Workshops designed to help parents learn how to prepare their children for the workforce will be offered in April and May at various Southern Nevada locations.

The "Guiding Your Child from School to Work" program is aimed at the parents of children currently enrolled in grades five through nine. Following the workshops, parents and children will have an opportunity to sign up to spend part of a day on a job site observing an employee's day. Hands-on experience will be provided where appropriate.

"We want to give parents an opportunity to learn how they can help their middle school children by giving them career guidance information, the latest in labor market trends, and information about career training and preparation for this training," said Joyce Nelson-Leaf, principal investigator for the project and director of the Educational Equity Resource Center at UNLV.

School guidance counselors often are overburdened and do not always have enough time to give each student the career counseling the student needs, Nelson-Leaf said.

The workshops, which are free, are scheduled for:

* 6-8 p.m. April 21 at the Nevada Employment, Training and Rehabilitation Office, 902 W. Owens Ave.
* 6-8 p.m. April 26 at the Southern Nevada Vocational Technical Center, 5710 Mountain Vista St., Room 210.
* 2-4 p.m. April 29 at the West Charleston Library, 6301 W. Charleston Blvd.
* 5-8 p.m. May 9 in the cafeteria at Cashman Middle School, 4622 W. Desert Inn Road. This workshop will be conducted in Spanish.

To register, call Nelson-Leaf at 895-1380.