What if I was asked these questions?

I started following another blog that is intriguing and thought provoking.  Below is his post of questions from his daughter.  His mental illness challenges are different than mine.  As I read the propose questions, I started wondering how would I answer these questions to my adult children? I asked Kevin's permission to use his list here.  Where the questions use the word Dad, I will switch those to Mom otherwise these are the questions I plan to tackle. 


http://voicesofglass.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/questions-to-a-parent-with-mental-illness-a-new-challenge/

So over the next month I am going to be doing the “Questions to a parent with mental illness” Challenge and here are a list of the questions which my daughter came up with…

1. Am I part of the cause of your mental illness?
2. Is mental illness hereditary?
3. Do I make your mental health worse?
4. When your mental health is bad, what can I do to help?
5. When your mental health is bad do you try to protect me from it, and why?
6. Why do you pull away and isolate from me, when your mental health is bad?
7. What positives do you think your mental illness brings to our relationship?
8. Tell me one thing that I do which makes your mental health better?
9. Tell me one thing that I do which makes your mental health worse?
10. If you had to choose just one of your mental health conditions which I would experience for a day. Which one would you choose, and why?
11. Do you find it difficult to talk to me about your mental health, and if so why?
12. How do you think your mental health effects our family now?
13. Ho do you think your mental health effected our family in the past?
14. How do you think your mental health will effect our family in the future?
15. Choose one thing that you would change about your mental health if you could. And why?
16. Which of your traits and personality would you like to pass on to me and why?
17. Which of your traits and personality would you like me to avoid having and why?
18. To me you are just my Dad, but how do you think others see you?
19. What parts of your mental health do you think I would like to change, and why?
20. I sometimes hear others putting labels on you. How does that make you feel?
21. What are some of the things that you do which affect your mental health badly?
22. What are some of the things that you do which affect your mental health positively?
23. If I was the one who had your mental illness, and not you.  What would you want to ask me?
24. If I was the one who had your mental illness, and not you.  What would you want me to know?
25. How do you think your mental illness affects the way you love me?
26. How do you think your mental illness affects the way I love you?
27. How do you think your mental illness affects the way you allow me to love you?
28. Do you think you will ever have really good mental health?
29. Do you sometimes feel guilty for having a mental illness?
30. If there was one thing that you would have me learn from your battle with mental illness, what would it be?

I think some of these questions would be thought provoking for any parent with or without mental illness.  I plan to put a link to each of his posts so you can read two different perspectives.  

Grandchildren look so much like my children did when they were that age.