Is Poor Punctuation Ever Okay?

4 is not a word. Get the jargon out of your child’s writing and get the proper mechanics in.

What You Need to Know

E-communication has turned our kids into masters of shorthand, jargon, and abbreviation. But fear not. While kids use chat-speak like a second language, they can also appreciate more formal writing. Here are some suggestions to help them in that arena.

• Have your kids write first drafts and don’t fuss about punctuation errors and bad mechanics in them. The draft is to get ideas organized and details worked out. Mechanics and punctuation in the final draft are important, so that’s where to put the energy into getting them right.
• Kids don’t see chat-speak as “real” writing and do appreciate the difference between it and writing for school. Many kids believe that they need more practice at writing, so the curriculum and at-home activities should reflect that.

How You Can Help

• See e-communication for what it is and don’t worry if your kids’ messages are scarcely intelligible to you. You don’t worry about grammar and spelling when you write a grocery list. Your kids don’t need to either when they are talking with others and everyone’s on the same page.
• There are cases where there’s no place for emoticons and jargon in your kids’ writing. Any time kids write in school, on tests, or in correspondence with adults, they should use proper grammar and mechanics.

For more information about punctuation, please see the full article:

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Punctuation/