New book on the market, just in time for Mother’s Day!
My Beautiful Mommy is saving children from the psychological damage that occurs when their mom goes under the knife and comes back home unrecognizable.
New nose, new boobs, a few tucks here and there…it ain’t mommy no more is it?

Totally warped cover of My Beautiful Mommy
According to Newsweek, The target market for this genius creation kids ages four to seven and features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael (a musclebound superhero type) and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Before her surgery the mom explains that she is getting a smaller tummy: “You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn’t fit into my clothes anymore. Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better.” Mom comes home looking like a slightly bruised Barbie doll with demure bandages on her nose and around her waist.
The text doesn’t mention the breast augmentation, but the illustrations intentionally show Mom’s breasts to be fuller and higher. “I tried to skirt that issue in the text itself,” says Salzhauer. “The tummy lends itself to an easy explanation to the children: extra skin and can’t fit into your clothes. The breasts might be a stretch for a six-year-old.”
The book doesn’t explain exactly why the mother is redoing her nose post-pregnancy. Nonetheless, Mom reassures her little girl that the new nose won’t just look “different, my dear—prettier!”
I am all for parents spending the time to explain to their children why they are compelled to beautify themselves, since why should the child suffer the consequences. But the cover….c’mon.
I know from experience, children are very sensitive to how a parent looks, and they seriously react if a parent’s look changes. For me, my son used to freak when I took off my glasses, its like he did not even recognize me. He would look up at me, kind of scared, and I was surprised by that. Even today, if I pop in contacts for a night out, both kids say “mom, you look weird, we like you with your glasses.”
A few other random thoughts to ponder:
What do you think about the word “Beautiful” in the title? There’s all sorts of twisted things I start thinking about here, especially for daughters who are likely to start thinking beautiful equals fix, cut and change.
Remember the show The Swan? I read a story about one of the contestants that could not adapt to her new beautiful face, and regretted her decision since she ended up feeling like she lost her family heritage and connections because she looked so drastically different than her mothers and siblings. I never really thought of this as a consequence of plastic surgery, did you?
I am rambling here, but I felt like bringing up various topics for discussion. Plus it’s Friday and I am wiped out, looking forward to the weekend.
Love you all,
mamaV