Authentic Relationships in Group Care for Infants and Toddlers-Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) Principles into Practice

When I was first told about RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers – pronounced “rye”) in the early 1990s all my prejudice and bigotry came to the fore. “Oh yeah”, I thought, “child care from California?What on earth have the Americans to teach us—everyone knows they have the worst-behaved children in the world!” Shortly afterwards,while on holiday in the US, I saw RIE in action in the home of a one-year-old boy. Hismother and nanny had attended a RIE parent–infant course together to make sure he had continuity of care while his mum worked. Somewhat against my will I was impressed. I was impressed by the confident, relaxed baby I saw and by his relationship with his carer. All the characteristics of quality care, discussed later, were present. The child was treated respectfully, given choice, but when an adult agenda had to be paramount it was explained appropriately and his feelings were acknowledged. The most amazing thing for me, however, was his physical confidence and the degree to which he was allowed to explore hisworldwithout adult interference.His spacewas sufficiently safe that falling from time to time was not a big disaster but a learning experience for him. His carer reflected confidence in his ability to problem-solve and a warm word or look gave him, in turn, confidence to negotiate the terrain and physical challenges himself. It made me reflect on how I cared for my own child when she was that age. I was completely different. I anticipated disaster at every turn and was always the mother standing by the play equipment to catch my daughter in case she fell off. I gave running commentaries – “Don’t do this or you’ll fall,” “Stay away from that, it’s dangerous” and even worse “No, this is the way to play with this…