Mom in the City

I recently read a Newsweek article about an upcoming children's book on plastic surgery, My Beautiful Mommy! which was written by Michael Salzhauer, M.D. a board-certified plastic surgeon in Bal Harbour, Fla.   

Basically, the pictures and text are supposed to help young kids (ages four to seven) deal with their mom's physical changes.  In the book, a little girl goes with her mom to a cosmetic surgery consultation with the goal of mom becoming "prettier" by having a nose job and tummy tuck.  The mom also gets a breast job which is shown in the pictures but not mentioned in the writing. (You can see images from the book and a more detailed description at Newsweek.com.)

Granted, there are many women who have these types of cosmetic surgery procedures and who have children that ask questions.  However, this book's concept just seems wrong to me.  Little girls already have so many negative body image issues being thrown at them from media and society already.  I just don't see how mom bringing this book home helps.  Am I wrong???

Anyway, this book is supposed to be released on Mother's Day.  How ironic -- I guess the author thinks that a cosmetic "mommy makeover" would make the perfect gift.  I think not!