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Freedom of Movement
November 4, 2013
Never work just for money or for power. They won't save your soul or help you sleep at night.
-Marian Wright Edelman
-Marian Wright Edelman
In Respect: A Practitioner's Guide to Calm & Nurturing Infant Care and Education, Toni Christie from New Zealand observes...
"Free movement means allowing children time and space to move and develop at a natural pace and can be summed up with Magda Gerber's caveat, 'Never put a baby into a position she cannot get into or out of all by herself.' Emmi Pikler initiated the practice of free movement. Pikler's seminal research, conducted over many years at Loczy residential nursery, showed that typically developing infants (in the orphanage) did not need to be taught how to crawl, sit, stand, or walk.
"Pikler, and those who have adopted her philosophy, believe that infants must experience all movement for themselves, in their own space and in their own time. Propping an infant to sit, for example, is not allowing him free movement, nor is restricting a child's movement by placing him in a high chair, jolly jumper, walker trainer, or similar movement-restricting device. The adults' role in all of this is simply to observe and not to interfere."
A Practitioner's Guide to Calm & Nurturing Infant Care & Education presents timely research on respectful infant and toddler care and education seasoned with practitioner wisdom. The book explores the most important relationship for infants and toddlers in center settings - primary caregiver relationships - and illustrates how they worked easily and well when a teaching team approach was taken involving the parents.
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Comments (3)
Displaying All 3 Commentsece consultant
Dallas, TX, United States
All children from 0-3 yrs of age need time, and comfortable and challenging spaces with intrinsic opportunities to develop their physical capabilities 'on their own' with adults there, in close proximity to support and encourage, both verbally and nonverbally.
Family Child Care Project
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
While Magda Gerber contributes an important alternative voice to early childhood best practice, I take issue with the brief paragraphs you have quoted here.
Especially in family child care with its mixed-age groups, an infant seat can allow a baby to participate in a circle time. And a high chair can allow an older babies and young toddlers to be safely supervised and engage in conversation with the provider-educator while she prepares lunch. The key is that children are not restrained for more than 20 minutes at a time (NAFCC Accreditation Standard).
Newton, NJ, United States
I wish there was a "like button" for this article.
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