By Roseann Murphy
This article was originally posted on March 15, 2012.
Wonderful news. Recently Magdalena Palencia and I were invited to share our thoughts and memories regarding famed infant specialist, Magda Gerber and her organization, Resources for Infant Educarers®.
Lisa Sunbury of Regarding Baby, Janet Lansbury of Elevating Childcare, and Bence Gerber, (Magda Gerber’s son) are hosting the site: http://www.magdagerber.org/
Magdalena Palencia and I speak of Magda Gerber often. I have always thought Magda Gerber’s RIE® methods and ideas were not meant exclusively for very young children but for people of all ages. Based on Magda’s teachings, everyone on Earth wishes for dignity and respect in everyday life. We all thrive on the three basic tenets of Magda Gerber’s RIE® – consistency, continuity, and respect.
We noticed on the new site, someone mentioned that “back in the day” students and colleagues called Magda Gerber by the name Madge. Reading that brought back many memories.
Can you imagine a world without Magda Gerber and her teachings? That could have easily happened if educators chose to dismiss this extraordinary woman due to her accent or where she came from. Luckily, Magda was embraced for the message she brought to the children of the United States.
I met Magda in 1978 while a student at Pacific Oaks College (in Pasadena, California) and an employee of UCLA Child Care Services. My job included working in a program developed specifically to raise awareness of the importance of the childcare worker. I was privileged to work with many hard-working professional childcare givers, many of whom worked 60 hours per week while earning $35 per child!
At that time, the director of UCLA Child Care Services was a well-known childcare advocate. She wrote many books and was well-regarded in the field. Upon meeting Magda at UCLA, I recall Magda mentioning the director suggested she change her name to “Madge.” The director thought people might not understand a name like Magda. Because of this suggestion, some fellow educators actually thought Magda’s name was “Madge”! The name “Madge” just did not fit the elegant educator, Magda Gerber. Thinking back on it now, the suggestion sounds preposterous.
As you can imagine, Magda Gerber did not let anyone influence her for very long.
Magda Gerber and Dr. Thomas Forest founded Resource for Infant Educarers® in 1978. That same year, during one of the monthly meetings, I was among a privileged few who were the first in the world to be shown the original RIE® logo (the now-iconic outstretched hands) along with the term Magda had coined, “Educarers,” which focuses on the importance of people caring for very young children. That memory lives so close to the surface of my mind, I can see it clear as a bell even to this day: sitting across from Magda at the long table, Dr. Forest walking around, everyone’s quiet awe and joy when we were handed the logo and asked our thoughts. I believe we shared the same feeling, that what we were a part of was truly historic.
In June 1979, RIE® presented the first International Infant Conference. Back-to-back presentations introduced Dr. Emmi Pikler’s pedagogy and the RIE® methodology to the infant community in Los Angeles and Belmont, California. The excitement was unforgettable. I was asked to sit on a panel with esteemed colleagues who had first-hand experience with the Pikler/Gerber methods. I spoke of my experiences with a child who suffered from severe separation anxiety.
Along with sitting on the panel, a most vivid memory was meeting Dr. Emmi Pikler. Dr. Pikler was the featured speaker and spoke of "The Competent Infant."
When it was Magda's turn to make her presentation, she was introduced with the dignity and respect that she deserved. She was presented to an audience of 500 as Magda Gerber, founder of Resources for Infant Educarers®.
Post by Roseann Murphy.