By: Ryan Duey

Photo Courtesy of Little Haven

Long-time early childhood educator, Heidi Ring, will soon open a small business in Clay Center to help support young children with emotional well-being, empathy, and other life factors that children may struggle with.

Opening in late September or early October in the Happy Hippie building, Little Haven, LLC will be a curriculum-based social learning environment, helping children gain emotional understanding.

Ring spoke about the reason she decided to bring this new business to the community.

“In my 30 years of teaching, I taught Early Childhood Special Education and social skills. Emotional skills are the foundation of little ones, and it’s always just been a passion of mine.”

“So, when I retired, that was just an idea; to work with children on emotional regulation.”

Little Haven will be geared toward children aged 4 to 8 years. Ring will bring three decades of early childhood special education experience into her new endeavor. She hopes her new business will add additional support to children in need of emotional and social skills.

“It’s been a very important part of my teaching career to have those kids learn those different skills.”

“I don’t think there’s anything in the community besides the schools teaching this, and the schools have so much other stuff to work on on top of that.”

“I just kind of wanted to target that area.”

To keep up to date on the progress of Little Haven, and to read parent testimonials of Ring’s teaching years, follow the Little Haven Facebook page.