The RIE philosophy believes that when children have our full, undivided attention during routine care such as diaper changes, feedings, and some play, they are better able to separate from us when we need to work on something else. We have been working to be mindful of our presence and to try to be truly available to children throughout the day. Observation is already a big part of the Our Neighborhood philosophy and the information RIE provides on observing children has helped us to become better observers. The RIE belief of Observe More, Do Less. Do Less, Enjoy More has been an inspiration for us.
Sometimes, especially when there are many children, we allow the importance of getting things done take over all the other important things. When we stop and observe more and do less we will find children can do many things if given the time and the space. Then as we do less, we are able to enjoy more. RIE emphasizes the importance of doing less for you child by explaining that if you constantly interfere, take over, correct, and over help your child you are implying that you do not believe your child can handle the task. This undermines your child’s self confidence, telling him that his way, his process, his time, or his effort is not enough. When we slow down and observe, we can offer the least possible intervention, sometimes just our presence, encouraging words, a shoulder to balance on. We will tell our children “I am here for you and I believe in you.” by being present but not interupting. If you wait and do the least then you also insure that you are allowing your children to do what they can do, contribute, and feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving things for themselves.
Looking for more parenting support, we highly recommend "Baby Knows Best" by Deborah Carlisle Solomon
If you're interested in reading more about RIE check out http://rie.org
We also love Janet Lansbury's Elevating Childcare Blog http://www.janetlansbury.com/
We hope you will join us as we work to deepen our understanding of RIE and the ways it can inspire our work with children.
