Mommy's New Tummy; Baby's New Self-Esteem Issue

I saw this story on the news at the bar during lunch on Friday and found myself both disgusted and intrigued.

The book is called My Beautiful Mommy, and it chronicles the experiences of a somewhat hoochie mom and her slightly slow child as mom gets a tummy tuck, boob job, and nose job. While the boob job is evident in photos, it is not mentioned in the plot. (Pictures here.)

There have, predictably, been some pretty outraged reactions to My Beautiful Mommy. While it's slightly sickening that we live in a society that requires such a book, I'm not sure how to react to the book itself. Generally I'm pretty anti-censorship and avoid labelling books as "dangerous," but the rules are different when discussing books for children (I might be looking for the word "appropriate" instead of "dangerous," at any rate).

I have no authority in jumping into this dicussion. But I would think if, as a parent, you are going to get cosmetic surgery, it is probably best to do it when the child is young; though even young children, of course, are developing self-esteem issues and concepts of beauty. It would be much worse, I believe, to get cosmetic surgery during your child's adolescent years, when his or her self-esteem is so horribly precarious.

Is it fair to say parents shouldn't get cosmetic surgery? No, I suppose not. Though I think parents should be teaching children to love themselves and their bodies. And that what's on the inside is more important than what's on the outside. Cram it in early enough, lead by example, and they may actually believe it. Still, if a woman is miserable because of her body, it hardly seems fair to make her wait until her kids reach adulthood to make a change.

If this is the case, the issue of cosmetic surgery must be explained to a child in terms he or she can understand. While I don't think this particular book is the way to do it (the excerpts I've seen make the whole project look ridiculous), a book is not a horrible idea. Parents should discuss the issue with the child first, of course, but a book is something concrete the child can turn to again and again.

Also, I suppose, children are already exposed to such icons as Barbie and Disney princesses at a very young age, so on some level, they already understand how Mommy wants to be beautiful.

My Beautiful Mommy is available here at the site for publisher "Big Tent Books."