The Brazilian Schedule

Last weekend we got to stay at a beach house that belongs to my friend's in-laws.  There we got a taste of a real Brazilian lifestyle. 

Before we left the States I was doing some internet "research" about Brazil and I found a business man's blog talking about life in Brazil as a foreigner.  I can't remember if the guy was American or not but he really reamed Brazilians and their parenting skills saying that they let their kids run wild well after 9pm and they let their kids eat candy before dinner and other such ridiculous and rude, judgmental things.  I served a mission in Brazil 12 years ago and I love these people and was kind of shocked and offended by the blog post.  The funny thing is, after staying several days with my friend and her family, I started to see where the guy was coming from.  What he said was still rude but I began to see just how different the American schedule is from the Brazilian schedule.  As a missionary and single person 12 years ago, I had my day already pretty scheduled for me and I adjusted pretty easily (as far as I remember that is!).  But as a parent with children, I found I have had a much harder time adjusting.

Their schedule goes something like this:
Wake up--many people do not bother with breakfast but the families with kids seem to.
11:30-2pm cook and eat lunch--the biggest meal of the day
8 pm eat dinner--more like a small snack--not necessary a whole meal.  On my mission it was really common to see people eating a salad and a roll with some ham and cheese for dinner.
10pm bedtime for kids???

I can't really say on kid's bedtimes.  With dinner so late, my kids stayed up so late each night that we all took naps after lunch for at least a couple of hours.  In my head they were getting the extra sleep they needed from going to bed so late the night before.  In my friend's head, she seemed to feel that since the kids took a nap that meant they could stay up even later.  I tried to at least start bedtime at 10pm and usually my kids were asleep by 11pm.  Hers (9 and 7 years old) were up until at least midnight every night.  Granted, we were all on vacation together so that definitely changes a bedtime routine, but when I asked her about it later she indicated that in general her kids stayed up much later than mine.  She was shocked to hear that mine go to bed at 8pm usually.

At our apartment we stick close to our regular schedule--except that it's summer here which means it's light until later so it's pretty tough to get the kids to bed before 9pm.  But this weekend at the beach house we really struggled.  So many things about it were super fun and awesome but we definitely struggled with the schedule.  My kids were hungry at 11am right when we started cooking lunch even on the days we started cooking it earlier to prevent that.  When it was finally all ready in a couple hours they were falling apart and didn't want anything that was served.  Safari Girl in particular had some particularly nasty meltdowns.  Then there were 9 of us in a small house with no air conditioning and a heat and humidity that we were just not used to.  Add in exhaustion from late nights, and some particularly rambunctious boys that just loved my kids and couldn't leave them alone and I think my kids were just completely overwhelmed.  They NEEDED their sleep!  I needed them to take those naps in the afternoon! 

Certainly though, there is nothing wrong with the Brazilian schedule--it is just different than ours, and my kids had different needs than my friends.  My kids were adjusting to a new place, a new climate, new food, new people in a language they didn't understand, and a new schedule all at once!  It's no wonder they were overwhelmed.  I was overwhelmed myself.  So the week at the beach house was a bit complicated but still so fun.  I wouldn't trade it for anything!  Also, I have to say my friend was so wonderful at trying to accommodate us and make us feel comfortable.  She taught me to cook some Brazilian food, tried to find something (anything!) my kids would eat, made sure we said some prayers in English so they would understand.  She was really patient with us and what might have felt like to her our "high needs".  I love her and appreciate her for it. 

More on our weekend at the beach coming up (all the good parts)!