Dr. Emmi Pikler was a Hungarian paediatrician, author and teacher known for her revolutionary approach to early childhood care and education. As a practicing doctor, she worked closely with parents of babies and young children and through her weekly visits, observation and research, developed a perspective on infant and toddler education.

 

At the birth of her daughter Anna, Dr Pikler and her husband decided to give their daughter the freedom to develop at her own pace. She also applied principles of giving careful consideration to all aspects in the care of children and to build respectful and authentic relationships on her daughter and her paediatric practice. In the 1930’s, she became well-known in Budapest as an excellent paediatrician caring for over 100 families. The children she cared for were less ill and had hardly a major disease. Dr Pikler thus became more interested in promoting healthy physiological and psychological development to prevent illnesses.

 

After the Second World War in 1946, Dr Pikler set up a residential home with the support of local authorities to provide care for the many children abandoned and orphaned in Budapest as a result of the war. The orphanage became known as the “Lóczy Institute” (now known as the Emmi Pikler Institute), after the name of the street it was located and took in children from birth to 7 years old.

 

At the orphanage, Dr Pikler was able to implement her approach to early childhood care on a large scale. Her goal was to create an institution where the occupants would not become “institutionalised”. Her approach introduced manners of which adults and care-givers can support the initiative of children via non-stimulation or non-forceful intervention practices in order for children to unfold naturally through freedom of movement, independent play, grounded in a safe and respectful relationship. Her approach emphasized the importance for an adult to understand the natural path of child development in order to allow for a child’s instinctive skills to develop.

 

Over the decades, the orphanage’s reputation grew internationally and the “Pikler approach” was proven to be very successful. Children in its care developed well above standards both physically and psychologically. Across national standards for orphanages, graduates from the Pikler Institute assimilated well back into society and did not display the “typical conspicuous signs generally considered characteristic of the subsequent development of children reared institutionally in their first years of life.” (J. Falk and E. Pikler, ‘Data on the Social Adjustment of Children Reared at Our Institute.’ Published in: Magyar Pszichológiai Szemle 29. 488-500.pp.1972.) In 2011, the institute no longer operated as an orphanage and was converted to a day-care centre.

 

Through the large amount of data collected from working with children at the orphanage, Dr Pikler started to publish her research in books, scientific papers and videos in the 1960s. Her work attracted the attention of many professionals whom would travel to train with her. She continued her work until her death in 1984.

 

Today, the Emmi Pikler Institute is headed by Dr Pikler’s daughter and child psychologist Anna Tardos. The Pikler Institute continues to inspire people and bring the core of Dr Pikler’s approach across the world through their research, day-care centre, adult training school and parent-child classes.