Lice Allowed In Schools

[Kaddidle Care]

A local High School in a neighboring town had head lice in epidemic proportions because they didn't take it seriously.

The best you can do is to have a No Lice, No Nit policy and make sure you enforce it. If any children have it or anyone in their family has it, they must be checked daily for 2 weeks.

I thank the heavens that I have a boy that has poker straight hair. If he ever gets it he will get a head shave as part of the treatment. It seems like the ones that have trouble with nits the longest are the ones with the beautiful curly hair. It's a nightmare to go through and almost impossible to get the hair free of nits first time around.

OK - is anyone else scratching their head right now?

[Angelsj]

There is a product called Quit Nits that you spray on hair to make the hair smell "less palatable" to lice.
When my kids were smaller, I mixed a variety of essential oils into a bottle of hair spray on conditioner for children. Similar to this recipe. Honestly not positive you can credit the mixture, but my kiddos have not gotten it since, despite being in situations where other kids close to them (including one overnight guest) were found to have had them.

[Willow]

That's disgusting. Not just physically, but the fact that who ever mentioned it's probably about money is probably correct.


If I had kiddos that went to HS I would go and do what I could to get that bologna changed. Maybe even go so far as to petition other providers and parents who find it equally repulsive, get a boat load of people on board and bring it right to the superintendent.

[nanglgrl]

Exactly, if the child with lice is allowed to come to school/daycare before they are bug/nit free the entire daycare/school will get infected and then it will be even harder to get rid of because it's a larger group on some people will not treat it appropriately. None of my children have ever had lice and my oldest is 19. That said, rules used to be stricter. I did have one daycare child who was infected about 8 years ago and he kept coming back with nits so I would send him home. It got so bad that I told the parents to shave his head or I would terminate him and they had to reimburse me for the cost to treat my family and house. Thankfully they did both. I hated to be so strict but he had thin blond baby hair so it was obvious and it was week after week after week. I don't know if they weren't treating right or if the lice was just incredibly resistant.

It reminds me of hand/foot/mouth. Daycares now let children come when they have it and it spreads through the whole group. I didn't even know what it was until this year when my son and two other children got blisters at the same time. I closed my daycare and nobody else was infected and I'm glad because one of the kids was miserable for a week, he didn't eat and barely drank because of sores in his mouth and was in pain trying to walk because of the blisters on his feet.

I don't know why society is heading in this direction but I do know that the people who make these rules would never let lice run rampant in their house.

[familyschoolcare]

I haven't seen the actual policy in writing here, but do know that my sister has been beyond frustrated with the Head Start program my niece attends. She has has custody of this child and she has had head lice off and on the entire time she has been in the program, she just keeps getting reinfected. They continue to share all kinds of dress up clothes including hats regardless of the fact that they know there is a problem. It's like they are purposely making sure all of them have it so no one can complain that an offender is infected and nothing is being done. Sad.

She has tried every trick in the book to kill them off, tea tree, mayonnaise, bagging toys, using high heat, you name it. These things may indeed work, but if the schools are making no effort to break the cycle as well anymore were doomed.

The doctor told me the best prevention for when you know you are going to be exposed is to treat weekly

[kimsdaycare]

The doctor told me the best prevention for when you know you are going to be exposed is to treat weekly

That makes sense but on the other hand I cannot imagine treating weekly for the entire school year, not to mention that every place any of these children go they are exposing others, and those other families have no idea they should be treating just in case kwim?

I know of at least one family that once admitted to me that they were taking their girls to every public place they could think of during waking hours while they were treating because they were hoping to rid their own house of it. My jaw dropped, I didnt even know what to say. Just was glad they werent attending my daycare at the time. I think it would have gotten ugly .

[familyschoolcare]

That makes sense but on the other hand I cannot imagine treating weekly for the entire school year, not to mention that every place any of these children go they are exposing others, and those other families have no idea they should be treating just in case kwim?

I know of at least one family that once admitted to me that they were taking their girls to every public place they could think of during waking hours while they were treating because they were hoping to rid their own house of it. My jaw dropped, I didnt even know what to say. Just was glad they werent attending my daycare at the time. I think it would have gotten ugly .

I do not think I would treat all year just during lice season when you know the school has sent children home with lice then for atleast 5 weeks after the life cycle of one bug is 30 days

[Meyou]

I'm telling you ladies....use tea tree oil in your shampoo or tea tree oil shampoo and your kids won't get them. Girls should wear ponytails too. My kids are in different school both of which have had constant lice for the past couple of years and my kids have been nit free for 6 years using tea tree oil in our shampoo and wearing ponytails. I nit check weekly. We had a horrid experience 6 years ago and my paranoia is epic.

[texascare]

If anyone saw the webinar that was posted last week about illnesses the Dr said it was fine for them to go to daycare. I was shocked because I figure it will just spread!