ARTICLES

>> The Hottest Trends in Infant Programs Discover a New Parenting Approach That's All About Slowing Down and Enjoying Your Baby
by Gail O'Connor, from Child Magazine, March 2002

>> Raising a Confident Child
by Michelle Bowers, from Baby Talk Magazine, September 2003

>> A Visit to RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers)--Exploring Emmi Pikler's Work in America
by Susan Weber & Rena Osmer

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BOOKS

Photos by Karen Ziskin

>> Dear Parent: Caring for Infants With Respect
by Magda Gerber, Joan Weaver (Editor)

In Dear Parent, infant specialist Magda Gerber shares her life work with parents and professionals. A helpful and reassuring resource for parents and caregivers of new babies and growing infants, the book includes her vision, wisdom and practical guidance about such topics as:

• What do infants need? And what do parents need?
• How parents can provide an environment in which both they and their infants thrive.
• The motor skills and coping skills your baby can learn best from his own inner resources from birth.
• The social, emotional and language skills your baby can learn best with your help.
• The importance of talking and listening to your baby.
• How Magda’s respectful “Educaring” differs from other approaches.

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>> Your Self-Confident Baby: How to Encourage Your Child's Natural Abilities from the Very Start
by Magda Gerber, Allison Johnson

As the founder of Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE), Magda Gerber has spent decades helping new mothers and fathers give their children the best possible start in life.  Her successful parenting approach harnesses the power of this basic fact: Your baby is unique and will grow in confidence if allowed to develop at his or her own pace.  The key to successful parenting is learning to observe your child and to trust him or her to be an initiator, an explorer, a self-learner with an individual style of problem solving and mastery.

This practical and enlightening guide will help you:

• Develop your own observational skills
• Learn when to intervene with your baby and when not to
• Find ways to connect with your baby through daily caregiving routines such as feeding, diapering, and bathing
• Effectively handle common problems such as crying, discipline, sleep issues, toilet learning, and much more

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>> The RIE™Manual for Parents and Professionals
Magda Gerber (Editor)

This collection of papers describes a special way of seeing and caring for infants. It is of value to all people concerned with infant care, including parents, infant carers, educators, physicians, therapists, those who implement day care programs, as well as those who advise or consult with parents.  The collection begins with practical suggestions for parents...based on actual conversations between Magda Gerber (RIE founder) and a mother of two sons.  Sections of Magda Gerber’s writings and teachings are included in Part II.  Magda Gerber studied and worked in Hungary with Dr. Emmi Pikler.  Magda Gerber has used the Pikler philosophy and methodology in her work with parents of infants and in her training programs for professionals in infant care.  The third part begins with speeches and articles by Emmi Pikler M.D. who directed the National Methodological Institute for Residential Nurseries (later renamed the Emmi Pikler National Methodological Institute for Residential Nurseries) in Budapest, Hungary.  Part III continues with papers by various members of Dr. Pikler’s staff.

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>> 1,2,3...The Toddler Years [A Practical Guide for Parents and Caregivers]
by Irene Van der Zande, Foreward by Magda Gerber

This book is a description of how the Santa Cruz Toddler Center cares for young children.  Through many true life examples, the book demonstrates the philosophy and practice of respect for young children which is advocated by Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) founded by Dr. Tom Forrest and Magda Gerber.  Reading this book is like looking though a one way mirror into daily life with a toddler.  The many lively examples carry the philosophy, and both the toddlers’ and their carers’ point of view is emphasized.  We learn they “why” of toddlers’ actions and how we can respond with respect in all our interactions with them.

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WEB SITES

>> www.RIE.org
Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) is a non-profit organization that has developed and is teaching a unique philosophy and methodology in working with infants. Educator and infant specialist Magda Gerber and pediatric neurologist Tom Forrest M.D founded RIE in 1979. The RIE approach, based on Respect, helps raise authentic infants who are: competent, confident, curious, attentive, exploring, cooperative, secure, peaceful, focused, self-initiating, resourceful, involved, cheerful, aware, interested and inner-directed. Learn more about RIE.

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