Parents want their children to succeed in both school and life – in essence, to reach their full potential.

On Saturday, Dec. 5 from 9 a.m-noon, The Bear Creek School is offering free seminars devoted to helping parents figure that out.

During its second annual “Preparing Your Child for Success” series, the school hopes parents leave with the tools needed “to encourage growth and development in young children,” said Vice President of Academic Affairs Karen Blankenbeckler. “There are some key cognitive areas that are best developed if certain skills are introduced and practiced between the ages of 2 and 8.”

Each seminar will touch on several different topics.

“Parenting can be overwhelming,” said pre-kindergarten teacher Kellie Anderson, “as we are dealing with different temperaments, learning styles and circumstances. But we can find techniques that work with our kids.”

Anderson will lead a session, “How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk,” which, she said, “will give many ideas that parents can try.

“Parents and educators will leave with simple tools to help them deal more effectively with their children, with respect, whether in the classroom or at home,” she said.

The seminar is not strictly for parents. Rather, the school considers it ideal for parents of young children, early childhood education teachers, Sunday school teachers and anyone interested in early childhood education.

Kindergarten teacher Renee Matson will lead the session on kindergarten readiness. Parents often feel some anxiety leading up to their child’s first day of school, wondering if they’ve done enough, so this session addresses those common concerns, Matson said.

“I hope that parents walk away from my seminar with an idea of what children should be able to do to have a successful start in kindergarten,” said Matson, “as well as an idea of how they can help their children get to that point before kindergarten.

“Kindergarten readiness is not only academic readiness,” she added. “Children need to be ready emotionally, socially and physically.”

Matson’s session will provide a set of guidelines parents can use to help them decide if their child is ready when the time for kindergarten arrives. Other topics are “Understanding Personality and Temperament,” “Developing a Strong Number Concept,” “The Five Languages of Children,” “How Brain Research Applies to Early Learning,” “How to Develop Strong Readers: Phonics vs. Whole Language,” and “Raising Responsible Children using Love and Logic.”

Blankenbeckler said, “We try to make the seminars as practical as possible so that the attendees can take away ideas they can immediately begin using. … This seminar is a great way for us to provide a service to the community that will ultimately benefit children.”

The Bear Creek School is located at 8905 208th Ave. N.E. For more information or to register for the seminar call (425) 898-1720, extension 437, or visit the school’s Web site.

Katie Ormsby is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.