Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE), pronounced “rye”, was founded in 1978 by Magda Gerber and pediatric neurologist Tom Forrest, M.D. We are an international, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of infant care and education around the globe. Our network of infant-toddler professionals teach the Educaring approach in our RIE centers and in locations around the world. We offer classes for parents and professionals, offer workshops, conferences, and mentoring opportunities that support adults and babies in their lives together. RIE is passionately dedicated to empowering parents and caregiving professionals to provide the secure and respectful beginnings children need for a healthy life.
We do this by teaching Magda Gerber’s Educaring™ Approach that affirms that caring educates children about themselves, and that in the infant-toddler years, caregiving is the curriculum.
Our Founder: Magda Gerber
Many of the basic ideas about infant care we teach at RIE are grounded in the research and clinical work of Dr. Emmi Pikler in Budapest, Hungary in the middle of the 20th century. Magda Gerber brought this philosophy to the United States after the defeat of the Hungarian revolution and enriched Dr. Pikler’s work with her understanding of parents, families, and adult learning. Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) grew out of encouragement she received from parents and professionals who successfully used the philosophy and urged her to offer trainings to infant educarers.
RIE Mission
To improve the lives of infants and toddlers through respectful, responsive care.
RIE Vision
Through our approach, which honors infants and young children as equal members in relationships, we are dedicated to creating a culture of people who are authentic, resourceful, and respectful. Our work is inspired by the natural integrity of infants and the formative power of relationships in their lives. When allowed to unfold in their own way and in their own time, children discover, manifest and inspire the best in themselves and in others. We are profoundly committed to sharing the opportunity to see infants with new eyes.
Purpose
We use education to provide inter-generational benefit to parents, infants, future generations and society. Early caregiving experiences have been shown to predict parenting quality in the next generation, even after controlling for adults’ educational attainment, socioeconomic status, or age at first childbirth (Kovan Chung & Sroufe, 2009; Shaffer, Burt, Obradovic, Herbers & Masten, 2009).
Learn how we’re making a difference
RIE has taught respect for infants
RIE Associates — trained in Educaring
Countries with RIE
US States with RIE
Reports & Financials
Increasing the quality of care for babies requires sustained effort and investment to reach a broader set of parents and professional caregivers who want to bring the Educaring approach to a new generation of infants and their families.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Learn about how we are addressing the need for greater representation and inclusion in RIE.