Too big babies? What Brazilian law says about their performance in soap operas

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Then a pregnant woman gives birth to one and viewers comment: “Wow, what a big newborn!” It’s because there’s a reason for this in Brazilian television drama. The authors prefer to replace very young children with older ones or even dolls. But what does the law say about their work? The report from the LeoDias portal explains.

The Constitution provides for the work of minors under the age of 14 only in the case of an apprentice, in article 7: “XXXIII – prohibition of night, dangerous or unhealthy work for minors under the age of eighteen and any work for minors under the age of sixteen, except as an apprentice, from the age of fourteen.”

Convention No. 138 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), ratified by Brazil, authorizes the participation of children and adolescents in artistic works, such as commercials, soap operas and films. This permission is important to enable paid work for minors on screen and must be approved by a judge responsible for each case. Therefore, there is a waiting time for the process to move through the judiciary until formal permission is made available.

The Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) also plays a fundamental role. The law establishes that the activity cannot harm the psychological or physical development of minors, nor their school attendance. In addition, night, dangerous or unhealthy work is prohibited for minors under 18 years of age.

Legislation in the United States

In the United States, legislation is more complex. Rules define how long each child can stay in the set recording. On days without classes, for example, they can stay longer, but they must be accompanied by their guardian. In California, the convention requires that children aged 6 months to 2 years work only 20 minutes a day; from 2 to 6 years old, up to three hours; from 6 to 9 years old, four hours — and so on —.

Directors prefer to replace with puppets

In 2017, the owner of this portal, Leo Diaswhen he was a columnist for the newspaper O Dia, reported that a three-month-old baby developed hypothermia during the recording of Globo’s “A Força do Querer”, held near a river. According to the report, employees involved were suspended. Since then, authors and directors have stopped preferring very young babies in productions.

Director Maria de Medicis, for example, defended the inclusion of older children in the scenes. “A lot of people complaining about the size of babies in soap operas. Nowadays, the law is much stricter regarding their participation. And that’s GREAT!”, she wrote on Twitter at the time, now called X.

“One set There are at least 60 people, air conditioning, dust… Therefore, it is an environment where a baby under 3 months old should not be in. I always thought it was absurd to have such small babies in a set. It’s dangerous. But nowadays it has become law. Finally, babies have a time and age limit for recording,” he added.

Author Gloria Perez, from “A Força do Querer”, has also spoken about the topic: “The baby is 2 months old. For me, it would be bigger! I love when they use dolls. Before thinking about realism, remember that there is a child there — like your son”, she published on Twitter.