Might as Well Be Prepared: Lice Is a Fact of School Life
Dear Vicki: I’m so embarrassed. My first-grade daughter was just sent home with head lice.
I felt so bad for my daughter but even more ashamed for our family. How did this horrible thing happen? We are immaculate people; I personally scrub my kids every night.
Aren’t head lice a sign of poor hygiene? Do you think the nurse will tell other parents? I am humiliated.
--CANDIDATE FOR
WORST MOM
Dear Candidate: What is it with this head lice epidemic, anyway? I went to a public school teeming with the great unwashed, and we shared combs and brushes during every recess and still no one ever seemed to get the dreaded lice.
If it makes you feel any better, let me share the unsavory personal fact that I buy Nix and Rid (the popular shampoo insecticides) in bulk at Costco and I’ve invested in my very own metal nit comb, which is what the pros prefer to the little blue plastic ones that come in the kits.
Every time one of my four hat-sharing, brush-borrowing kids comes home with an infestation, it’s time for another night of orangutan grooming. I figure, if one’s infected, we probably all are--after all, no one in this house sleeps an entire night alone in his or her bed. Docs may question my cavalier attitude about chemicals, but without this maternal aggression, our family could stay infected for months.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
* Getting lice is not a reflection of your child’s grooming habits. The insects are passed through close contact, shared clothing, and infected brushes and combs.
* I never trust homeopathic or “natural” remedies. The voice of experience tells me Vaseline is not a cure.
* Linens don’t usually have to be destroyed or locked up in a dungeon for weeks. A good hot laundering and an even hotter dryer is usually sufficient. Just don’t forget to wash caps and headbands.
* Call the school nurse immediately. Not only will she not chastise you for the school’s fall from grace, but she will be grateful for the heads-up. She’ll tell you what to do and when the child can return.
* Don’t believe parents who maintain they’ve solved their child’s lice crisis. They are usually well-intentioned but self-deluding. Hey, anyone can miss a nit no bigger than a dandruff flake. Check the visitor’s scalp, or put a moratorium on sleepovers and mutual grooming until the pediatrician or school nurse gives the all-clear.
Really, what’s the harm of teaching all children of toddler age or older that no personal attire or grooming items should be shared? With all this sharing, it’s lice today, cold sores tomorrow.
*
Vicki Iovine is the author of the “Girlfriends’ Guide,” a columnist for Child magazine, and new parenting correspondent for NBC’s “Later Today.” Write to her at Girlfriends, Southern California Living, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053; e-mail GrlfrndsVI@aol.com.
