If your kids have a cell phone, you've seen the crazy abbreviations and emojis they use to communicate. But did you understand all of them? Even texts that looks like typos may have a secret meaning.
"People say, 'I'm going to have some broccoli,' so they're like 'Oh, my kid wants broccoli for dinner," said Dr. Daliah Wachs, a board certified family physician in Nevada. "Broccoli is marijuana."
A parent who's unaware is not able to intervene when and if they need to, she said.
The online slang dictionary is a great resource for parents. It lists hundreds of abbreviations, words and phrases and the multiple meanings each can have.
Educate Empower Kids can also help parents understand the hidden — and not-so-innocent — meanings to these emoticons.
"(You) need to look at the emoticons — the emojis," said Sgt. Mike Harris with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. "Some may appear innocent, (but they) may mean something totally different."
Other sites to help parents:
- Protect your Eyes
- Cheezo Coolo Cat on Facebook, run by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
