Resources for Israeli parents and professionals interested in Pikler® and

RIE®
by RIE® Associate Ruth Mason
ruthtmason@gmail.com

All of the books listed below can be purchased from the RIE® store or from Loczy,
formerly known as the Pikler Institute in Budapest. This order form contains all the
Pikler resources – books, videos and articles.
The easiest way to get acquainted with RIE®, in my opinion, is to read Janet
Lansbury’s Elevating Childcare. You can find all the chapters in that book as
articles/posts on her web site, but there’s something about having this collection in a
book…Same for her No Bad Kids, Toddler Discipline without Shame. Janet
studied with Magda Gerber, who learned from Dr. Emmi Pikler and she’s an engaging
writer! She now also has podcasts and it’s great to hear the tone she uses when talking
to children.
Another resource I love is The Pikler® Collection, especially the Pure Pikler section,
which contains some original writings by Dr. Pikler – unfortunately, not many have been
translated into English. In 1994, the Sensory Awareness Foundation published Emmi
Pikler – 1902-1984. It contains translations of extensive sections from Pikler’s book,
Peaceful Babies – Contented Mothers and is the only booklet (48 pages) of her writings
in English. In the RIE® and Pikler® worlds, this is known as The Bulletin. I love it,
especially for new parents.
The RIE Manual for Parents and Professionals was the only book available in
English when I found RIE® in the 1980’s. Its expanded version has short, readable,
important articles by Magda Gerber, Emmi Pikler, and other important RIE® and
Pikler® people. Highly recommended. People taking a certified RIE® class get it free
from RIE®.
Since then, there has been a mini explosion: Magda Gerber wrote two books: Dear
Parent: Caring for Infants with Respect and Your Self Confident Baby, (with
Allison Johnson,) both of which are readable, chock full of useful information and in
them, you get to “hear” Magda’s voice.
In 2009, Ruth Anne Hammond wrote Respecting Babies: A New Look at Magda
Gerber’s Educaring Approach. A new edition is coming out in the fall and will be
available on the RIE web site. And in 2013, Deborah Carlisle Solomon wrote Baby
Knows Best: Raising a Confident and Resourceful Child, the RIE™ Way, which
got a lot of press. Both Ruth Anne and Deborah are RIE® associates.
For the four European companies certified to make Pikler® climbing equipment, look
here. Some people in Israel have had them made by local carpenters, but they are not
certified, so I don’t know if they are the same standard i.e. using the very specific
measurements worked out by Dr. Pikler.
You can also google RIE® and Pikler® and you’ll come up with lots of articles, posts,
etc. To purchase a wonderful 2+ hour documentary called Loczy, a Place to Grow by
Bernard Martino, go here. If you’d like to learn more about Emmi Pikler’s life and
personality as well as her philosophy, you can check out this article by yours truly. And
here is a 10-minute film in Hebrew on my first parent-infant class at the Baka Matnas as
well as an explanation of the approach.
If you find that these ideas really speak to you, to the point where you are thinking of
getting more training, RIE® offers a two-week intensive Foundations course in L.A.
and various other U.S. cities, and in a number of foreign counties, including Israel (well,
we’ve had one so far!) Pikler courses are offered in Budapest and in other European
cities in English, German, Spanish, French, Dutch and Hungarian. Pikler-Loczy USA also
runs Pikler courses in the U.S. Their web site has lots of other information, as does
rie.org.
Israel has an English language Facebook group called Friends of RIE and Pikler in
Israel. You are welcome to join. 500 members and climbing. There is also an
international FB group called Raising Babies Magda’s Way with about 9,000
members.
Two ganim in Tel Aviv are run by RIE® Foundations grads: Pitango, run by Hailey
Schayer and Educare Gan run by Julia Veisz and Ksenia Belous. There are several more
ganim in Israel whose directors are inspired by RIE®. They are listed in the documents
section of the Facebook group. Also in that section, are articles in Hebrew. If you’d like
to be put on an email list of people in Israel interested in RI® and Pikler®, please
email me.
I run RIE® certified parent-infant classes, currently at CityKids in Tel Aviv, often also in
Jerusalem. You can reach me at ruthTmason@gmail.com. I’m also available for staff
trainings and parent evenings.
If you are getting a printed version of this, please email me for a version with the links.