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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To cast aspercions at the hygiene of the rest of DS year 2 class

35 replies

vole3 · 20/12/2013 07:48

OK, I know that kids will share things other than pencils at school, but this term he has had D&V, head lice and last night we had to make an emergency dash at bath time for threadworm treatment.
He was at a childminder from 7 months to 3.3, nursery until 4.3 and made it through reception, year 1 and my current childminder until this term without such problems.

Last night was my only 'doing nothing night' of the last 10 days and next 7 days, but ended up blitzing the house and the washing machine is doing overtime.

Hopefully it will reinforce the message of no nail biting that, DS has been ignoring of late!

OP posts:
OwlinaTree · 20/12/2013 07:51

No all those are normal in a primary school, sorry!

OwlinaTree · 20/12/2013 07:52

You've still got impetigo, hand foot and mouth, slap cheek and chickenpox to go.

Canthaveitall · 20/12/2013 07:53

YANBU. They are grubby.

AutumnWind · 20/12/2013 07:53

It's normal. And your ds has been equally involved in the infecting of others... Don't you see? they are passing things on, but are equally as innocent as him.

Onesleeptillwembley · 20/12/2013 07:55

No, as long as you accept the aspersions cast at your literacy levels.

paxtecum · 20/12/2013 07:56

My GCs often have headlice.
Their mum nit combs their hair four times each week.
They would have serious health problems if they had the head lice killer chemicals on their hair every time they had nits.

Threadworms: have you a pet?

paxtecum · 20/12/2013 08:00

The spelling police are awake this morning.

phantomnamechanger · 20/12/2013 08:03

paxtecum Threadworms do not get caught from pets! the only way this could happen is if the children are stroking a dog that someone else with eggs on their hand has also been stroking, just the same as picking them up from any other surface or item people touch.

agree all these are very common in schools though and it is impossible to police adequate handwashing.

Chippednailvarnish · 20/12/2013 08:03

Maybe you should be looking at your DS's hand washing habits. Threadworms don't go running out of kids arses aggressively looking to infect others...

MiaowTheCat · 20/12/2013 08:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BobPatSamandIgglePiggle · 20/12/2013 08:08

What chipped said.

Totally normal though - kids are germ factories. Yours included.

Original poster
vole3 · 20/12/2013 08:08

Apologies for the spelling OSTW.

The nit comb is used at least three times a week and has been since he had hair thick enough to need it.
I agree that he will be sharing equally with others, but it would be nice if others were as vigilant and treated immediately like I do and then maybe it wouldn't be so much if a problem.

OP posts:
VeniseAndMe · 20/12/2013 08:11

All that is more than normal and I bet that your ds has similar hygiene standards than his peers.

And you know atm there are lots of bugs around. I know plenty of adults who have had D&V recently for example.
Head lice has nothing to do with hygiene. They actually thrive better on clean hair.
Worms... probably have to do as much to other children not washing their hands properly than to your ds not washing his either.

Not sure what all that has to do with nail bitting.

VeniseAndMe · 20/12/2013 08:14

Yep being vigilant helps.

But then I remember as a child having nits for a long time wo me or my mum realizing. That is until the infestation was such that you couldn't miss it. I was your ds age too and DM was a primary school teacher very much used to nits...

Remember too that he might have caught nits, D&V and worms from other children than his Y2 class. Esp if he was with the same kids the years before and there has never been an issue.

TwoCatsInTheYard · 20/12/2013 08:14

Has he changed school or class then? Or are you suggesting that the hygienic, attentive parents of lovely, clean children through year R and year 1 have suddenly turned into feckless, uncaring parents of filthy little monsters over the summer term?

BalloonSlayer · 20/12/2013 08:15

It's the kid with the worms not washing their hands properly that is the problem, not the kid that catches them!

Child with worms goes to the loo, does not wash hands properly, turns of tap, opens door and goes and used pencil for 5 minutes. OP's child goes to the loo, washes hands thoroughly, turns off dirty tap, opens door with dirty handle and picks up discarded dirty pencil.

Although TBH I think it's not a good idea to start thinking about dirty pencils/door handles like I have just mentioned as that way a germ phobia lies.

I think the best way of thinking about it is that they are nasty but not dangerous and no harm done in the long run.

BoffinMum · 20/12/2013 08:17

The headlice love clean hair thing is a red herring. They love UNCOMBED hair. If you comb your children's hair once a day with a fine toothed comb they will struggle to get a grip.

Threadworms love kids that pick their noses, scratch their bottoms and bite their nails (usually the three things go hand in hand, excuse the pun). Frequent hand washing before snacks and meals and after using the loo can help reduce incidences. However as most of the adults in the school probably don't bother for themselves, it's hard for the children to pick up this skill. Once again, if you drill it into your kids you can reduce the incidence. Incidentally, threadworm eggs apparently live all over door handles and light switches as well, but they aren't cleaned that often.

Makes you want to go all OCD, doesn't it?!

Onesleeptillwembley · 20/12/2013 08:18

Not being the 'spelling police' as such, just illustrating how skewed the judgement of hygiene standards in this case is as skewed as assuming someone is barely literate from one spelling mistake.

Onesleeptillwembley · 20/12/2013 08:19

And as poor as my grammar in my second post. Grin

TwoCatsInTheYard · 20/12/2013 08:19

Venise - the threadworm cycle is continued by eggs being laid on the childs bottom, then passing back into the mouth to hatch in the digestive system. Bottom scratching will collect eggs under the nails whcih will them go back into the system by nail-biting. Scrupulous hand washing after any bottom-related activity can be enough to break the worm cycle.

livinginawinterwonderland · 20/12/2013 08:19

Kids are germ factories. You can treat "immediately" but they'll have spread before you've even noticed they were there.

OhMerGerd · 20/12/2013 08:40

There was a period around year 2 when I decided to shop around the various town chemist outlets because we seemed to be buying either nit cream or worm pills on a weekly rotation. I was sure the assistants were starting to think I was trying to bump off the family. And as both girls had waist length hair we always needed to buy extra packs so it really did look like I was up to no good. DH would never purchase anything relating to 'parasites' especially if he had to go and ask behind the counter for it..he'd rather scratch than ask, I've never understood that.

It was DD2's year group as I recall that seemed to be the source and I don't remember having the same issue with DD1 so presume some 'years' are just more sharing than others.

cherry219 · 20/12/2013 08:43

Think yourself lucky - my reception-age DS caught Scabies from school this term. Oh the horror.

MincedMuffPies · 20/12/2013 08:44

How are you able to tell if they have worms?

Original poster
vole3 · 20/12/2013 08:47

Have reiterated the importance, method and timing of hand washing and have put a note in to the school.

OP posts: