Kids' book explains mommy's plastic surgery
 

Clickage

I'm trying to think about what kind of event that could occur that I'd be unequipped to explain to my child. On the surface it would seem that this would be something that children would have questions about. But how can one make a decision to have such a surgery and not be able to explain it to their kids?

I can see books that would help explain HIV, cancer or other difficult life situations. These are obviously unforeseen traumatic situations that can leave one lacking the words to explain. Plastic surgery is on the other hand something that would have been planned out before hand. Part of that planning I would assume would be how it is going to be explained to others, including your children.

I see this type of book being another crutch of sorts that we have gravitated to leaning on to deal with life's issues. Of course I could be wrong. Who sees a need for this and what is this need? I understand that not all elective cosmetic surgery is only for appearance sake. But still there should an ability to honestly explain this to our children.

LAME.

Feel uncomfortable talking to your child about something? Read this pamphlet, watch this segment on News11, buy this book.

People don't even want to parent anymore or parent even less and less.

..

I've never understood not being able to talk to your child. When I had my breast reduction a year and a half ago I explained the entire procedure to Amanda, exactly what they would do, how the recovery would be and just exactly why I was doing it.

I was on a message board for breast reduction (and other ps procedures, but I stayed in the section specifically for BR) It was totally amazing to me the number of women AFRAID to tell their children what they were doing, they were making up all kinds of stories to tell their kids, no matter what age they were.

Keep in mind, a BR is MAJOR surgery, its not like an augmentation, I was under the knife for 4 hours and my recovery took MONTHS. These women were telling their kids things like they were having surgery because they were SICK....how cant that not be more traumatizing than explaining what you're really doing. Heck these women were even lying to their bosses.....I'm sorry but when you take yourself from a double F cup to a C, people are gonna know you had "work" done.

People need to be honest with their kids, how better to teach them how to be better adults?

/sorry for the rant....this kind of stuff REALLY gets to me

A lot of people just phone it in when it comes to their kids. They'll buy this book because it allows them to think they're doing the right thing for their children, so they can divert their attention back to more interesting things.

I often think that, and often it is true. What bothers me about this and other books of its type is that I think some people want to parent, but they've been conditioned to think they can't, due to too many books like this. That is what I think bothers me more than the book itself.

This really comes down to:
1)Whether or not you approve of plastic surgery
2) What kind of surgery it is (elective or necessary)

I'd totally support the book that talked about why mommy is getting an implant after having breast cancer or why dad is getting a new cheek after being in a car accident. I think that book could end up being important in order to explain that even though mommy or daddy was terribly hurt that didn't mean there wasn't hope for a normal life. It'd actually be quite nice.

If it's a book about mommy getting new double Ds? That's a bit more touchy. While I'm not totally against plastic surgery of that nature, I do realize that it communicates to a child a somewhat shallow message. I wouldn't get it for my offspring, but I wouldn't fight it being available.

Titles:

Mommies New Knockers

Don't you want a pretty mommy?

Daddy has the itch, Mommy needs a stitch.

Mommy's instant diet!

Everybody Droops.

While my mother never had plastic surgery, she did have a number of procedures done when I was growing up. When I was 8 or 9 my mother had to have a hysterectomy, and was in the hospital over Thanksgiving Day, no less. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have no clue as to what was going on. I'm sure in the end it was easier on both of my parents because I did know exactly what was going on and why Mom was in the hospital.

Like Shani said, we need to be honest with children--children learn from modeled behavior, and if you model to them that it's not okay to talk about these topics, and we need to be secretive about it, or not communicate clearly about the topic, then that's the idea they're going to walk away with, and take into adulthood.

Whatever happened to grown-ups being adults?

This is pathetic in my opinion. The parents I have worked with do not do a damn thing anymore to teach there children, especially when they are young. It is sad to watch parents not do anything with their kids.

The issue isn't with the books themselves. The books can be a great starting point to a discussion.

The problem is when parents use only the book and don't follow up with an in-depth conversation.

These are good, perhaps they could be the names of chapters in the book.
I think they if you are too afraid to talk to your children about getting plastic surgery then perhaps you should not be doing it.

+1 for all the beautiful, unique snowflakes

Ditto.

I doubt that many parents are buying this book and handing it to their kids without another word.

I do think the psychological discomfort that parents may feel about relating their reasons for plastic surgery to their children is quite telling, though...