The basic principles

We quote from the book, "Lóczy, an Unusual Approach to Mothering" by Geneviève Appell and Miriam David (1973 in French): "The children's lives and the adults' relationships with them are governed by basic principles according to which works the Lóczy staff. These must be presented first if the reasons and value of this highly original system of care are to be understood. Based on them that every aspect of the children's daily lives, to which the staff devotes its full attention, is settled down to the slightest particulars. These principles can be described as follows:      - the value of independent activity      - the value of a special, favored, affective relationship and the importance of giving it a form suitable to an institutional setting      - the necessity of fostering the child's awareness of itself and its environment      - the importance of good physical health as a basis for, and, to some extent, of the proper application of the preceding principles. These four principles are of equal importance and it is because they are simultaneously and consistently respected that this educational approach has value. If any were to be neglected, it would jeopardize the experience which the child is being offered." A fifth principle is fundamental to all the others. For Pikler, the independent development of a young child's movements (free motricity) as his or her exclusive initiative was at the heart of her new vision of young children and his or her relationship with adults and the surrounding world. It was the importance of this freely initiated movement that was her great discovery, along with the role which these initiatives play in every moment of the life of the young child, in every activity , including the moments of intimacy with the adult. In particular, as a part of this "new vision" as realized by Pikler - this free motricity - gives the infant the possibility "to be able to pursue his or her desires with competence". It is also one of the determinants which bring about the "good treatment" in the relationship between adult and child - and a dialogue based on mutual respect.

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