaining a clean life.

It's also crazy how much scandal there is among conservative, say Independant Baptist, leaders. There is one preacher I heard of that preached strong for modesty and probably a lot of things that needed to be addressed, then it later came out he wasn't above reproach morally. And that is just one example. Then people pull out the "Touch not the Lord's anointed" card and claim you shouldn't address it.

I asked a Mennonite lady who moved to my town about her community. We talked about this subject too. I was surprised when she told me that the exact same things happen there too. She said that it's just covered up, so you don't hear about it.

It's not all scandal.

I've noticed that sometimes peoples' "testimonies" lack almost anything to do with Christ. My siblings and I used to have a bedtime tradition of listening to Unshackled since it came on at 9 pm. Often they present a good gospel message. But the other night my sister and I listened to one of the recent programs from their website and I was dissappointed. The guy who supposedly got saved said nothing about an encounter with Jesus. Yes, he said he found God, but that can mean so much these days. And I think many people mistake the Lord drawing them for Salvation.

I know what you mean.
That's a pet peeve of mine. I've listened to a lot of those programs.
When Someone talks about their life being transformed from a major sinner to a moral person and it sounds like they put their faith in the wrong person.
Jesus is sometimes mentioned as an afterthought.

That doesn't mean that very immoral people don't get saved. It's just that their new moral lifestyle shouldn't be the object of faith. There was someone who prayed with me on his death bed in a hospital. He was an outlaw biker of the Pagan motorcycle gang. I won't go into details now, but I do believe he trusted Christ to save him because he seemed to understand the gospel and believe it. I had a preacher from a local non-denominational church argue with me that he couldn't have gotten saved. That preacher was later a part of the worst scandal I've seen. His object of faith was himself, while the former biker put his trust in the Lord. I believe that he, former Pagan, went away justified.

Yes I was thinking about that too. I'm very familiar with Mennonites and they definitely have issues too!

Me and my boyfriend have come to the conclusion together that are relationship is not a positive and is in fact causing a negative environment for our children. How do I explain to my young children that a man they treat as a second father is not going to be around as often? we've decided weekend visitations with vacations spent entirely at his residence.
I'm nervous that this breakup will negatively effect my children and want to handle it in the best way possible.

I love my Mennonite brothers and sisters and know that we all struggle with temptations.
Any time I visit it's always a blessing.