by Violet Hebb

When Erin Bernau walked into my classroom she immediately greeted me and my note-taker with a warm smile. She was very enthusiastic in telling us how much she loves being a parent educator, the whole time answering my questions with a huge smile on her face.

Erin Bernau has sixteen years of experience working with children and families. She is a parent educator for Sarina Natkin, a psychotherapist at Northwest Family Therapy,

And also works as a parent educator at cooperative preschools through North Seattle college. If you want to learn more about being a parent educator, read on.

A parent educator is a person who teaches parents how to raise emotionally, psychologically and physically healthy children. As a parent educator Bernau spends a lot of time hanging out at preschools with infants, toddlers, parents and teachers. Parent educators must possess strong communication skills whether it is in person or in email.

As a child Erin Bernau’s role model was her mom who was also a social worker and Erin was inspired by her kindness. Erin went to a class as a student with her kids and the parent educator there told her she should give parent education a try. After a few years of being a parent educator Erin learned that it was important to combine her work and home life to make her students comfortable and open around her.

Erin’s favorite part of her job is helping people connect to their newborn baby while still continuing to do their favorite activities. Erin’s job changes a lot as she takes new students, she mostly spends her time talking to parents about potty training, problems at home and discipline. She also receives lots of emails from students letting her know how things are going.

Erin Bernau helps the community by bringing families together, and when families have a community it empowers them and so they take better care of their children. Erin Bernau is a kind and caring person who gives her full attention to families who need help.