Advantages and Disadvantages of RIE Parenting

Tired of constantly changing diapers, messing up feeding schedules, and caring for your children all the time? Do you find it hard to see your child cooperate with their nannies, or just don’t get the learning milestones that you’ve been expecting? Maybe then it is time you changed your approach.

RIE parenting has recently gained popularity and while it’s not a novel idea. It’s a time-tested approach for helping children to learn and grow healthily emotionally. If you want to find out what developing, learning, and playing naturally is like for your children, then RIE parenting could be the perfect match for you. Scroll down for the advantages and disadvantages of RIE parenting.

What Is RIE Parenting?

RIE means ‘Resources for Infant Educarers’. The basic principle of RIE is that you handle your child as an individual and give consideration to its emotional and cognitive needs. Magda Gerber who was a former orphanage medical director developed the RIE concept for parenting. While traveling from Los Angeles to Hungary, she discovered that a healthy, comfortable and emotionally linked atmosphere gives children the best learning. As it rose in popularity during the 21st century, many Early Head Start Programs embraced this parenting method.

How RIE Parenting Works

1. Let Your Child Explore and Discover

In RIE parenting you don’t force your children to know new things. The meaning of the RIE is simply slowing down and allowing them to take the time to explore their world. Children are naturally curious and the RIE approach allows them to maximize that curiosity. And when it comes to something as basic as changing diapers, asking them to raise their legs and learn how to change will give them a choice. You’re acting as a guide, not a person who gives orders.

2. Let Your Kids Express Their Emotions

Parents often panic when they see a crying baby or toddler. They’re hugging the baby, bouncing him/her, and doing whatever it takes to cheer them up and stop crying. Though you may think of it as a natural answer as parents, children view it differently. By making them stop crying, you are letting them know that voicing those feelings isn’t okay. RIE parenting style helps children to feel pain, sorrow, happiness, excitement, and a variety of different emotions. You let them sob when your child is sad and needs to sob, do not prevent it. You let them know that it’s normal to feel that way and they learn not to bottle up their emotions and cope healthily in this way.

3. You are a role model for them

You don’t just teach your children in RIE parenting. You are going to teach them by example. People who use the RIE parenting approach often take care of themselves, workout, and stick to their routines. Children just imitate them. And there is none when it comes to punishments. Alternatively, you are imposing barriers. If your child skimps on the sleep, for example, they will be advised to wake up despite the pain anyway. This teaches restraint rather than punishment so that they learn from their mistakes and do not do it again.

4. Communicate a lot

You have to act as a narrator while you are changing diapers, feeding them or taking them to a new game or activity. You will tell your baby what is going to happen, and more about what’s next. Through carefully narrating, introducing thoughts and feelings to each stage of the learning process, the child picks up on signals and actions and eventually learns. It’s like it flows in and out from one phase to another.

Advantages and Disadvantages of RIE Parenting

Here’s what you want to know about the RIE parenting pros and cons for children below.

• Children are growing faster – With RIE parenting, you’re going to watch your kids develop very quickly and pick up their own gross motor skills. Children move about and explore their surroundings and motions such as walking, jumping, hopping, and running are quickly picked up by self-directed learning.
• Develops Creativity-RIE parenting activates creativity through painting, crafts, exercise, music, and imaginative activities. Children are not only sticking to the book lectures, but they are also learning from the life around them. It is one of the greatest benefits RIE parenting provides if you want them to know hands-on.
• Cognitive growth boosts – As your kids are going to try more of what they want, they’re going to continuously discover new things. This will eventually improve cognitive growth and refine their innovative problem-solving and analytical skills too.
• Fosters Emotional Intelligence – By RIE training children learn to cope healthily and engage with their emotions at a deeper level. As they grow up they are mentally balanced, and not unstable.

Disadvantages

While this form of parenting has many advantages, as with the advantages and disadvantages of all, the RIE method has itself a number of drawbacks:

• Too much free time – Often children will relax and not be as successful as they might think. You do not teach them the importance of delays or set realistic targets by giving them too much free time.
• As we said before, they may fail to meet developmental milestones. They may grow too late in various areas of learning by not giving them any targets or deadlines or clear lessons, like normal pre-school children.
• They take it for granted – Because there is no structure, rivalry with other kids, or true discipline with traditional parental care, children will take advantages for granted and hinder their development and growth.
• Lack of touch – When touched, cradled, and soothed with words, kids feel protected and at ease. The RIE parenting emphasizes allowing them to scream out, so there’s a certain inconvenience. Children lack the warmth of their parents.
• You Listen To Them – When your child grows too smart and is knowledgeable, they will take advantage of this. You can end up listening more to them, rather than becoming a tutor. This is not inherently a negative thing, but its collection of drawbacks affects the learning process.

The basics of RIE parentage are pretty well covered. You will now start interviewing others parents to see if they’ve been helped and how it is beneficial because of its advantages and disadvantages. Experience delivers the best life lessons and the same is true for this parenting style too.