My, how times have changed

[$ally]

No honey, we can't afford to send you to college, but doesn't mommy look pretty?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/132240?GT1=43002

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Ahhh!!
Some woman was in my B&N today looking to order that thing. I couldn't believe it- I thought it was a humor book, but alas, it is in earnest... We had to try to get it through the Used & Out of Print area on BN.com, but no one had it. Hopefully it will remain that way... for now.

 

[$ally]

If you get some in, Lulu, put them in the horror section.

 

[Deco*Boom]

Real Women Have Curves

Bring back the days when a size 14 was desirable!!

- DB

 

[gluegungeisha]

Bring back the days when a size 14 was desirable!!

- DB

A size 14 was quite small in the days where it was desirable.

 

[TessTrueheart]

What a horrible, horrible book.

 

[jayem]

In defense, I'm saving up for plastic surgery. If I had kids, I don't think I'd buy a book in order to explain it to them. I'd just say 'Mommy is sick of looking at her scars and wants to wear a two piece bikini at least once in her lifetime. You'll understand when you're bigger.'

 

[ShooShooBaby]

A size 14 was quite small in the days where it was desirable.

yeah, i'd love to fit in a vintage size 14!! but even at my heaviest, i haven't ever worn a modern 14.


i had plastic surgery (breast reduction - yeah it's more easily justifiable than a lot of surgeries, but it IS cosmetic) while i was nannying a 2.5 year old. everyone was totally up front with him about it, he asked a lot of questions, etc. and learned how it would affect him during my long recovery. however, i know a lot of people have a hard time talking to kids about stuff like that. this book looks really poorly executed, but the fact that there IS one doesn't really bother me. i think it's good for people to have an easy starting point to discuss stuff with kids, if they need one. women aren't going to stop getting plastic surgery just because they're moms.

 

[dakotanorth]

Books from hell?

Yes, brain washing, the home game!! I like how mommy is sleeping with a big smile too.

No honey, we can't afford to send you to college, but doesn't mommy look pretty?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/132240?GT1=43002

 

[$ally]

There is a series of these books including:
No Daddy isn't sick, he just doesn't want to lose his news anchor job so he is getting his skin fixed to look young again.
And the ever popular:
Mommy should have spent the money on therapy to learn to like herself instead.

 

[nobodyspecial]

Mommy should have spent the money on therapy to learn to like herself instead.

Amen!

 

[Feraud]

I wonder if such disclosure by moms to their children encourage body image issues.

Despite the marketing nickname "mommy makeover," which can sound like a trip to a day spa, these are serious surgeries with potential complications that can require additional procedures—and disruption for kids. With breast augmentation, for example, the initial operation is not likely to be the last. Implants may last 10 or more years, but they do not last a lifetime, according to the FDA. About a quarter of all implant patients have to have another operation within five years due to problems like leaking, breast asymmetry and encapsulation of the implants.

Then there are the body image issues raised by cosmetic surgery—especially for daughters. Berger worries that kids will think their own body parts must need "fixing" too. The surgery on a nose, for example, may "convey to the child that the child's nose, which always seemed OK, might be perceived by Mommy or by somebody as unacceptable," she says.

The book doesn't go into any medical detail. "They should do more about what the surgery is," says my own eight-year-old daughter. "Kids," she says, will want to know more about "what they're going to do to you." But on the other hand, if they knew more about the procedures they might not want their mothers to go through with them. As my daughter points out, "a five-year-old is going to be horrified that their mom is getting water balloons put in her breasts."

 

[Decodence]

Nothing wrong with this IMHO. Having childrend does some really bad things to most women's bodies. If they want to return to pre-pregnancy appearance, more power to them.

 

[Kitty_Sheridan]

Nothing wrong with plastic surgery, if I had the dough I'd do it tomorrow!
However that book is vile.

Ick.

 

[epr25]

I think that book might have had the right intentions to begin with but...... I see nothing wrong with getting plastic surgery to a point (Joan Rivers) but I am just not sure how I would handle that around kids. I would worry about how that would make them view things? Especially little girls. I think the girls coming up no have so much to handle as far as body issues already that seeing a role model have plastic surgery might make it worse?

 

[dakotanorth]

Morales and ethics?

Plastic surgery, when needed, is fine. Burn victims, birth defects, etc.
Plastic surgery, when it will help the outside convey the inside of the person (for example, he was fat, he lost weight, now he's thin but has excess skin) is good too.
When it's treated as an overhaul- ie, "I'm bored with my appearance" or "I just don't like my nose anymore" then it's a gray area that I don't agree with.
Plus, this book seems to GREATLY gloss over the medical ramifications of SURGERY.
The name has changed from Plastic Surgery so it doesn't sound like what it really is- physically manipulating skin, fat cells, muscle tissue, cartilage and bone. It's easier to sell to people when it doesn't sound so bloody and gruesome.
Everybody gets old- everyone develops wrinkles. Bodies sag, hair turns gray. It's a fact.

 

[Decodence]

I wonder if people who are against cosmetic surgery are also against Orthodontics.

 

[miserabelle]

I'm not at all against plastic surgery - it's not something that I'd consider at the moment, I'm pretty happy with the way that I look and things I'd want to change have more to do with diet and exercise that chopping bits off. The book is awful though, and very patronising. If you look at the child in it she's what... seven at the youngest? I think that a seven year old can grasp the idea of surgery perfectly well, all a parent needs to do is explain and let their child ask questions.

As an illustrator it offends me though, the images are just ugly and badly rendered xx

 

[Jovan]

Plastic surgery, when needed, is fine. Burn victims, birth defects, etc.
Plastic surgery, when it will help the outside convey the inside of the person (for example, he was fat, he lost weight, now he's thin but has excess skin) is good too.
When it's treated as an overhaul- ie, "I'm bored with my appearance" or "I just don't like my nose anymore" then it's a gray area that I don't agree with.
Plus, this book seems to GREATLY gloss over the medical ramifications of SURGERY.
The name has changed from Plastic Surgery so it doesn't sound like what it really is- physically manipulating skin, fat cells, muscle tissue, cartilage and bone. It's easier to sell to people when it doesn't sound so bloody and gruesome.
Everybody gets old- everyone develops wrinkles. Bodies sag, hair turns gray. It's a fact.

+1 threecharacters

 

[Paisley]

No honey, we can't afford to send you to college, but doesn't mommy look pretty?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/132240?GT1=43002

I once tutored a girl whose father and stepmother were able to afford

• cruises
• new cars
• a "mini mansion"
• another baby

but couldn't manage to buy their daughter a dictionary.