In a situation like hers I would also choose to not have children and opt to adopt instead. I think in situations where you are aware of a chance that something which can have severe adverse effects to the health or happiness of a child, it's a little selfish to take the risk, specially when there are other options available.

That being said I also do not and never will understand a womans drive to bare her own children, and I respect that.

If my anxiety was really dabilitatingly bad, or I had bad depression, I wouldn't have my own kids either. I know the possibilities of handing down something like that genetically is rather up for debate, but I am so open to the idea of adoption that anything which gives a reasonable risk is a risk I am not willing to take.

 

I don't have any major health problems. Only the mental issues, social anxiety and perhaps asperger's. There are medical problems (my mom died from leukemia and my dad was born with a cleft palate/lip) in my family but nothing that has a large percentage chance of occurring in my kids. Certainly would not want to have kids with a guy who is sort of asocial or socially retarded like myself. The kid would suffer greatly. Part of the reason I broke up with one of my exes is that he wanted kids but his genes did not seem the best.

 

It is hard to decide where you draw the line. I guess something physical and obvious like that, it might be a bit easier for her to make that decision, but still, it isn't a life threatening illness I presume, so I don't think it would be that bad if she had kids and passed that on.

But when it comes to mental illness, I don't think we should all be so quick to discount the idea of having kids in case they suffer from the same thing we have. It is not guaranteed that a kid will have a mental illness. Yes they will probably have a greater susceptibility to it, but it isn't a 100% guarantee.

Plus I think people like us need to fight back and preserve our genes too! We are worthy and valuable too, and just because we are shy or introverted and more susceptible to things like depression/anxiety, doesn't mean we shouldn't have kids. We need to fight back against the extroverted society!

 

Good posts. I met the chick a few times and she didn't look bad. At first I thought it shouldn't stop her from having kids. But after hearing about her being tormented as a child, I completely understand why she chooses not to have kids. She did look like that guy in the movie "Powder" without her wig on.