RIE® stands for “Resources for Infant Educarers” and Educaring® is how we care for infants
RIE is a non-profit organization founded by Magda Gerber and pediatric neurologist Tom Forrest, M.D. that promotes a way of seeing infants and toddlers that enables adults to form close, authentic relationships with them through observation, attentive care, and basic trust in their natural abilities. This nature and nurture approach is the powerful combination that sets the stage for a secure and confident baby.
RIE parents are unhurried, sensitive to their babies’ needs and wants, confident in their ability to provide their baby with opportunities for growth, and able to balance their adult needs with the needs of their children.
RIE babies are secure, self-confident, inner-directed and competent.
RIE Principles
Our prenatal and baby classes are based on the following ideas:
THE BASIS OF THE EDUCARING® APPROACH: RESPECT
Respect is the basis of the Educaring® Approach. We not only respect babies, we demonstrate our respect every time we interact with them. Respecting a child means treating even the youngest infant as a unique human being, not as an object.
OUR GOAL: AN AUTHENTIC CHILD
An authentic child is one who feels secure, autonomous, competent, and connected. When we help a child to feel secure, feel appreciated, feel that “somebody is deeply, truly interested in me,” by the way we just look, the way we just listen, we influence that child’s whole personality, the way that child sees life.
TRUST IN THE INFANT’S COMPETENCE
We have basic trust in the infant to be an initiator, to be an explorer eager to learn what he is ready for. Because of this trust, we provide the infant with only enough help necessary to allow the child to enjoy mastery of her own actions.
SENSITIVE OBSERVATION
Our method, guided by respect for the infant’s competence, is observation. We observe carefully to understand the infant’s communications and his needs. The more we observe, the more we understand and appreciate the enormous amount and speed of learning that happens during the first two or three years of life. We become more humble, we teach less, and we provide an environment for learning instead.
CAREGIVING TIMES: INVOLVING THE CHILD
During care activities (diapering, feeding, bathing, dressing, etc.), we encourage even the tiniest infant to become an active participant rather than a passive recipient of the activities. Parents create opportunities for interaction, cooperation, intimacy and mutual enjoyment by being wholeheartedly with the infant during the time they spend together anyway. “Refueled” by such unhurried, pleasurable caring experiences, infants are ready to explore their environment with only minimal intervention by adults.
A SAFE, CHALLENGING, PREDICTABLE ENVIRONMENT
Our role is to create an environment in which the child can best do all the things that the child would do naturally. The more predictable an environment is, the easier it is for babies to learn. As infants become more mobile, they need safe, appropriate space in which to move. Their natural, inborn desire to move should not be handicapped by the environment.
TIME FOR UNINTERRUPTED PLAY AND FREEDOM TO EXPLORE
We give the infant plenty of time for uninterrupted play. Instead of trying to teach babies new skills, we appreciate and admire what babies are actually doing.
CONSISTENCY
We establish clearly defined limits and communicate our expectations to develop discipline.
From Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect by Magda Gerber. ©1998 by Magda Gerber
To learn more about RIE, visit www.rie.org.
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“Whenever you care, do it absolutely with full attention. If you pay half attention all the time, that’s never full attention. Babies are then always half hungry for attention. But if you pay full attention part of the time, then you go a long way. That’s what I would recommend: to be fully with a child and then let him be.”
— Magda Gerber, Dear Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect
RIE has been around since the late 1970s, but is really growing in the Bay Area. To read a review of my mentor, Lee Fernandez’s RIE class in the Bay area, read this.
If you would like to find other RIE practitioners in the Bay Area, you can check out this web site.