@ Bruce: life isn't fair :P My point was that not all teenaged mums are disaster areas. Some of them are just unusually young to be doing what they're doing.

Does anyone have experience of depression induced by Depo?

FTR - I do know of a positive case of teen pregnancy too.
I may have mentioned it here before because it shocked me, a part of family history I was completely unaware of.

Mum's cousin got his 15yo girlfriend pregnant.
She was not considered a suitable match, being the daughter of an alcohol prostitute and a Chinese father (just a sailor from the Docks where her mother plied her trade).

She was hidden in the family's back bedroom until she was 16 and could legally be married. The daughter was the first of two the couple eventually had. Both now professional women and mothers, and the couple are still married.

I know it's not necessarily a deathknell. It's the circumstances the children are brought up in that I think is a factor for our society. What sort of life experience does a 13 year old have? How can a 19 year old who has never worked instill a work ethic to her 3 children? It can happen. It does. But the odds are stacked against them.

And Casi - no idea. I certainly didn't develop depression on Depo. I already had it before my first foray, and the next time it hit me I was off it.

I had some pretty awful side effects on depo when I had it. Hair falling out, mood swings and pretty much constant spotting. Probably TMI, but possibly worth mentioning.

I don't think it's TMI, case. I'm sure the women here are glad for the info, and the men had better start recognizing what some of us have to go through to guarantee them some progeny-free nookie.

Starts about 1:55..
.
.

I think I'll have that talk with my daughter when she starts having a period. I'm not looking forward to that day.

neither is she, I bet. iIt's better coming from a mom. Or a complete stranger. Just sayin' You might not even know when that time comes.

I'd like to think she can talk to me about anything.

That's where the problems come from -- parents who think 'my child can talk to me about anything!' and fail to make provisions for any other possibility.

Seriously. It's not personal. It has more to do with the scrambled nature of the girl-child's brain and less to do with your parenting skills.

Wishful parental thinking, I'm afraid. Even in the best parent/child relationships at some point the child becomes a teenager. :lol2:

No offense to any teens here, but raising teens is a difficult job. Much harder than when they were little. And much less satisfying.

exactly. She most likely won't want to talk to anyone about it particularly, but especially not her father who has her on a princess pedestal where she wants to stay. and who doesn't want to thing of her as a sexual being..... and especially not when she's dealing with periods, which is also something she's also unlikely to want to discuss with her daddy-dearest, at least when they first start and she's just coming to terms with it all. I mean, do you know how to insert a tampon?.....

One of my dau took forever to get one in, the other mastered it in a few short weeks. But not without difficulty. It takes a pretty understanding father to deal with issues surrounding their periods. Mom was a bit more grounding when dealing with them and the mood swings, dads just need to be openly supportive. Not an easy thing for most men.

swimmers often get no time in which to master it. it's almost a given that your first period will start on a championship morning, apparently. This has happened to two of my friends' daughters in the last two years. One apparently gave up trying to explain and just gave a physical demonstration :eek: