The Feed Can Wait": Crescer's Parent Movement

Brazil's Crescer magazine has launched "O Feed Pode Esperar" ("The Feed Can Wait"), a movement urging parents to reflect on how their own screen time shapes their children's emotional development. The campaign argues that children learn by watching adults — and that every glance at a phone is a glance taken away from a child.

What Is the "O Feed Pode Esperar" Movement?

Crescer, Brazil's leading parenting magazine with over 30 years of covering childhood and family life, has launched an editorial project called O Feed Pode Esperar ("The Feed Can Wait"). The initiative invites families to reflect on how parental smartphone use affects the emotional bonds formed at home.

What Does the Video Manifesto Show?

The campaign launched with a video manifesto on Crescer's digital platforms, supported by Brazilian public figures including Deborah Secco, Fernanda Rodrigues, Jonathan Azevedo, Mel Fronckowiak, Negra Li, Paulo André (PA), Stéphanie Britto and Thiago Oliveira. Scenes inspired by everyday situations illustrate how small phone distractions can interrupt genuine moments of connection between parents and children.

Is the Goal to Ban Screens at Home?

No. The project explicitly avoids a guilt-driven or anti-technology message. Technology is part of daily family life and work. The real invitation is to redirect attention consciously — and to remember that children learn first and foremost by watching adults.

What Do Psychoanalysts Say?

Psychoanalyst Alexandre Maduenho frames the issue sharply: when a child sees that a parent's attention is directed at a phone, tablet or computer, how can we expect that child not to develop a strong desire for those very devices? He notes that children riding a bus, sitting in a restaurant or travelling on a train already see dozens of adults with their heads down, staring at screens.

Maduenho draws on Donald Winnicott's insight — "When I look and am seen, I know I exist" — to explain why eye contact between caregiver and child is not a minor detail. Jacques Lacan points in the same direction: a person becomes, in part, what they saw reflected in their parents' eyes. The campaign's central question captures this: which glance is not happening while you look at a screen?

A separate data point underlines the urgency: 7 in 10 teenagers feel their emotions are not taken seriously by adults.

Key Facts:

Project name: O Feed Pode Esperar, launched by Crescer (Globo).
Crescer has covered childhood and parenting for over 30 years.
Video manifesto features 8 Brazilian celebrities and public figures.
7 in 10 teenagers report feeling their emotions are not taken seriously by adults.
Psychoanalyst Alexandre Maduenho cites Winnicott and Lacan on the importance of the parental gaze.
The campaign's message: technology is not the enemy — conscious attention is the goal.