Five siblings have spoken out about growing up with their parents sharing a 26-year age gap, receiving negativity from students and teachers alike.
Allison and Ben Hornsby recently made headlines after opening up about their relationship, revealing the struggles of raising triplets and twins.
Now, Benjamin (19), Noah (19), Ethan (19), Mia (16), and Jude (16) are sharing their opinion, saying they all love the age gap and their unique family.
But the quintet claim they often experience extensive questioning from friends, as well as teachers and other adults.
“It’s cool and unique, I love it,” Benjamin told http://NeedToKnow.co.uk .
“I am happy with who my parents are and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“On occasion, somebody would ask about my dad’s age, or if he was my grandad but it was never an issue.”
Jude added: “I’ve never really thought it was weird or questioned it, mostly because it was like that for so long.
“It hasn’t bothered me either because it never really processed in my mind how big the difference is.”
Meeting in 1998 in a pawn shop, Allison (45) and Ben (71), instantly fell in love, moving to Florida to begin their life together.
Getting married in 2002, the couple started a family in 2003 with the arrival of the triplets, Benjamin, Noah and Ethan.
The trio were joined by the twins Mia and Jude three years later, who are now both 16 years old.
Allison, who runs the Instagram account @Starrynight1951 with Ben, said: “Our age gap has always been natural to our children.
“We have raised our children to be inclusive and embrace differences.
“We answer questions as they come up but our children understand we were both consenting adults when we met and started our relationship.
“We are honest with them about our age gap they understand not everyone approves of age gap relationships.
“They also know we love each other and that’s what matters.”
Despite accepting the love of their parents, the quintet often experience crude comments and questions from nosy people.
Ethan, who has a TikTok account (@Hearinglikeethan), said: “Some of the negative comments that I have received were from the teachers and students, asking ‘why did your mum marry him? Isn’t he too old to be your dad?’
“Some of the comments that I got from my classmates were ‘Is that your grandad?
“That’s pretty awesome that your dad is older.’”
But for the majority of their lives, the children have been unaffected by the age gap, choosing not to take notice of the haters.
Ethan added: “I think that the age gap is cool because I get knowledge from two generations instead of one.
“I love the age gap, it has never bothered me,” added Mia.
“I have experienced questions but always in a loving way.”
Jude also said: “It’s cool and no it has never bothered me. There was no need for my parents to discuss their age gap with us.”
The family hopes to remove the stigma surrounding age-gap relationships, showing only love matters.
Allison said: “We feel like our family is proof that not all age-gap relationships are shallow.
“We may not fit the traditional image of marriage or parents but that is one of the many things that make our family beautiful and unique.
“We hope to inspire other families that may be a little different.”
