to thin they should bring back nit nurses into schools?

[wannaBe]

Since moving here in the summer I have actually lost count of the number of times I have treated ds for headlice. Never had this problem in previous school, it is actually at a point in this school where you have to sign a letter to say that you have checked your child?s hair.

It?s got to the point where I just routinely comb through once a week but I am fucking sick of it.

Now obviously most parents do check and treat their children for headlice, but clearly there are some who don?t or this issue wouldn?t constantly recur.

So ibu to think that nit nurses should be brought back into schools? Why should everyone have to suffer because some can?t be bothered to look after their children properly

Did nit nurses actually treat for nits? If not, I don't know how it would make a difference?

You should be combing through more than once a week.

No, I don't think bringing back the Nit Nurse would help because the main reason it used to work was the "Big brown envelope of shame" that was handed either directly to the child...or to the parent in front of everyone else.

Since the 'shame' has gone out of having nits, it seems people are really not too bothered about their kids getting them.

Also despite the sea of information about them, some parents still don't understand a lot about them.

No they didn't. They sent the kid home, to much sniggering from their classmates, and gave mountains of ammunition to the class bullies for future use.

so because other people neglect their children (and IMO it is neglect) this problem must persist because we mustn't hold the poor parents accountable? Any other form of neglect is challenged - why not this?

I comb through my children hair twice a week and always will do while they are at primary school. its the only way to make sure your child's hair doesn't get infested with lice.

Nit nurses didn't treat lice, just told the children and parents they had them. So pretty much uneffective.

There will always be people out there who basically don't care if their child has nits or not. That why lice will always be a problem in schools.

Dd's school sends children home if they see lice on their hair, it's possible to do this without letting any of the other children know. I got a call once, and I said I'd treated her the night before, her ta was sympathetic and said it's easy to miss some, she said at least your treating her and she admitted that there were a few parents who just didn't bother. After that I bought the nitty gritty comb and combed through with cheap conditioner, which worked better than the expensive treatments. I believe you can get the nitty gritty comb on prescription if need be.

I actually caught them from dd,the first time in my life I'd had them and my head was unbearably itchy. It must be so uncomfortable for children if their parents don't bother treating them.

My DD1 has just had lice and I am was very ashamed.

I started a thread about her a week or so ago. I am currently in the process of doing it every day. We have recently moved and Ive been trying to get rid of the little fck*s for a while now. Especially before Monday when she starts her new preschool. I was only going to do it once a week once they had gone. I was advised on my thread that plaits were the way forward, if only DD1 didnt have really curly hair that might just have worked for me.

You can get hair things that are meant to repel the lice. We have the spray, but have hardly used it as it smelled, but we are using it everyday. You can get a shampoo to. Its Vosene kids and it comes in a green bottle.

Now talking about it my head is unbelievably (sp?) itchy.

The eggs take around 7 days to hatch

Why do people still only comb through once a week?

Think about how many MN threads you see where the OP claims their child came home from school 'crawling' with lice.

Often I'm convinced it's because they're hatching on their heads.

Whoops sorry didnt finish my sentance before going onto plaits. I was going to say I was only going to do it once a week, but might opt for more at first. The whole point of getting the nitty gritty comb because I read that it not only gets rid of the lice, but also the eggs. There is no point getting rid of lice and not the eggs because as you say eggs hatch.

Sorry was too busy getting ahead of myself with my thoughts.

My kids school also send the kids home if they are discovered infested, asks parents to treat, and return the child to school the same day if possible! I go through their hair twice a week when they are clear- Take heart though, since they have been in yrs 5&6, we have had far less of a problem, as the kids tend not to "huddle together" as much, and so the chance of the little buggers transferring from head to head lessens!
Now I, also have got an itchy head

It was deemed an invasion of children's rights to be subjected to compulsory nit checking I believe.

i was found to have nits by the nit nurse when i was at school (30 years ago) and they never said a word to me at the time but a health visitor turned up at our house that evening to check the whole family and then sent us to the local clinic the next morning. We had to all turn up there at 8 oclock with a line of other nitty people to have lotion dished out to us.

The clean/dirty hair thing is a myth.

My daughter has Afro hair so its great fun when she catches nits....
Takes me about 3 hours to get through it all properly. Near enough from when she gets back from school till when she goes to bed. I hate it with a passion.

I think kids should discreetly be sent home. Cause honestly, something needs to be done.

Not this thread again...

What do you expect a nurse to do? Treat a whole schools worth of children's hair? How long do you think that would take?

If parents can't be arsed to de-nit their children's hair, the NHS shouldn't be picking up the tab.