If I had known I was bipolar when my wife and decided to have kids, I might not have had children at all. It's a horribly hard position to take, but bipolar disorder can be a terribly difficult and debilitating mental illness to cope with, and I wouldn't wish it on anybody -- let alone my own children. One of my three children is clearly bipolar, and she, her children, and the alcoholic father of her children are living in a tent.