*Sigh* Such a sign of the times was my first thought when I saw this book detailed in Newsweek magazine. Browse your local bookstore’s parenting section and you will find books on potty training, how to tame the terrible twos, how to survive the first year and how to get your groove back when you have made it through and now next to Dr. Spock we have My Beautiful Mommy.

Aimed at kids ages four to seven this picture book features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Not surprising is that this book has recently been released. According to the latest numbers from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation was the most popular cosmetic surgery procedure last year, with 348,000 performed (up 6 percent over 2006). Of those, about one-third were for women over 40 who often opt for implants to restore lost volume in their breasts due to aging or pregnancy weight gain. Yep, I can relate. And the ads are everywhere- “mommy makeovers” (tummy tuck and breast implants performed together, usually after a woman has finished childbearing) described as almost a day at the spa. But how do you explain this to a child, after all it is major surgery and curious children will have questions. The author, Salzhauer got the idea for a book after noticing that women were coming into his office with their kids in tow. He says that mysterious doctor’s visits can be frightening for children. “Parents generally tend to go into this denial thing. They just try to ignore the kids’ questions completely.” But, he adds, children “fill in the blanks in their imagination” and then feel worse when they see “mommy with bandages,” he says. “With the tummy tucks, [the mothers] can’t lift anything. They’re in bed. The kids have questions.”

I am torn- I have not (yet) had any plastic surgery and cannot say for certain if I will ever go that route, but I feel if a woman needs that to feel better about herself, then go for it! But, I wish there was a way to tell our kids, especially our daughters, that how we look on the outside is not so important. But then I am lying to myself…. I long for the day when my too tight jeans do not bother me anymore.

What do you think? Should we explain to our kids about our surgery or just tell them some little white lie? Perhaps in this case, ignorance really is bliss.~Jennifer