Today I wanted to kind of move away from life in actual Brazil and move onto the topic of what it is like to actually grow up in a Brazilian immigrant household. Some people might say that it really is not that different but whenever I talk to my friends about their childhood, I realize how considerably different my mom’s rules were and how different traditions, morals, and customs impacted my upbringing.
I grew up with two sisters, one older, and one younger and my mom was a single mother. She came to America from Brazil in 1997 with my older sister and a bunch of her friends and family from Brazil hoping to start a new life for them all. I grew up in a middle-class family and we were pretty well off. My mother was never the strict type but she definitely had her own set of rules that were way different than other kids I grew up with. For example, many parents like their kids to take their shoes off as soon as they get into the house, but in a Brazilian family, it is the opposite. My mom and grandma always told me to have something on my feet when walking around the house whether it be shoes or socks, otherwise, we would get sick. I never believed them but I did it anyway to keep myself from getting yelled at. Another thing my mom was strict about was dinners worked. Dinner does not exist in Brazil or Brazilian families. We have breakfast together, we have a big lunch later in the afternoon at like 3 or 4 and then around 7 or 8 we have something called lanche de tarde. This is where we would sit down and drink coffee while eating pastries and playing games such as Rummikub or solitaire and then we would head off to bed.
I didn’t even know that people had sit down dinners with their family every day or even had dinner until I was invited to have dinner at my friend’s house one day. One thing my mom was super strict about was there being age for everything. There was a proper age for privacy, a proper age we were allowed to wear makeup, etc. I remember locking my door when I was changing one day at the age of 11 and being told I wasn’t allowed to because I was too young for privacy, that still makes no sense to me till this day. I also remember waking up super early every day in 6th and 7th grade to do my mascara before school and ringing makeup wipes with me to school so I can take my makeup off on the bus so my mom wouldn’t know I was wearing makeup. There were other traditions I grew up with that I loved like on Easter. Instead of getting a basket, we would get these giant chocolate eggs filled with more chocolate bars inside, the best easter gifts ever. Brazilians value family time so every Sunday we would always make sure to have an hour or two where we sat down together and talked about our week and any updates we have for the family.
Growing up Brazilian was hectic and different, it was also amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Also coming from an immigrant household, I can definitely relate to most of the little things and traditions you experienced.
I feel like growing up in an immigrant family, no matter where you are from, there are different values taught and when I went to school it was almost a culture shock because a majority of the kids didn’t have the same experiences.
I agree, its definitely hectic and crazy but always a great time!
Its so cool that you grew up in Brazil! As I said before I would love to visit Brazil one day. My dad went to Brazil a couple years ago and came back with a mustache… lol. There are a lot of famous surf contests in Brazil such as the Oi Rio Pro. That is something I would love to attend one day!