Parenting 101: Understand Your Teen's Secret Language

Do you ever wonder what your teen is saying when they text message their friends? You try to read it, but it looks like a jumble of words and letters that don't make any sense. Well, it's important for you to understand their communication style in order to stay apart of their world. Here are four tips that will help you.

Tip #1 - Input the vowels. When teens' text or e-mail each other, they often eliminate vowels. So the word "very" might appear as the word "vry." So if you're trying to understand a sentence, you'll need to add the appropriate vowels to get a clear meaning.

Tip #2 - Sound-it-out. Teens often substitute letters, numbers and symbols that sound alike in words. So, you'll often see a "z" where an "s" should be. A good example is a word like "that's" might appear like "thatz." Another example is the word "before" might appear as "b4." As a result, if you're reading a text from a teen that looks like Greek, you probably need to sound it out in order to get the message.

Tip #3 - Don't get stuck on misspelled words. Although your teen my be getting "A's" in English, they will text and e-mail as if they were getting "F's." So words may be misspelled on purpose. Words like "that" and "their" might be spelled like "taht" and "teihr." Therefore, if you see a word that looks misspelled, re-assemble it in your head to get the correct spelling and meaning.

Tip #4 - Turn letters into words. Many times, a teen may text one letter that equals a whole word. Popular examples are "r" is "are" and "c" is "see." So, if you read a sentence that looks like "c u lter." Your teen is telling the other party "see you later."

Tip #5 - Get help. If you suspect that your teen is in trouble and your ability to help them lies on you understanding a text message or e-mail, don't be afraid to get help. Ask another teen or go online and utilize sites set up to help you understand teen lingo. Two popular ones are www.teenchatdecoder.com and www.noslang.com. By getting assistance, you'll be able to help your son or daughter out of a dire situation.