In Her Words
Reality Parenting: My Beautiful Mommy
Guess who's bonding in the plastic surgeon's office?
By: Mary Beth Sammons
Guess we should have seen it coming.
There's no question we live in an increasingly complex world that challenges us every day with a wide range of disturbing issues that are difficult for children to understand and for adults to explain. Issues rear their ugly heads daily: TV news headlines, terrorism, the latest fallen teen idol. The questions can be probing: "Why don't you and Daddy want to live together anymore?"
It's tough to know what to say and do.
But now, a plastic surgery book for kids? Are they kidding?
Coming to a bookshelf near you this May: My Beautiful Mommy, a picture book aimed at helping 4- to 7-year-olds cope when mommy has plastic surgery. Yup. No kidding!
Its bright pink cover pictures a perky-breasted babe sprinkled in stardust while her daughter looks aglow at her Barbie-esque mommy. The book itself features a ripped plastic surgeon, Dr. Michael, and a little girl whose mommy gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants.
"You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore," mommy tells daughter who accompanies her to the plastic surgeon's office for pre-appointments. "Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better."
Dr. Michael Salzhauer, the real-life plastic surgeon and book author told Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/id/132240 that he wrote the book so kids won't be scared when their moms come home from the doctor's office bandaged, bruised and bedridden.
He said he was inspired to write the book when he noticed that an increasing number of women were bringing their kids with them to his plastic surgery office but weren't necessarily doing a good job of explaining why they were there. "Parents generally tend to go into this denial thing," he said in the article.
Okay, I'm all for being honest with my kids. God only knows, I have had to broach some tough subjects and help them navigate through anger and tears as a result of things that just seem wrong in our little world and the one beyond us. But the idea of teaching my daughters that as girls grow up, they need to fix themselves with plastic surgery to be the prettiest mommy on the block, makes me gag. One of the saddest questions my then 8-year-old asked me was "Mom, at what age do girls get anorexia?"
In a world where reality TV and shows like Project Runway set the standards for our children, it's plain depressing to think parents could one day soon march into story time at the local library with their 4- to 7-year-olds in tow and, instead of reading The Velveteen Rabbit, the storyteller will be chronicling a one mom's boob job.
