Finally, a babble fish for our tweens and teens online lives

I was searching the headlines this morning and this ad caught my eye:



So, I clicked the ad and ended up on www.theantidrug.com.

If your tweens are like mine, or you have teens at home, you likely have no idea what they are saying to their friends when they chat by email, IM or text message. This handy site gives a primer but also gives you valuable info on drugs kids may get into and how to talk to your kids about drugs. I'd encourage you to play around on the site - if nothing else, it may help you with conversation starters or clue you into to lingo your kids are using to mean things differently that you realize.

In the meantime, here's a quick glimpse to some techno jargon your kids use to talk to each other that may also be warning signs they are talking about stuff that you need to know about:

POS Parent Over Shoulder
PIR Parent In Room
P911 Parent Alert
PAW Parents Are Watching
PAL Parents Are Listening
KPC Keeping Parents Clueless

WYCM Will You Call Me?
ASL Age/Sex/Location
MorF Male or Female
KFY Kiss For You
MOOS Member(s) Of the Opposite Sex
ADR Address
LMIRL Let's Meet In Real Life
HAK Hugs And Kisses
ILU or ILY I Love You
KOTL Kiss On The Lips
SMIM Send Me an Instant Message
SMEM Send Me an E-Mail
WUF Where Are You From?
WYRN What's Your Real Name?

;) Winking
:*( Crying
#-) Wiped out, partied all night
%*} Inebriated
%\ Hangover
8-# Death
:-d~ Heavy smoker
:->< Puckered up to kiss
:/i No smoking

Being the uber cool parents most of us stive to be, many of us are well versed with basic IM speak. But, not being kids, we may have trouble keeping pace with the myriad of names for kid code for drugs. That's what worries me. To help you keep pace, check out these helpful links:
Here's a link to lingo for street drugs in a PDF file

And the same list in a searchable database.

The bottom line of this site is to be involved with your kids online lives. For example, the site suggests:

1. Limit your teen’s time spent online, and put computers in a common area of the house.
2. Learn about the digital devices your teen uses.
3. Visit your teen’s Web site or personal blog.

Nothing new or earth shattering - basic common sense. But, with our lives so fast paced, we can all use a healthy dose of this from time to time.

Spend some time on this site. One of the best parts is the "how tech savvy are you?" quiz - if the questions alone don't open your eyes, wait 'till you see the answers!

By the way, as a parent of a tween and a just about to be tween, I know I'm about to live what's on this site. Why? Because I once walked in those shoes. We all did. So, before you say, "not my child", remember that once upon a time your parents said that about you!

Safe surfing!

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