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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder why schools pussy foot around nits??

92 replies

CatEyeFlick · 01/10/2015 15:58

yet again had a general letter today about how a child in my dc class "may" have headlice and can everyone please check their own child?

obviously I will be checking all mine after their bath tonight but I do check them weekly anyway after they kept getting them before the holidays

but what I don't get it why don't the teachers take the parent aside of the child with nits and discreetly let them know? as clearly there are loads of shit parents who just cba / dont care / wont even READ the letter

if a child was ill at school the parents are told. why are nits different? they are a health issue. is it because they are "embarrassing" ? personally I would rather be told if mine had them, so why the coyness??

actually I think they should go a step further and send any children with nits home but at the very least tell the parents

OP posts:

Number3cometome · 01/10/2015 16:14

Conditioner and a nit comb for £ off ebay is all it takes.

My children were 'infected' last year, took a bit of hard work to get rid, but once we had it was easy to manage.

They have to let all the parents know or it may have spread without you or your child knowing.

If they only told the parent who's kid had nits, then the others who didn't know, would be unwittingly spreading it about again.

Original poster

CatEyeFlick · 01/10/2015 16:14

But surely there's no point in only telling the parents of that child?

no, that wouldn't do any good as other kids will prob have already picked them up....I meant combined with a letter / text to everyone

OP posts:

CrohnicallyAspie · 01/10/2015 16:15

cateye staff can't actually check a child for nits, we can only report it if we happen to see them. Lice generally lurk around the ears and nape of the neck, areas that aren't immediately visible. You have to be pretty infested IMHO before a member of staff can happen to spot them just while working with a child.

You haven't been informed before because your children haven't been that infested before, you have checked and treated before it got to that point!

LaLyra · 01/10/2015 16:16

cateye So how do you know they don't already do that? Most of the schools I worked in would have a quiet word with a parent, if they could, to let them know. That's not going to be something you know about unless your child has had them.

Headofthehive55 · 01/10/2015 16:17

To sort it takes time. Even with the insecticide lotion, it's not 100% so you would need to keep the child off school for approx three weeks as that the life cycle of the louse.

Unless you are combing regularly with a nit comb, you are unlikely to spot them. Just looking in hair isn't a good method of checking.

So I can't see the teachers being able to comb everyone's hair, to establish who has them and who doesn't. That's why they stopped the nit nurse as it was proven ineffective.

It's something that's annoying but we have lots of things that live on us we just can't see them so people don't get worked up about that.

Original poster

CatEyeFlick · 01/10/2015 16:17

ah ok chronically cant even imagine how many nits a kid would have to have so they were visible from just by working near them

yuk yuk yuk

OP posts:

YakTriangle · 01/10/2015 16:19

Natural habitat?
So if her kids get them and scratch til their scalps bleed and get infected, that's just nature and all fine then. Bloody hellfire.

CrohnicallyAspie · 01/10/2015 16:20

The worst is when you see one marching across the desk...

Hotpatootietimewarp · 01/10/2015 16:20

Yep that was my exact thought Yak!

LaLyra · 01/10/2015 16:22

Also the idea of removing children from school if they have nits is ridiculous. Nits are irritating, but punishing the children who already have to deal with shit parents who don't care enough to sort them by harming their education (which is already likely to be harmed by said shit parents) is ludicrous imo. Almost as bad as that threat recently with the school that will remove break time from kids whose parents don't read with them often enough.

Sixgeese · 01/10/2015 16:24

Last time we got them, I sent DH to get Hedrin Once at the chemist, he came back with three smaller boxes of Hedrin, not Once, and a couple of plastic nit combs. When I asked why he didn't get what I had asked for, he was told that he was given them for free from the chemist. He didn't have to produce any evidence just asked for help at the counter.

It worked, it wouldn't have been my first choice as I wanted to treat quickly as I always end up with lice every time that I delouse the children.

I do get frustrated by the letters and wish that the PA could just buy every child a nit comb for their family to use.

Mind you, I wish the school sent out thread worm letters and made sure there was soap at every sink as that seems to be just as common in the school or at least the DC have caught both three times.

Jasonandyawegunorts · 01/10/2015 16:36

There are parents out there who have never been shown how to doit, so have no real clue what to do.

ChunkyPickle · 01/10/2015 16:39

I remember my sister getting them so badly we could see them crawling in her hair - and we weren't in any way neglected, somehow they seemed to go from nothing to infested in a couple of days (must be impossible, and yet..)

I do think that uniform policy needs to include hair tied back which would help with nits (both for boys and girls) - there are a couple of kids at DS's school with totally out of control hair - apart from anything else, I'm surprised it's not getting caught on stuff when doing PE (I remember mine used to when I let it free)

Headofthehive55 · 01/10/2015 16:40

I think the problem often is one parent treats Monday, sends back to school, picks up nits again from the parent who was treating Tuesday evening and so forth. A night needs to be set aside as nit night so all children are treated simultaneously. Otherwise it just passes back and forth, even if everyone is treating it.

As children get older, the problem seems to ease as they become less likely to be in close contact.

AsTimeGoesBy · 01/10/2015 16:41

We only get the letter about once a year, have only had them a couple of times, but I can really see why people don't do it properly, the combing takes ages and is hard to fit in if you have a busy evening schedule (work, homework, extra-curricular stuff). Plus it is awful for the kids, it hurts them so much, both my two have double crowns and it really tugs their scalps. The NittyGritty comb is the most hated object in our house. Hedrin is definitely our friend when it has happened.

happyending14 · 01/10/2015 16:44

In my school we send the pupil home ie if they are scratching or visibly crawling. You would be surprised how often you spot them.

When we had a family with recurring headlice we sent the school nurse round to show the mum exactly how to treat them.

I don't see how you would know if individual parents were told.

Number3cometome · 01/10/2015 16:44

Chunky not impossible.

The issue is that parents do not understand the nit cycle - it's actually quite difficult to get rid of them and requires at least a month of work to get rid of them and be sure of it (you cannot get rid of the eggs with the lotions you buy - only the live ones)
If those eggs you didn't get rid of hatch, then you have live lice laying tons of eggs before you know it, and the cycle continues.

Would be better to send home some information and cheap methods (conditioner and £1 comb) to help parents help themselves.

Headofthehive55 · 01/10/2015 16:45

Difficult not to get the yuk factor, but remind yourselves that you have other stuff crawling about on you, like eyelash mites. They are just smaller so you haven't seen them.

Good learning opportunity though, once we caught one and put it under the microscope for my children to look at. Introduction to entomology! ( I can get a science lesson out of anything! )

leedy · 01/10/2015 16:52

"I think the problem often is one parent treats Monday, sends back to school, picks up nits again from the parent who was treating Tuesday evening and so forth. A night needs to be set aside as nit night so all children are treated simultaneously. Otherwise it just passes back and forth, even if everyone is treating it."

I think you may be on to something.

We are just emerging from our local school nitgeddon, I have spent HOURS with the NittyGritty (also hated in our house) and Full Marks. They are bastard difficult to treat, especially as if you just miss one egg you're back to square one when the fucker hatches (both DS have incredibly thick hair and I was having to go through it for hours with a comb and a head-torch, still missed one or two and had to do it again). It's a bit harsh to suggest that if a child has nits or isn't rid of them immediately it's a sign of neglect/"shit parents".

And yes, in our school if they spot nits they will tell the individual parent as well as a general letter. TBH I wouldn't have known to check if I hadn't had the general letter, as they weren't visible until I literally went through their hair with a fine-tooth comb - do most parents nit-comb their children every night as a matter of course?

Timeforanamechangey · 01/10/2015 16:55

I know someone who's child always has nits. Literally every time he comes to us he has them! His mum's excuses are either 'I've treated him already' or 'well he'll just catch them again so there's no point!'

I always thought it was considered neglect not to treat them?

leedy · 01/10/2015 16:56

(I will, however, be checking them periodically after the recent outbreak because I NEVER WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT MUCH COMBING AGAIN)

noeffingidea · 01/10/2015 17:11

I think it can be a sign of neglect once they get to a certain state.
I agree with the poster who said about hair should be tied back. It should be either plaited or in a bun, IMO (assuming it's possible) as part of the uniform policy.

FuckYouBitchImWellClassy · 01/10/2015 17:12

It's neglectful not to bother treating them but most parents do. Sometimes the little fuckers don't take the hint and fuck off or an egg is missed or they migrate from the head of the kid beside them.

FuckYouBitchImWellClassy · 01/10/2015 17:14

Our school has a hair tied back policy for girls but not for the boys with long hair.

LunchpackOfNotreDame · 01/10/2015 17:19

We had a letter and instructions on how to delouse on day 2 of the year. So that means some poor kid (and sadly all the kids and parents know who it is) will have probably gone unchecked for the whole of the summer.

Touch wood, my dc have never had them and nor have I.

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