Exploring Life & Business with Regina Lum-Witkoske of Little Feet: Movement for Developing Minds

Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Lum-Witkoske. 

Hi Regina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Since I was a little girl, I’ve always known I wanted to have my own business so that I can make my own schedule and be available for my children and at the same time, have a satisfying, fulfilling career. 

And growing up, I did dance, cheerleading, and music. I loved doing all of these activities because it helped me gain confidence, build community, gave me a sense of accomplishment. It taught me self-motivation, perseverance, resilience, and teamwork. I feel like all these skills learned was a huge factor in helping me be successful in school and in life! I didn’t understand how and why these activities helped me in those ways, I just knew it did! 

Because of that, I’ve always wanted to run a children’s program, most likely in dance because that’s what I really loved! I wanted to provide an opportunity for other kids to learn those skills and help them lay the foundation for success in life. 

After graduating with a BA in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing and Management, I worked at different youth organizations that aligned with my dream of providing opportunities for young children to succeed. After a few years, I was itching to work directly with children and parents. At the same time, I became a mom and in my search for activities to do with my daughter, I came across Nurturing Pathways (NP), which connected the dots for me on how and why movement and music supports the physical, social, emotional and cognitive development of a child. 

So, when I found out that they offer teacher certification, I jumped on that without knowing what I’d do with the certification or when I’d be able to use it. After getting certified in 2017, I started teaching with the NP program for a few months & then my family and I moved to Grand Rapids. With a new 2-month-old & a 3.5-year-old, I wasn’t ready to get back into the 9-5 grind… I didn’t want to! I wanted to be around my kids, I wanted to raise them myself! So, I started thinking about how I can finally bring my dreams of owning a business to reality and started Little Feet here in GR in 2019. 

I started by partnering with a doula & birth photographer Annica Quakenbush with Sprout & Blossom who also runs a mom’s group. She was crucial in helping me get things going by finding space, running registration through her website, and helping market my classes. 6 months into that, with her encouragement I started to spread my wings and started doing things on my own! Then a couple months later, another friend Shannon Sadoski with Live Unprocessed introduced me to the Rockford & North GR community and I started having classes in Rockford too! 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Yes and no… yes because I was VERY lucky to have met people who believed in me and my program and helped me get started. And I am also very privileged to have a partner that has a job that could support our family so that I was able to stay home with the kids and work on my business. 

No, because I had to balance finding time to work on my business and care for my kids at the same time. Childcare is expensive and when you’re first building a business, you don’t have any income so I couldn’t justify paying for childcare. And then a few months into really starting the business (doing it on my own instead of in partnership with Sprout & Blossom), COVID hit and I had to stop teaching classes. So, all the momentum that I’ve built up the past year evaporated overnight and I had to start over in 2021. And of course, I am constantly fighting the imposter syndrome and also the thought of how will I be successful with so many other similar programs in the market, some that are even offered for free. 

We’ve been impressed with Little Feet: Movement for Developing Minds, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Little Feet is a parent-child movement program for children 3 months to 5 years old. The goal of the program is to:  

– Help develop healthy relationships between parent/caregiver and child 

– Build capable and confident bodies 

– Support the development of an integrated brain 

The program is derived from scientific research on the brain-body connection and how movement and music improves cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth of our children. 

Besides that, this program also educates parents on how to support their children’s healthy development and empowers them to be more confident parents. Our philosophy is that the parent/caregiver is the child’s first teacher and my job as an instructor is to facilitate an environment to work towards the goals mentioned above. 

The program targets this age group because the brain doubles in size during the first year and reaches 95% of its adult brain weight by age 4. That’s why we want to build a great foundation now! Another thing about the brain is that it is built on demand. The more sensory opportunities and experiences we provide our children, the more neural pathways are built in the brain. The more neural pathways there are in the brains, the better the communication within the brain becomes. This means the brain will be more organized and integrated. 

What sets this program apart is we don’t just teach you what to do, but we go into WHY we do these activities and HOW it affects your child’s development. Each week, we explore a different dance concept and we explain how each dance concept supports your child’s development. That means each week, we do a different lesson plan with different sensory props. So, it is constantly a new experience for your child. To the above point where the brain is built on demand, we are constantly challenging our brains and pushing it to build new neural pathways. The only thing we repeat each week are the nursery rhymes and the structure of the class so even though the activities are different, the children can expect the same sequence of activities and that helps them know what to expect. We need to have a balance of familiarity and excitement in the program to help kiddos feel safe and yet still have the element of surprise, and THAT is how our brain learns best! 

The other thing about this program is that it really focuses on the healthy attachment between parent/caregiver and child. It gives parents an opportunity to connect and play with their children during class and lots of ideas to bring home too! Healthy attachment is key to a child’s overall development, mostly because when a child feels safe, the brain gets out of its fight/flight/freeze mode and will be more open to learning new things! 

I am all about creating community. So that’s why the classes are offered by session and included in the class schedule is time for a little community in the beginning of each class. That way, a group of families get to know each other more throughout the 6-week or 8-week session, depending on the season. Also, when the kids come for the whole session, it gives them time to get used to the classes, to me, and to their friends and start to know what to expect and really enjoy class more. Drop-ins are welcome too; they just won’t see the same benefits of signing up for the whole session. 

I’m constantly trying to create a safe and non-judgmental space for parents and all are welcome at my class! I want people to know that I truly care about them and their children and my goal is really to get this program/teachings out to as many people as possible because I really believe that it does make a difference for our children! 

What does success mean to you?
I define success as the ability to be BOTH a present mom AND at the same time have a fulfilling career that is able to support my family, doing something that I enjoy while contributing to the community. All three components has to be present: family, community and stability. 

Contact Info:

• Email: info@littlefeetmovement.com
• Website: https://www.littlefeetmovement.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlefeetmovement/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlefeetmovement

Image Credits
Morgan Jean Photography
Annica Quakenbush