About RIE Parent-Infant Guidance
A different kind of “mommy and me” class
RIE’s signature class brings parents and their babies together to learn about and enjoy their baby’s development and see the RIE approach in practice. Guided by a RIE Associate, you’ll be invited to relax, develop your respectful parenting style, and build a relationship to carry you and your baby through life.
Cost: $205/month
Prices may vary.
For more information: classinfo@rie.org
Who is this Class for?
This class is for any parents of infants and toddlers aged 3 to 24 months who want to meet other families and learn more about how to support your baby’s unfolding development. You’ll observe your baby moving, playing, and interacting with peers as they expand their capabilities in the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional realm. If you are interested in growing your toolbox or developing a more intentional parenting style, you’ll learn how RIE gives you the relational and practical skills to support your child as they grow. You can join us for as little as a month (although we recommend a minimum of 8 weeks) or stay with us until your child turns 2. Many families do! We invite you to join us!
Learning Objectives.
With guidance from RIE’s relationship-centered approach, we observe and explore infant development from birth to two years old, focus on baby’s capabilities, and address common parenting issues.
- Infant- and toddler-safe environment
- Understanding your pre-verbal baby’s cues and preferences
- Taking a capabilities approach to learning
- Body awareness and self-initiated movement
- Social-emotional learning
- Cognitive development
- Language acquisition
- Realistic expectations and positive development of discipline
- Approaches to learning
“Parenting or raising a child is an impossible profession. The most impossible profession. Number one, we raise children with the knowledge of the past. It’s already obsolete. Because we raise them the way we were raised and what we are learning. And they will live in a future that nobody knows what it will be like. So the whole thing is absurd. And then the question is, if we accept the absurdity, are there certain qualities — human qualities — that will be good for this great unknown future?”
Available Classes
We offer classes for young infants, mobile babies and toddlers. Classes are held in Los Angeles at our RIE centers in Hollywood and Pasadena and around the globe through our RIE Associate network. We also offer an online version of this class.
Testimonials
Read what new parents have to say about how RIE Parent-Infant Guidance Class supported them in raising their infants and toddlers.
FAQs about this Class
Designed around the baby’s self-directed movement and play, we allow infants and toddlers to freely move, explore, play, and engage with other infants. This is how babies are designed to learn and grow. The classroom includes age-appropriate gross motor equipment that provides opportunities for infants to challenge themselves (if they choose). The RIE Associate respectfully sets limits and facilitates the babies’ interactions so you can observe their unfolding capability and competence.
Classes are generally organized by stage of motor development and age. Babies who are still lying on their backs are grouped together, as are babies who are able to crawl, and babies who can walk. Age varies. You can learn more by reading the following sections.
This class is for babies lying on their backs, learning to roll over or have rolled over (but not yet crawling).
You and your baby have moved through the newborn phase with days and nights starting to make sense. You’re learning your baby’s language and responding to specific needs and preferences. Now is the time to give your baby opportunities to lay on their back on the floor so they can discover their body and the joy of movement. You’ll learn how to tend to the foundational need for security while supporting optimal movement development. This is the beginning of a new phase in your life with baby where you can enjoy time together and small bits of time apart. You’ll gain community with other parents and your child will enjoy observing, encountering, and interacting with other babies.
This class is for babies who are crawling, standing, cruising furniture and sometimes, newly-walking.
Learn how to support your mobile, pre-walking baby by setting up their environment for safety and learning, learn about the benefits of self-initiated movement development, and get a new perspective on diaper-changing and other care activities as the core of nurturing. You’ll meet other new parents and get support for yourself as you develop your own parenting style with the RIE framework.
Babies who are walking.
The world is different with a walker. You need to recheck your space for safety. Their cognition and feeling life are expanding again and you’ll be working to support their budding independence even though they are still entirely dependent on you. This is an exciting and challenging time as a parent. You’ll gain community with other parents and your child will benefit from social interactions even while their key task is still bonding with you.
Snack: This class includes a banana and water snack that the children may chose to participate in or not.
We encourage people to attend the Parent-Infant class for a minimum of 8 weeks to get to know it, understand the approach, and see the benefits. That said, you can drop at any time. At the RIE Centers, payments are per month. You can attend class for one month or keep going until the youngest child in your child’s group turns 2 years old. Babies and parents benefit from the community-building that happens when groups stay together over time. For many people, this is the most relaxing day of their week.
Our network of Associates offer classes on their own schedules and manage payments in their own way.
Babies are just getting to know the world. We find that babies and parents are best served by being in the same group of children over time. From the familiar faces, they gain security and feel freer to explore and learn. We create intentional groups of families. This is why we ask parents to pay for their weekly class whether they attend or not, and why classes are not transferable.
