A mum is spending a lot of cash to look like her daughter. Creepy or cool?
It's not unusual for kids -- at least when they're younger -- to want to be just like mum or dad. It's charming, it's flattering, and it's not at all odd. After all, who are the grown-ups little kids are most familiar with? Which adults provide for them and make sure they're tucked in tight at night? Why wouldn't you want to be like them? They're about as close to superheroes as you're going to find, outside a comic book or cinema.
That's all well and good, and some kids do follow in their parents' footsteps, choosing the same profession or taking up similar hobbies. And, of course, due to genetics, children often end up looking much like one or the other of their parents. That's to be expected. What's unexpected, however, is when a parent wants to take after their child and ends up looking like their own offspring.
Such is the case with Janet and Jane Cunliffe. Janet is actually Jane's mother -- although you might not realise that if you met them together at a party. You'd be more likely to think they were sisters and, as if that weren't enough, you might not even be able to guess which is the elder of the pair. Jane and Janet look very much alike, but only partly due to the genes they have in common -- Janet has spent more than £10,000 on plastic surgery and other enhancements so that she can look just like her daughter.
"It might sound barmy that I had cosmetic surgery to look like my daughter," says Janet, "but she's gorgeous. Who wouldn't want to look like her?" She doesn't see a problem in using her daughter's appearance as inspiration for her own makeover. "The way I see it," she explains, "is that she got her looks from me in the first place - mine have just faded with age."
Jane, meanwhile, has no problem with her mother looking more like her sister. "People ask if I mind that she's transformed herself into me, but I couldn't be more proud," she says. "Actually, I love us looking the same, we're closer than ever and she's the sister I always wanted and never had."
While I want to be a part of my kids' lives for as long as they'll let me, but I certainly don't want to become them. I'm happy being the parent; I don't need to be one of their friends.
Would you want to take after one of your kids? Would you go under the knife to look like them? Is there a point at which it's okay for a parent to party with their kid?