Daycare Centers

As an infant advocate over several decades, I’ve witnessed many changes in attitudes towards infant care in general and group care in particular. Until recently, the care of infants in this country has largely been the concern of the family and the family physician. Only in the last decade or two has the need for providing alternative care become increasingly apparent. In the fifties, group care of infants was nonexistent and looked upon as potentially harmful. In the sixties, the pros and cons of group care were debated in an emotionally loaded atmosphere. Since the seventies, an increasing number of infants are spending six, eight, or more hours each weekday in group care. Though state and federal regulations have been established, even when met, they do not ensure that the needs of infants are met, too. In my consulting work with a great variety of centers, I have found that while the people in charge are usually well-meaning, child-loving people wanting to do a decent job, this rarely is possible for the following reasons:
1) Even nationwide, there are very few centers that serve as good models for other infant day care centers.
2) Comprehensive pre-service and ongoing in-service training hardly exist. Having an MA in early education does not guarantee enough knowledge of infancy.
3) Both the salary and status of infant caregivers are almost the lowest on the teaching totem pole, resulting in low morale and constantly changing staff.
4) As formal training in infant care is so inadequate and in many places nonexistent, centers look for experience. A person may start as an aide in one center, be hired as a teacher later in another, and eventually become a head teacher and director. The problem is that most likely the original experience was gained in a poor setting, which the person then brings to the next center, and thus inadequate centers mushroom.
5) Though many centers have some guidelines, few have developed a working philosophy and a methodology to go with it. Consequently, each caregiver acts according to his/her own beliefs and backgrounds. Infants must continuously adjust to changing people and changing approaches.
6) With very few exceptions, centers weren’t built for the purpose of rearing infants. Many times they are quite inadequate: rooms are too large with high ceilings (church rooms), too small without direct exits to safe outdoor areas, have little or no proper lighting or sun.
7) The requirements of a low adult-infant ratio, which is usually respected, often result in having many big and small bodies in one large room. The noise and activity levels are overwhelming.
8) To keep the cost down whenever possible, volunteers are used. Lately they are recruited from senior citizens chosen for their work availability and other reasons besides their competence to work with infants.
9) Parent training has just begun; therefore few parents know what they should look for or demand of a good infant center.
In spite of much lip service, children, especially infants, are still a low priority in our society. Can any center meet the needs of infants under such difficult conditions?
What are the infant’s needs, beyond those for food, rest, warmth, and hygiene? Most people would respond, “love and cognitive stimulation.” They try to meet the need for love by rocking, fondling, and body contact. They try to meet the need for cognitive stimulation with objects, teaching materials, and lesson plans. They separate education from routine caregiving activities. We who follow the RIE philosophy have our own ways of meeting infant needs. We promote the idea of reuniting these two concepts, education and caring. I coined the term “Educarer” to emphasize the interdependence between the two concepts.
Our approach is based on the experience of more than three decades of research and clinical work with infants who were reared at the Pikler Institute in Budapest, Hungary. This institute, commonly called “Lóczy,” was founded and directed by Dr. Emmi Pikler.
Respect is the guideline of RIE’s philosophy. The Educarer shows respect by treating the infant as an active participant rather than as a passive recipient in all interactions.

The following outline defines the principles and philosophy we believe in.

• An infant derives security from a predictable environment, and the opportunity for anticipation and making choices.
• An infant needs an intimate, stable relationship with one constant person (a mother figure). This relationship can best be developed during individualized caregiving activities.
• The infant does not need direct teaching or help to achieve natural stages of gross motor and sensory motor development.
• Infants learn best when allowed to freely move and explore in an environment which is physically safe, cognitively challenging, and emotionally nurturing.
• The Educarer’s sensitive observation gives an understanding of the infant’s needs.
• The Educarer allows for long uninterrupted times for play and fosters interaction among infants.

RIE seeks to attain a balance between adult stimulation and independent exploration by the infant. We focus on two areas of the infant’s life. One is the time spent with the adult who cares for the infant. The other is the time the infant spends alone freely exploring his/her environment. We believe these two areas are interdependent and influence each other. Only a child who receives undivided attention from his/her Educarer during all routine caregiving activities will be free and interested to explore his/her environment without needing too much intervention from the Educarer. The Educarer needs to understand that the infant needs both concentrated attention while being cared for and time to explore alone.
In order to highlight the difference between the attitude of a good average caregiver and a trained Educarer, we will give some illustrations to show the two approaches:

• Whereas many caregivers rely on infant curricula, books, and packaged programs as prescriptions to teach, drill, and speed up new skills in the areas of gross motor, social-emotional, or language development, the Educarer trusts the infants’ abilities to initiate their own activities, choose from available objects, and work on their own projects without interruption;
• Whereas the caregiver teaches and encourages postures and means of locomotion which the infants are not yet able to do on their own, thus hampering free movement and exploration and sometimes even creating bodily discomfort, the Educarer provides appropriate space for the infant to freely initiate his/her own movements without interference, thus helping the infant feel comfortable, competent, and self-reliant;
• Whereas the caregiver’s attention is focused on the elicited response to his/her stimulation, the Educarer focuses upon observing the whole child, his/her reaction to the caregiving person, to the environment, and to peers, thus learning about the child’s personality and needs;
• Whereas the caregiver selects and puts objects/toys in the infant’s hands, the Educarer places the objects/toys so the infant must make an effort to reach and grasp. The child works towards what he/she wants;
• Whereas the caregiver encourages dependency by assuming an active role, such as rescuing a child in distress or helping him/her solve problems, the Educarer waits to see if the child is capable of consoling himself/herself and solving his/her own problems, thus encouraging autonomy;
• Whereas the caregiver may often use bottles and/or pacifiers to soothe a crying child, creating a false oral need for food and sucking, the Educarer accepts the child’s right to show both positive and negative feelings. The Educarer does not want to stop the crying, but rather he/she tries to understand and attend to the child’s real needs such as sleeplessness, hunger, or cold. If the infant soothes himself/herself by thumb sucking, the Educarer accepts this as a positive self-comforting activity;
• Whereas the caregiver often restricts infant-infant interaction, such as infants touching each other, for fear of their hurting each other, the Educarer facilitates interactions by closely observing in order to know when to intervene and when not to;
• Whereas, in a situation of conflict between infants, the caregiver resolves the problem by separating, distracting, or deciding who should have the toy or object in question, the Educarer would comment, “Both you, John, and you, Anne, want that toy.” Often after such impartial comments, minor conflicts resolve themselves;
• Whereas the caregiver may become aggressive in controlling an “aggressor,” thereby reinforcing the aggressive behavior, the Educarer models appropriate behavior by touching the aggressive child and quietly saying something like, “Easy, gently . . . nice”;
• Whereas the caregiver may rush to pick up, to rescue, and to console the “victim” of the “aggressor,” the Educarer squats down, touches, and strokes the “victim,” saying “Gently, now, nice.” By concurrently stroking and talking to both the “victim” and the “aggressor,” the Educarer is modeling and consoling both children without reinforcing a pattern of becoming a “victim”;
• Whereas the caregiver likes to have more people or helpers in the room, the Educarer wants to become the steady person to his/her own small group of about four infants;
• Whereas the caregiver gets exhausted from picking up one child and putting down another, as if extinguishing one fire after another, the Educarer calmly observes and can often prevent the “fire”;
• Whereas the caregiver may swoop up an infant unexpectedly from behind, thereby startling, interrupting, and creating resistance in the infant, the Educarer always tells the infant before she/he does anything with him or her, thus gets cooperation.

All of these examples try to illustrate that while both the caregiver and the Educarer love the infant, the Educarer demonstrates love by showing and teaching respect.
The infant Educarer has a basic trust in the infant to be an initiator, an explorer, and a self-learner. The role of the Educarer is to provide an environment that is physically safe, cognitively challenging, and emotionally nurturing. In addition, the Educarer provides time for uninterrupted play and infant-infant interaction. The child is involved actively in all care activities which allow him or her to become a participant rather than a passive recipient. Using sensitive observation, the Educarer comes to understand the child’s needs.
If Educaring™ appeals to you and you want to apply it in your center, you can get more information from the RIE Manual. You can also check your own attitude to see whether you indeed do follow our philosophy. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do all infants in your care have enough space available to move in, objects to choose from, time to play without interruption?
• Do you give them your full attention while caring for them?
• Do you wait for them to work out their own conflicts?
• Do you observe closely in order to determine their needs?
• Do you understand behavior from an infant’s point of view?

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Published in Education for Parenthood, a conference report for the California Task Force on Positive Parenting, the Education Development Center, and the U.S. Department of Education, 1981.