Research shows infancy is a crucial time of life when basic patterns of coping, living, and learning are set. Caring for babies is a vital and challenging vocation — for parents and professional carergivers alike. RIE® was created by Magda Gerber to be a resource for people practicing Educaring® and to help raise the next generation to be secure, caring, and confident.
RIE Philosophy
RIE’s relationship-based approach of respectful, responsive, and reciprocal care is foundational to an infant’s early relational health and overall development. RIE is rooted in child development, backed by science, and supported by real world experience. You will see and understand infants like never before.
RIE Principles
The RIE Principles are the starting point for establishing a healthy and supportive relationship with a baby from the beginning. They are a framework to help us see each baby as a unique individual with needs and competencies that change as they grow. The principles remind us to slow down, observe, and respond with sensitivity. They also help us understand our role in caregiving in a new way, creating a balance between our inborn drive to nurture and our trust in nature’s plan for each baby’s unique development.
RIE Practices
The RIE approach is accessible via our relationship-oriented practices. They make our principles come alive and create the inner reflection to discover your own wisdom and that of each child. We invite you to try one and see if it helps you better understand, appreciate, or connect with the baby you care for.
RIE &... +
RIE is an approach to caring for babies from birth to two years old. Based in developmental science, education, and humanism, we have much in common with other educational philosophies, human rights, and social movements.
Respectful Caregiving Makes a Difference
Through our work with parents, caregiving professionals, and childcare centers, we’re changing the world, one diaper at a time. A secure, self-confident adult is our outcome, and a more peaceful society our goal. It’s slow work, but we keep at it, dedicated to this task for over 40 years and counting.
Around the world
Came to class this year
Number of diaper changes a baby experiences
Time it takes a newborn’s brain to double in size
Our Latest Educaring Articles
The Educaring newsletter has gone online! We’re saving trees and sharing insights from our founder Magda Gerber, RIE Associates, parents in our classes, students studying RIE, and maybe you! Peruse your favorite topics. Find practical advice, an understanding ear, and personal stories to help your infant or toddler grow. Read on to grow on…
The Science Behind Educaring
RIE’s Educaring approach is a common-sense application of the most important knowledge and theories of human development, psychology, education, human relations, and neuroscience. While we seek to develop each caregiver’s intuition, presence, and skills, our approach is based in science. Some of the big thinkers and thoughts behind the RIE approach are listed here.
