Blech

Excuse me while I throw up.

I saw the most offensive magazine ad last week. I was flipping through the free copy of Dallas Child the preschool sticks in my kids' backpacks. Near the back are tons of ads for everything under the sun: photographers, nanny services, birthday party rentals, etc. Among these was a full page ad for a plastic surgeon. This plastic surgeon was smiling, and holding his approximately 18 month old daughter. He was pointing at her belly button as she appeared to giggle. And in big letters at the top of the page it said "Tummy Tuck: Remember When A Round Tummy Was Cute?" One of the services listed at the bottom of the page is a "Mommy Makeover." I'm not a big fan of elective plastic surgery to begin with. I think it's sad that our society has this ideal of what a perfect body looks like. I know it's not easily avoided, but when are we going to realize that everybody is just so different and that beauty can't be narrowed down to one definition. What really gets me in this instance is that this guy is bringing his own daughter into it. Can we please start teaching our daughters that bodies come in all shapes and sizes and that is okay? AND, he's tapping into the market of young moms who feel bad about their body image after having kids. Somehow we're made to think that round bellies on pregnant women and babies are cute, but not on a woman who has just carried and delivered a baby. No her round belly is an aberration...an unsightly, shameful thing. Well, bellies change after they have kids and who said everyone has to have washboard abs anyway?

So, needless to say, I won't be going in for a "Mommy Makeover." My poochy belly is just going to have to keep on sticking itself out there. It's my own little rebellion against the idea of perfection.