to expect parent's to sort out their 'lousy' children!

[heartmoonshadow]

Exactly what it says - I work in a school and in a class of 30 I have at least 4 persistent head lice carriers whose parents never treat them. As a result I have had head lice three times already this school year!

The lice are that big on one girl that other children keep saying she has spiders in her hair.

It just annoys me as I have to pay for the treatments and spend hours checking my family and my hair every night knowing they can get it on prescription for their children and themselves free but cannot be bothered. They know perfectly well that because they are too lazy that more than half of the class are catching them at any one time so they are impossible to avoid!

I call it neglect but it seems perfectly acceptable to some parents!

Poor girl
can't you send a letter home telling the parents yo treat her or is that not allowed?

As a parent of 2 dds in primary school I am cheesed off with constantly having to treat my dd's hair for nits. Someone somewhere is taking the piss.

Time to bring back nora the nit nurse then and banish the poor sods from the classroom until the nits have gone. Can't you or the head speak to the parents concerned directly to explain?

Seems like neglect to me too. Poor kids. It must be so embarrassing for them, not to mention the health concerns, isolation in the playground etc.

Have you spoke to the head? Maybe these kids are known to the school/ social services and the head can help to sort it out.

Other than that all you can do is tie up hair and not get into close contact with the children. Hard in a school though.

Every week we get the same photocopied letter about "someone in your child's class" blah blah blah.
They must know who. Why can't they approach them directly?

I have told the parents of every child I have spotted scratching like mad and in the main they get treated it is just those core 4/5 who do nothing no matter how many times they are told. The Head is aware - I have to agree that children with infestations should be excluded from school until they are clear. But this would be discrimination - and would affect their schooling therefore it is never ever done!

I had a class a few years ago that was just the same, I could watch the lice crawl around their heads whilst I called the register! In the end I got so fed up of having to treat myself I put "Frontline" on my own head. It seemed to work.

I sympathise, my youngest son has been in a class for five years now with a child whose mother refuses to treat her head lice.

We all know who causes the repeat outbreaks every few months and it's infuriating but the mother won't act.
She claims to be against putting chemicals on her child's head but there are plenty of other alternatives such as electronic combs and tea tree oil remedies on the market. The bottom line seems to be the mother can't be bothered and doesn't care.

I know a few parents have complained to the school about it but there doesn't seem to be anything they can do except send letters home to all the class requesting regular checks and treatment.

You are not being unreasonable at all. When I went to school having head lice was seen as embarrassing but times appear to have changed.

Loubielou is that Frontline like you put on a cat or a dog - I have loads of that as I have two cats?

It was frontline that you put on a Cat! It was a spare kitten pack and I reasoned that if you could put it on a tiny kitten it would probably be fine for a fully grown me! It was.

I know of vets who use it on their children although I'm not sure I'd do that, I'm probably a little more careful about their health than I am mine.

Our school nurse did tell me that the new generation Lice treatment that don't use insecticide but sort of shrink wrap the lice with silicon or similar are very effective.

heartmoonshaow i sympathise with you for being a teacher with this problem. as a parent who keeps on top of this its a pain in the fn arse. but is it true that teachers cannot specificly tell the culperit parents as it victimises the child? my dd had nits two days after starting reception (was at nursery full time for 2 years prior and never had them) despite me sparaying her with insecticide ttree everyday and hair looking manck as a result, she has v short hair as it has never grown, so i can not pleat it or tie it back.

i ran three treatments along side each other that week as i rid them and then a day later they returned then i rid them again and 2 days later they returned. i did not want to wait the 7 days as stated on the label, surely that cant be good for her because some lazy bugger cant be bothered cant these people see it. my mum tells me that we only ever had one bout of nits a family of 5 kids. i remember the nit nurse and never once felt victimised from my hair being checked at school or at home. in fact my dd has got into the routine so well every night before bed she asks me to check. and just out of motherly instinct when ever she is close to me i play with or run my hands through her hair are these children missing some kind of normal and vital contact. it riles me!! there needs to be another in school nit campaign

How do you get headlice from children in your class? V curious! Don't you actually need to put heads together for lice to travel between them? I thought that sort of closeness wasn't permitted in schools any more.

If you are a teacher or a TA, I would have hoped you would be aware that there is no need for an apostrophe in the word parents.

YANBU cant imagine how a parent knowingly would let their child suffer,they itch like buggery and i got shot as soon as i was aware

but they dont seem to care (parent not nit)though they dont either poor child

You'd think it would be very difficult namey, but when you're teaching very young children you do end up sitting on the floor and crawling round with them or having to put your head really close in order to be able to hear them read, etc etc. It may need head to head contact but the buggars can run fast!

Would it be possible for you to bend the truth a bit and get the treatment and then take the parent aside and give it to them? I know that this is underhand and totally unacceptable, but as the parent of a child with long thick hair, who had to de-louse her child every 2wks it might help. I used to wish that I had a boy and could shave her hair just to stop her getting head lice. Now I do have 2 boys dealing with it is so much easier.

sorry, i have all this to come soon i guess, but i laughed so much when i read that the other children think that the little girl has spiders in her hair!!! i love children- they come out with such funny things.
I even had to text it my DH as i tried telling him over the phone but he couldn't understand me in between the laughs!!

I just de-loused my DD over the weekend as she had lice. As a result I had to make sure that the whole family was done and it was such a chore as I have very long hair and DD has very curly hair and it took forever to check us both.

In the 5 years that my two DC's have been at either nursery or school I have never had to face this, so it irratated me that within a few weeks of being in reception that my DD was infected. This means that there is a chids somewhere that is carry lice and passing them to everyone else.

As soon as I was aware of DD having lice I treated her and everyone else, I informed the school and had to keep her off for one day.

Really some parents can be very selfish if they let their DCs run around and don't treat them. It is also very uncomfortable and can't be very fair to the DC either.

I used to look after a reception age girl who had persistent headline for 2.5 years! Her dad And I tried everything to get rid of them. None of the chemicals were any use at all! Conditioner and a nitty gritty comb was the only cure.
Op you have my sympathy. She gave them to me regularly, and I am allergic to them. Even when I made sure of not touching her, I still got them. They do say that you have to have head to contact, but I've also seen them climbing across the sofa cushions and up my clothes! It was only my persistent whinging, and her teacher telling him he could be reported for neglect that convinced dad that lice were a problem. These parents ought to be reported to social services!