Starting Early: How Red Clover Is Building a Culture of Co-Regulation

At Red Clover Children’s Center in Middlebury, Vermont, social-emotional learning starts early, in the everyday moments that shape how young children feel, connect, and move through the day.

The nonprofit birth-to-three program opened in January 2024 to help meet the need for infant and toddler care in the community. As a newer center, Red Clover has been building more than classrooms. It has been building culture: shared values, consistent practices, and a clearer way to support young children through big feelings, transitions, and the daily rhythms of care.

That’s one reason Kind Mind stood out. “What I found really different about Kind Mind, and was so gravitated towards, was that it was tangible,” said Tessa Dearborn, Red Clover’s director. “The materials existed.”

For Red Clover, Kind Mind offered both philosophy and practice: a framework, shared language, visuals, routines, and tools teachers could begin using in the classroom.

A shared way to support big feelings

In birth-to-three classrooms, big feelings are part of the day. So are transitions, sensory needs, emerging communication, potty training, separation, play, and all the small moments that can quickly become overwhelming for young children and the adults caring for them.

One of the biggest early wins, Tessa said, has been helping teachers see children’s emotions and needs as opportunities to regulate with them. Kind Mind has helped Red Clover’s team move toward a more consistent middle ground, rooted in connection, structure, and co-regulation.

“I think the teachers are on the same page,” Tessa said. “We’re really clear on our values and what we believe in terms of social-emotional education.”

Tools teachers can use every day

For busy early childhood educators, clarity matters. “Teachers need to know what’s expected of them,” Tessa said. “It’s the same as children.”

That’s where the practical side of Kind Mind has been especially helpful. At Red Clover, teachers have begun using visual tools, including the river tracer and animal visuals, which children are already noticing and responding to in the classroom. The center has also been leaning into more intentional daily rituals: greeting children, gathering on the floor, creating a sense of community, and using predictable beginnings and endings to help children feel grounded.

Even small cues matter. Children may not be ready to sit for a long circle time, especially in infant and toddler rooms, but they can begin to understand rhythm, routine, sound, and connection.

Why it’s never too early

For Tessa, one of the most important messages is simple: this work does not have to wait until preschool. “It’s never too early,” she said.

In fact, she sees the infant room as a powerful place to begin. Teachers can sing, greet each child, use a bell or rain stick, create calming routines, and help children experience regulation through relationship long before they can name what they are feeling.

“The sooner you start these practices, the more embedded they become,” Tessa said.

That early foundation matters not only for children, but for the adults caring for them. As Tessa put it, “If we’re not regulated, they’re not regulated.” And when teachers practice regulation with children, they benefit, too.

For Red Clover, Kind Mind is becoming part of the center’s ongoing work to build a calmer, more connected classroom culture from the very beginning—one where teachers feel supported, children feel seen, and co-regulation becomes something everyone can practice together.