Cynthia Jacques, contributor, with family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In this feature: Great Places to Go, Getting Around Rio with Kids, Dining with Kids, Local Parenting Culture, Practical Tips for Visitors with Young Children

Although Rio de Janeiro is the third largest city in South America (after Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo), you’ll still find an amazing amount of green space right within Rio’s boundaries. In fact, both the largest and second largest urban forests in the world are located in Rio itself.

Rio is also home to one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, the 120-foot tall statue “Christ the Redeemer” (Cristo Retendor in Portuguese) which overlooks the city from atop Corcovado Mountain. Add to that world-famous beaches like Ipanema and Copacabana, sizzling sambas, and a crazy Canival celebration, and it’s no wonder the city is nicknamed Cidade Maravilhosa, the marvelous city.

Cynthia Jacques, a speech and language therapist and mother of three who lives in Rio de Janeiro, was kind enough to answer my questions about life as a mother in Rio. As the bilingual blogger behind Kids in Rio (which she publishes in both English and Portuguese) and founder of the new Kids in Rio website (www.kidsinrio.com.br), I knew she’d have terrific answers and plenty of tips for those of you who might be planning a visit to Brazil – including Rio de Janeiro – with kids.

I have a 13-year-old daughter and two step sons from my second marriage, ages 8 and 4 years old. As anyone can imagine, it’s not easy finding activities for everyone to enjoy together. Thankfully, there is much to enjoy right in Rio de Janeiro, with its beaches, waterfalls, mountains, great museums, and cultural centers – and most of the places are very friendly to kids.

At Museu da Marinha you can visit battle ship and a submarine for free. They also have a guided visit to an island where the Portuguese colony used to have beautiful parties. And Pedra Bonita is where people go tandem flying (paragliding). Kids love to see people taking off and the view is incomparable.

Most of the restaurants in Rio don’t have restrictions about kids. Lots of places have special plates or playground area for the kids. There is no different or special etiquette for kids in restaurants. As you may find, not even for just adults, Rio likes to be a relaxed place, where you can go to most of the restaurants with your beach T-shirt and havaianas sandals.

Two restaurants I recommend for kids are: Porcao – this is a churrascaria (typical Brazilian barbecue), with delicious meat, a great variety of food, for any taste. It’s also great because there is a park inside it for the kids to play, so you can take as long as you want eating while your kids have fun after having a great meal. Also, Loft — this is actually a food complex, with pizza, juices and sandwiches bar, deli, self service buffet restaurant and an Italian restaurant. If you don’t mind that your kids have snacks instead of real food for one day, you can leave them on the park where they have bread, hot dogs, popcorn, ice cream and sweets, while you can have a nice quiet lunch.

Public Transportation: The public transportation in Brazil is not that good. We have an intense traffic in Rio, yet the subway doesn’t go to many places in Zona Sul, where the best things in Rio are. There are a few buses with air conditioning, which you will find important especially during the summer. But there are lots of them at Zona Sul, to most everyplace you need to go. This is certainly not the best choice if you have many bags or packs, or a stroller. The subway is comfortable and fast, with air conditioning, but it’s a short network of trains especially in the Zona Sul area. They have extended the network using complementary buses, that way, you can buy a specific ticket to get the subway and go further by bus. It’s also cheap.

 Taxis in Rio: Although we have intense traffic, it can be a very comfortable way to go around. In Rio, taxis are not very expensive, and most have air conditioning. You can also choose a larger car since they have a big variety and take all the bags and strollers you need. There are plenty of taxis most of the places and you can also ask for one by phone.

Before I go, what would you say it’s like to be a mom in Brazil today? Has it changed very much since you were growing up?

[Parenting] is different nowadays because when I was young it was still usual that moms didn’t work, meaning that they would work at home, taking care of the house and kids and dads would work to guarantee money support. It has changed a lot! Most of the moms work outside the house now, and the dads are very helpful with kids.

Another big change is the number of divorces and single moms, but an important change is that in divorces you now see parents sharing all responsibilities of the children — money, transportation, education and, most of all, spending time with them.

Either together or separated, parents are dedicating what free time they have to their children’s fun and entertainment to compensate for all the time away from kids because of working hours. Still, it’s not the same as having a 24-hour mom watching over you like it used to be!

Breastfeeding culture in Brazil: When I was a baby it was very common to use formulas for feeding babies. Pediatricians would indicate formulas to substitute for or supplement breastfeeding in many cases, like if the baby woke too many times at night, even when there was no problem at all. Today, Brazil has a great campaign on breastfeeding and it’s popular in any social class and doesn’t mean upper or lower status. There are some hospitals called Amigo da Criança  (Children’s Friend Hospital) that don’t accept bottles or pacifiers to help stimulate the breastfeeding first.

Now moms can be comfortable breastfeeding their babies anywhere because nobody minds it. It’s common to see breastfeeding moms in restaurants, the subway and malls.

So, breastfeeding here won’t be a problem for traveling moms!

Baby food and diapers are also easy to find in pharmacies and drugstores, and also in supermarkets and convenience stores like Lojas Americanas and even at the gas station stores. Medications, such as antipyretic, pain reliever, stomach ache reliever and carminative can be easily found and bought in pharmacies and drugstores. And those stores are easy to find in Rio — sometimes more than 2 of them at the same block.

Rio still has plenty of nature inside the city, which means we also have bugs, especially mosquitoes. So you should always have repellent in your bag. You can buy it in pharmacies, supermarkets and convenience stores.—

Thank you so much for sharing your tips and insights, Cynthia. It’s been a real pleasure learning more about Rio. For any of you planning travel to Rio with kids, be sure to check out her website www.kidsinrio.com.br .Thanks also to the contributing photographers for this article: Rodrigo Gomez, Mike Vondran, and Phil Whitehouse.