Many educators in Brazil feel that some families view daycare centres and preschools mainly as places to leave their children while they work. These educators wonder why parents and other caregivers avoid getting involved in their child’s education. However, when you talk to the parents, they say they often feel intimidated by educators. They are unsure of what role they should be playing in their child’s education, especially in the early years, and are afraid of being judged.
Parents and educators tend to connect only in moments of crisis, when a child is struggling or misbehaving. Often each side feels that the other is implicitly holding them to blame. As a result, early childhood education and parental care can be disconnected, running in parallel rather than in partnership. The Covid-19 lockdowns began to change this dynamic. Schools and families began to communicate more frequently and in new ways, such as through WhatsApp messages and video calls for informal check-ins. Unexpected bonds began to emerge.
Drawing inspiration from this lockdown experience, we designed Família+ to break the cycle of disconnection between educators and parents. We asked: how can early childhood centres – for children from birth to 6 years old – become not only spaces for children’s learning, but also places where parents feel seen, supported, and cared for? Família+ recognises that supporting young children begins with finding accessible ways to build relationships among the adults who raise and educate them.
Designing to meet parents’ needs
The team working on Família+ wanted to create a programme grounded in real needs, so we began by listening to parents and family caregivers to better understand their everyday experiences. Through focus groups held in 2022 with families, teachers, school coordinators and principals, we explored school–family dynamics in Recife (Pernambuco) and Cascavel (Paraná). We also visited mothers at home to conduct in-depth interviews about their daily routines, emotional realities and caregiving practices.
In Brazil, it is vital to talk about maternal wellbeing. Nearly three-quarters of low-income families with young children are headed by single mothers, according to the 2022 Brazilian National Census. Mothers often have to juggle paid work, childcare, household management, and the invisible emotional labour of sustaining their families, without consistent support from a partner or public services. This made us reflect on how Família+ would need to engage other family members proactively, especially fathers, to avoid piling more expectations on mothers alone.
In interviews, mothers described living “on autopilot”, moving from task to task without pause. While they deeply valued time with their children, exhaustion often made it difficult to engage meaningfully. When moments of rest emerged, they usually defaulted to passive activities such as watching television or scrolling on their phone.
The programme acknowledges the invisible labour of mothers and the importance of being seen and supported. It offers them the language, structure and emotional permission they need to reconnect with themselves, each other, and their children.
Família+ believes in building on existing practices, rather than replacing them. It offers simple, emotionally resonant tools that are rooted in everyday relationships. We designed core methodology using messaging platforms alongside in-person monthly collective meetings and conversation circles. It also draws on behavioural science to boost engagement and foster connection. Behavioural approaches included elements such as the tone and timing of messages and the need for trusted messengers.
However, the programme is not rigid or one-size-fits-all. Across schools in Recife, communities in Cascavel, and municipalities in Ceará and Rio Grande do Sul, we adapt the programme in collaboration with participants to reflect their lived realities. Co-creation ensures relevance, strengthens local ownership, and supports long-term sustainability.
The power of being seen and supported
In Familia+ conversation circles, mothers are invited to reflect on the question: “How do I feel at the end of the day?” This opens space for stories of exhaustion and emotional overload, as well as the quiet joys that often go unspoken. It transforms individual struggles into shared understanding. As one mother put it: “We realise we’re not the only ones tired or overwhelmed. We hear other mothers living through the same things we are. We exchange ideas.”
Participants in Ceará state described the conversation circles as providing moments of “relief” and “emotional shelter”. One mother said: “It was the first time someone really looked at us.” Another reflected: “I cried, it helped me open up, and I want more mothers to have this opportunity.” Caregiver Josiele Sales wrote a poem about her experience:
Between these sessions, WhatsApp messages from trusted educators reinforce the value of presence and rest as intentional acts of care. “Have you taken a moment for yourself this week?” or “Choose a corner of the house that you like. Sit down, breathe, and stay there for a while. Just that.” Fridge magnets are another tool that offer gentle daily prompts. One mother says: “I love the magnets – they remind me every day of what I need to do for myself.”
Over time, we observed subtle yet powerful shifts. Mothers learned to recognise their emotions, to pause before reacting, and to “hold” difficult feelings instead of letting them spill into interactions with their children. As Claudete Oliveira, the Head of the Department of Education in El Dorado do Sul (Rio Grande do Sul), puts it: “They began to name what they felt, to know what they wanted. And this is reflected in the children.” Some began to rethink their routines: “I realised I need to take care of myself in order to take care of my family,” a mother from Ceará reflected. These observations make visible one of the programme’s core hypotheses: that child wellbeing is founded on caregiver wellbeing.
Access points for involving fathers
As well as building on mutual support among mothers, Família+ creates points of access that encourage the involvement of fathers and male caregivers. One example is a fridge magnet sent home with the message “Take care of yourself! Share the household tasks.”, illustrated with a man and a woman cleaning and caring for their home. These subtle visual cues help normalise male participation, challenge traditional gender roles and prompt conversations about shared responsibility. José Renato, a father from Recife, explained how the programme helped him reconnect with his own childhood, and to notice how he had unthinkingly recreated with his eldest son the same kind of distant relationship he’d had with his own father. By reflecting on how fathers “give in” to traditional gender norms about caregiving, he changed his approach and grew closer to his younger son. After listening to his interview, Ana Rejane Araujo – a technician from the Department of Education – transformed his words into a cordel, a traditional poetic form:
… Eu não brincava com meus filhos
Porque meu pai nunca brincou …
E eu não me dava conta,
Que, eu, do outro lado da ponta
Também “se acomodou” …
… I didn’t play with my children
Because my father never played with me …
And I didn’t realise
That, now I stood on the other side,
Like him, I’d “given in” …
Supporting educators to connect with mothers and fathers
Família+ offers educators and parents tools to practise presence, listening, and walking together – a reminder that care is not an individual task, but a shared responsibility grounded in trust. WhatsApp, for example, often seen as merely a tool for logistical coordination between educators and caregivers, became a channel for care. One educator reflected: “Every day they send messages, they stay connected.”
Educators from Ceará described how families they once knew only in passing – “a quick good morning at the gate” – gradually opened up through conversation circles, sharing their stories and building new trust. “We got to know them in a deeper way,” one teacher explained, “because of the moments we created together.” Família+ invests in the educators who deliver the programme through short learning modules, peer exchanges, and community-of-practice spaces that help sustain both skills and emotional resilience. In 2026, we will launch a Família+ digital wellbeing platform to support educators further, by strengthening their ongoing development and wellbeing.
Another educator observed: “Família+ doesn’t just change families. It changes our own personal practices too.” Teachers and school staff began to see parents not as disengaged or indifferent, but as people navigating intense emotional and structural challenges. With this shift in perspective, schools that once felt distant from caregivers became spaces of mutual trust. “The bond established with these mothers is surreal,” says one teacher. “They trust us now.”
