Get to know us! Q&A with Nurtured Child Founder & Facilitator Anna Ruth Myers
When did you first hear about Madga Gerber/ RIE®?
I first heard about RIE in in connection with a Montessori teacher training program. The required reading for some of the courses included the RIE Manual and Your Self Confident Baby, which sparked my interest in learning more about the approach. Once I began studying RIE, my interest only deepened.
What felt different about RIE that made you want to explore it further?
The aspects of RIE that immediately appealed to me were its focus on truth, respect, and authenticity. I loved the idea of adults being true to themselves while they're with children. I had already worked for years in a traditional childcare setting that emphasized using a classic “preschool teacher persona,” in which the teacher’s role becomes a sort of performance. The idea that you would be yourself with young children was extremely appealing to me and felt like a more reliable way to build durable, respectful relationships with young children.
When was it clear to you that you wanted RIE / Pikler to be the focus of your work?
I have studied a variety of approaches to early childhood education and care, including Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, and others. In 2012, I had just attended my first intensive at the Pikler House in 2012. I can clearly remember, at the end of those two weeks, walking up a beautiful outdoor stone staircase that’s in a bit of thicket. I was getting ready to start a Waldorf teacher training program when I returned to the United States, and I was trying to figure out how the elements of the different methods I had studied could fit together. And when I emerged at the top of the hill, I turned around to see a beautiful view of Budapest, and I was overcome by the realization that I wanted this to be the focus of my life. The ideas I had been studying at the Pikler House were so fundamental and important that I knew they would need to form the foundation of my work going forward.
What are your favorite things about facilitating classes?
My favorite thing about facilitating classes is that it gives me an opportunity to be a practitioner of this work. Facilitating classes allows me regular opportunities to live the principles and be in relationship with other people that are living the principles. Working with small children has always been something that I have loved. In addition, it is also necessary in this approach to do the work. Talking or writing about theories of early childhood care and education is of course invaluable. But working directly with children and their families forces you to challenge your theories every day. This helps keep one’s theories from becoming rigid and inflexible. In fact, Pikler and RIE are living approaches that have changed over the years as additional research and observation, principally from practitioners, reveals new best practices.
What is something that has surprised you?
This work is so deep, one must be willing to accept—even after 10 or 15 years!—that you will always be a student.
How long have you lived in New York?
I first moved here 21 years ago. I moved between New York and my home state of Virginia a bit in the early years, and then moved to New York permanently 13 years ago.
What's the first thing you suggest to people visiting from out of town?
Choose one neighborhood that you’re interested in—and focus on exploring that. Getting to know a small area intimately at an easy pace can be more fulfilling than rushing to fit in as much New York as you possibly can.
What's your favorite thing about New York? About living in New York?
The feeling that anything is possible. That the potential exists for anything to emerge.
It’s kind of intense sometimes, but I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
What makes New York families unique?
My favorite things about New York are also my favorite things about New York families! They are creative, practical, innovative, and resourceful. It is a very special thing to be a New York family ❤️