The Golden Rule, treat other people the way you want to be treated, is a great lesson in manners and in life. Even our school district teaches this through the school counselor's program... Now, if they would just followed their own advice!
I want to be told if there is a lice problem at the school so I told the school nurse when we realized that my daughter had lice. Did she tell other parents? Click here for the featured video from Studio4Kids
“She has lice,” he pronounced. I groaned inwardly. We had never had a case of lice in my family, but I knew I was faced with a lot of extra effort and the cost of specialized products. There was no way to be sure exactly where she got them, but school was a pretty good bet, or a sleepover with friends from school. In any case, the school was in the middle of things.
Just the thought of lice makes a lot of people twitchy. I found that a fair number of people don’t like to mention lice; sometimes the very people we rely on to be honest with us. The lies we are speaking of are lies of omission, denial, or possibly both. Unfortunately, there still seems to be a bit of a stigma associated with having lice. This is kind of ironic really, when you consider how many taboos have been broken and what kinds of things people will talk about. I suspect that mentioning that a family member has lice is right up there with mentioning they have psychosis. As an old psych. nurse, I don’t have a problem with discussing psychosis, so I am certainly not going to be stopped by a louse, or a nurse, a principal or a school district that wants to pretend they don’t have a problem.
Having lice is not an indictment of uncleanliness, but still, I admit I felt some embarrassment about our latest “visitors” and thought twice about saying anything. But because I know that lice spread & part of the reason they spread is because people keep silent, the responsible parent in me won out. I went to the school nurse to let her know, so that she could put out an announcement for other parents. Having lice is never an isolated incident. It came from somewhere, and it may have gone somewhere. By the time your child’s head starts itching, he or she has had lice for at least 2 weeks.
Based on the number of lice products available at all the local pharmacies, discount stores, grocery stores & health food stores, (Yes I checked them all and spoke with pharmacists and clerks) I suspected that lice are a big problem around here. Basic economics: supply & demand. A few pharmacists agreed; some were clueless, but the clerks and even a customer in line were in the know: Lice are in business here, there, & everywhere.
Imagine my surprise when I was informed that there was no lice problem at the school; just one other child & mine. The nurse checked both students’ schedules and found they had never had classes with one another, which in her mind confirmed that lice are not a problem. In my mind it confirmed the idea that a lot of other parents at the middle school level didn’t want to say anything about lice in their family. I told the nurse, “You haven’t heard about lice because most people don’t want to tell you about it”.
The nurse then assured me that lice are not a health problem, anyway (In other words, no need to tell? The 6th grade principal concurred. (So nothing would be done anyway?) The district nurse disagreed however, and told me that the policy was not being followed properly. There should have been notification. She told me that a) the policy would be stricter this year: fewer # of cases would require that parents be notification. b) The people who should know the policy would be educated about it. I am still waiting to here how or if our school’s policy changed and if those who should know do know. I’ve called 3 times and left messages. Hello? Are you out there? Do you care? The school manual is almost equally silent on the subject.
It would be very helpful if the school would acknowledge the problem. Using the sophisticated methods of mass communication we have at our disposal would make it easy to notify parents to check and treat for lice. E-mail and automated phone calls are used all the time for less important things; why not for lice notification? It’s cheap and effective. I would also encourage parents to speak up and let the school know about your child having lice. If parents don’t speak up the school can’t gage accurately how big a problem they have. But the school has to be willing to participate.
The nurse also indicated that I just should have known to have checked. Believe me, I know now, & I will. But, in over 40 years of public school between my husband, daughters, and myself, we never had lice(and neither did my 6 brothers and sisters ) so excuse me, if lice isn’t foremost on my radar, & if I expect the school to let me know if there is a problem. I think that is a heck of an attitude for both a health care professional and an educator.
I’m calm about this now, but I was pretty hot under the collar after doing a mountain chain of laundry instead of the normal mountain. I spent 3 hours of labor intensive nit-picking (oh is that where that term comes from!) I used double the wash water (glad we aren’t still having a drought, I would really feel guilty) & double the detergent. Let’s not forget the approximate $100 (probably more) spent on lice products, water, soap, & electricity. I’m not including my time & emotional costs. A $100 isn’t a lot of money for some, but I know families that that amount would break the monthly budget.
Given the school’s cavalier attitude about lice, my time, effort, & money, and probably other student’s family’s as well…. well, let’s just say I was motivated to get educated and educate others. (which is a lot nicer than saying I was ready to knock a few heads in the hopes that they would get lice and have to go through the effort I had just been through. What is that called by educators?…hands on education? Sounds good to me!)
According to some sources, next to the common cold, lice are the highest medical social problem. In days gone by, kids were sent home from school, but in more recent years this practice has stopped in some school districts. No loss of money for the school, no problem? Is that how it works now? So it would seem. To be fair sending kids home from school causes a cascade of problems; kids lose out on class time and fall behind, parents lose time and pay at work, and schools lose money.
The No-Nits Policy of sending kids with lice home has run smack up against “No Child Left Behind”. Some school districts follow the “No-Nits Policy” Some school districts have dropped it stating that the “No Child Left Behind” school policy allows for school attendance while having lice. But the “No Child Left Behind Policy” was never designed to ignore children’s health. Perhaps that is why the nurse pointedly declared that lice are not a health problem. Regardless of the political back and forth, I have a problem with a school that wants the money from the government for my child but, shifts the entire burden of lice control over to parents and excuses itself from the equation. Their role is pretty small, (except they are ground zero for lice) and they don’t even want that? I’ll remember that when they ask me to volunteer or when fund raising time comes around.
(It’s here now)
According to Katie Shepherd, founder of Lice Solutions Resource Network Inc., the only free-standing, non-profit lice elimination program in the nation, lice are increasing at epidemic proportions. “We will never get rid of lice completely, but we can keep the levels low.” “We cannot hope to lower levels of lice without the cooperation of our schools” Schools are at the heart of a community and that being so they are the most likely place where kids and lice make contact.
Ms. Shepherd informed me that a lot of available information on lice is outdated. I had noted that even the Harvard School of Public Health website contained outdated information saying that “lice did not develop resistance to pediculocides” (the chemicals that kill lice) They most certainly do, and studies supporting this have been published in many medical journals. This is just one of the reasons people have a difficult time getting rid of lice.
Lice Solutions RN actually provides home visits to help families kill the lice and educate them on the latest information about lice. There are branches throughout the country, however, none in the
Ms Shepherd recommends that all parents use a nit-comb on their children once or twice weekly. Admittedly, that is a lot of work. While some sources dismiss lice repellents as unproven, other people swear by them and as long as they are safe, it seems reasonable to try them. Peoplespharmacy.org has a discussion about one using Listerine that has been found effective by many.
There are many other over-the-counter & on-line products available.Talk to People in your area see what has worked for them. Biosafe technologies,Inc. has a product for lice which was highly recommended by a friend whose child had a rather persistent case of lice.
Now for the bad news. You thought you already read the bad news?
50% of the population who has lice, never gets itchy…That’s right. Kind of makes you think that maybe that nurse might be right: It‘s not a problem…. unless you are in the other 50 % (or just don’t like the idea of having lice)
How will they ever know they have lice?
To whom have they spread lice?
How many people have they exposed to lice?
It’s a problem not likely to go away, but without concerted community effort, it is very likely to be a problem that will get worse.
I think I’ll go wash my hair.
As an after thought, (I went to bed thinking about lice). How about a school fund raiser selling lice products at the beginning of the year? Yeah, I know not very glamorous ,but honestly, I just don’t need another magazine subscription. I don’t want candy and trans-fat laden frozen cookie dough! September is Lice Awareness Month. But many schools are mum on the subject. This would kill two birds( and many lice) with one stone. It would help awareness and you would have the stuff on hand if you needed ii. If you don’t want it, donate it to an organization that would give it to those who might not be able to afford it. In the end helping other people get rid of their lice helps us all.