Daily Life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A Theory

I am expecting to get a lot of flack about this post. I decided to write it anyway.

Other disclaimer - no, I am not a psychologist or a sociologist. This is just based on my own observations, questions and thoughts. Okay so here goes...

At any park or public place that is children-friendly in Rio, the photo below (taken at Parque Lage) is a fairly typical sight:

In case you were wondering, it's not "mom's wear white" day. These women are wearing white to identify themselves as "baba's" or nannies. And you see more of them than you do mom's.

Since announcing my pregnancy, almost every single Brazilian I have had a conversation with has asked me if I intend to get a baba. I shock them all by responding that I have someone who can help with things around the house, and potentially with the baby, after a few months, for a couple of hours at a time.  I answer the "but how will you...??" the same way all the time - to me, it's my job to take care of the baby. I then joke that I certainly am not a martyr and am more than happy to have someone to help with other household tasks, and add that it is much more than I would ever have for help in Canada, so I feel very lucky.

Middle-class families often have baba's here in Brazil.  To generalize, most people who are in this line of work are not well-educated.

Back home, early childhood education is a major concern for most parents. Books such as Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten: Build a Better Brain and Increase IQ up to 30 Points (yes, I have a copy) are best-sellers, and parents seem to compete to see whose child will read/be toilet trained/count to 100/name countries around the world/write a screenplay first.  It is widely believed that teaching children these things very early on sets them up for success in the future and forever affects their ability to learn and process. Montessori schools are all the rage, and in some cities, parents get on waiting lists for the best pre-schools at the time of their child's birth. All in hopes that these actions will give their children a head start in life.

In Brazil, even amongst well-educated folks, and with foreign-educated folks, in my experience, there seems to at times be a disconnect as far as ability to think critically.  I may be mistaken and this may be a cultural difference and a preference not to.  In fact, Mr. DRL and I recently had a very interesting conversation with a Carioca who feels that the stem of Rio's problems is that everyone is too accepting of how things are - crime wise, corruption wise, a general lack of questioning things, and so nothing really changes.

But part of me wonders if this lack of critical thinking is in part because most of the population spends those formative years with primary caretakers who are not well-educated, in the case of the less fortunate, or by nannies in the case of the more privileged, who can't possibly be as invested in the child's development as a parent would be, nor are they well-educated.

Since it's inevitable this will provoke some response, let me invite you to do so - what do you think about this?

Talking to Brazilians

To generalize, I find Brazilians to be a proudly patriotic bunch, however I have been shocked at how many of them are negative about their own country.  These people look at me like I am a lunatic when I say I love it here and ask why on earth I would want to live in Brazil.  They see their country as plagued with problems, a disorderly place.  How can we change that?  I ask.  What will help your country?  What has to happen?  What will make it better?  I'll post some of what these people have to say.

Marieangela, 19: 

Brazil needs better education for kids.
Children and families need to watch less tv. People need to stop watching telenovelas. 
We need a better government.
People need to care more about what they are doing and not be so reckless.