Babalog

April 29, 2003

Big day at RIE!

Sean made his way to the deck today at our RIE class. Proud mama that I am, I almost started crying but managed to keep my cool and enjoy sitting outside and watching him play.

RIE classes our held at this really cool space in Silverlake. It's a completely kid-friendly space where he can roll around and explore. Usually he plays for a little while in the main room then looks for me, gets tired or hungry. Today he played for the entire class (90 minutes straight!), explored the whole room, climbed over the doorjam and onto the padded deck.

Here's the basic RIE philosophies:

¤ Basic trust in the child to be an initiator, an explorer and a self-learner

¤ An environment for the child that is physically safe, cognitively challenging and emotionally nurturing

¤ Time for uninterrupted play

¤ Freedom to explore and interact with other infants

¤ Involvement of the child in all care activities to allow the child to become an active participant rather than a passive recipient

¤ Sensitive observation of the child in order to understand his or her needs

¤ Consistency and clearly defined limits and expectations to develop discipline

It might sound like common sense, but you would be surprised how overprotective parents can be. RIE is more parent training than anything else.

Posted by Molli at April 29, 2003 03:04 PM