Thursday, November 11, 2010

head Lice: the horror!

Today’s topic will be the exciting and persistent drama of head lice! If you have children it may be possible that you have encountered these little menaces in your parenting days. They are the fleas of the human world in that they are hard to get rid of unless great care is given to their eradication.


At some point in elementary school, when children’s interaction has about the same amount of physical contact as a squirming litter of puppies in a box, along with the shared colds and strep throat will come a call from the school nurse regarding a “head check”. At the local public school where my four children learned their multiplication tables and developed their social skills, head checks were as regular as back to school night. Each year the Brownie troops went on a platform tent camping trip, and when they returned Miss Kitty the nurse would begin her checks. I have 3 girls, all with long blond to light brown hair and I would ALWAYS get called. The horror! How embarrassing to be called from class. Everyone knew where you were going. There was no way to keep the knowledge of who had the lice from the other classmates or their mothers. For a third grade girl, struggling to be popular, head lice could be the kiss of death.

As a parent you can reassure your little darlings that the bugs do not mean that you are unclean. Try convincing the parents! First there is the special shampoo with a leave on conditioner that is meant to kill the tiny lice and, most importantly, the eggs, or nits, that they leave behind on the hair shaft. These eggs are very hard to see and cling to the individual shafts of hair. Then hours with the special nit comb with teeth so fine they will snag and pull out the eggs. Back to school for inspection. Back home for more combing.

By the end of it all I had a metal, professional grade nit comb. All of this has been dredged up from the memory bank because the teacher next to the office where I sit got the dreaded call 2 days ago. His preschooler has it. Ever since I have to admit my scalp has been itching. Just a little!

Please comment and share your own experience. Maybe this never happened to you. Maybe you find it beyond disgusting. Maybe you see it as part of childhood along with mud pies and scabby knees. I await your reactions.

More Later!

Xo

Plantress

Ps-don’t forget to spray the car after you wash the bedding and clothes. Spray the couch too…

2 comments:

  1. The world is getting smaller and we are now sharing many things that once was not a problem, such as lice and bed bugs.
    I remember Madam ,an old friend of my mothers, once told me that when she was a young girl and going to school in France, her mother would comb her hair with a comb dipped in a turpentine type of chemical. Then she would pull Madam's hair back tightly and braid it so tight that it would make her look oriental with slanted eyelids. Or at least that is what she said. Anyway she would long to get head lice so she would be sent home from school ... Madam had been a rather naughty child and really didn't like school. When she'd get to school with her hair so tightly combed that a bug could not possibly make it's way onto her scalp, she would always pass the lice inspection. Afterwards she would find the children that had to be sent home due to those annoying little bugs and she would ask them to let her rub heads with them in hopes she would be infected also. Alas, no matter how hard she tried, her mother's smelly potion and the super tight combing and braid kept Madam lice free through out her childhood. :)

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  2. Nothing can compare head lice!! when we talk itchy..is anyone can help me how to get out with this problem?

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