How to Explain Two “Moms” to a Child

Your child is at an age when you have an obligation to protect his innocence. We have no way to know if there is a sexual relationship between the two women (they could simply be roommates sharing a household out of financial necessity). Given these factors, I believe that you should avoid details about the nature of the relationship between the two women and focus instead on how his classmate relates to them. You might say to your child, “Your classmate probably calls them both ‘Mom’ because they take care of him in the way that moms take care of their children. Sometimes people have more than one person in their life that they call ‘Mom.'”