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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Picture book helps kids deal with mom’s plastic surgery
Kids afraid of your nose job? Book helps explain what's going on.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So you want to have your tummy tucked and your boobs lifted but are worried the kids won’t understand. Well, there’s a new picture book coming out on April 28 aimed at helping kids understand plastic surgery. It’s called “My Beautiful Mommy.”
I don’t have an advance copy of the book, but Newsweek had an exclusive interview with the author.
According to the story, “My Beautiful Mommy” is written by a plastic surgeon from Florida who saw lots of mommies bringing their children in for their appointments. He felt like that was scary for the kids, and he wanted to help explain what was going on and why their mom was doing it.
The Newsweek story says, “ ‘My Beautiful Mommy’ is aimed at kids ages 4 to 7 and features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael (a musclebound superhero type) and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Before her surgery the mom explains that she is getting a smaller tummy: ‘You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn’t fit into my clothes anymore. Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better.’ Mom comes home looking like a slightly bruised Barbie doll with demure bandages on her nose and around her waist.”
“The text doesn’t mention the breast augmentation, but the illustrations intentionally show Mom’s breasts to be fuller and higher. ‘I tried to skirt that issue in the text itself,’ says (Dr. Michael) Salzhauer. ‘The tummy lends itself to an easy explanation to the children: extra skin and can’t fit into your clothes. The breasts might be a stretch for a six-year-old.’ “
“The book doesn’t explain exactly why the mother is redoing her nose post-pregnancy. Nonetheless, Mom reassures her little girl that the new nose won’t just look ‘different, my dear—prettier!’ “
There are concerns that the daughters will think they’re bodies need fixing too — but I guess they might wonder that with our without a book.
What do you guys think? Would you buy this book to help your children if you were having plastic surgery? If you’ve already had surgery, what have you told your kids in the past?
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