To ask school to stop sending home 'Class Pets'' (parasites)

[elfycat]

After a year in which my DDs have brought home nits every single half term since before LAST summer holiday. I've spend hours wet combing and a small fortune in Vamousse and had them 3 times myself. I've only ever had them once in 43 years prior to this

Before nit year we had thread worm year.

Today school have excelled themselves.

A fucking tick in DD2's (5) head.

Went home via the GP surgery and they twisted the thing out whole. It's in a jar which is going into school tomorrow and I'll keep an eye on her for temperature/rash as the area I'm on has had increasing numbers of lyme's disease cases over the last 5 years.

I was hoping to escape class pets this half term. We're not even a week in.

So WIBU to use extreme sarcasm tomorrow morning? And does anyone else have a vile parasite filled school.

Obviously I need to warn them about the ticks. The school backs onto farmland and an open air museum with farm animals

I suggested that a lesson (maybe in PSHE or similar) might be possible. I have run them on topical health issues, DSis has run some too. It happens a lot. I suppose they happen all the time and parents may not know what prompts some of them.

WellErrr it was a small tick. It's right on her parting and I could not have missed it since I pretty much watch for nits everyday. It was the first thing I saw when she walked out of school, but she'd been in the trees/ vegetation again and often has twigs and bits in her hair.

She's not been anywhere else for days where she could have got it.

As for going to the GP (well practice nurse). It suggested getting them out asap. The vets was shut and I don't have a twister thing yet, though I will soon. I haven't seen my tweezers for months. It's a health thing so why not go and get help.

she'd been in the trees/ vegetation again and often has twigs and bits in her hair.

Well there you go, that's where it came from.

Kids who play in woods etc get ticks. I've had them. It's not the school's fault.

Another one here saying ticks live on host animals (deer or sheep) then in the grass or on low plants/ bushes, not on people. I live in rural Scotland where there are many thousands of deer and sheep and millions of ticks. Everyone round here gets bitten. Routinely. If you or your children get a rash or an inflamed lump at the bite site or feel unwell after being bitten then of course you must go to the GP, but (also as others have said) if you catch the ticks early they are much less likely to spread an infection. Check early and often - every day, at least, if you live in a tick-infested area. And check your dogs and cats and other furry pets, too. Ticks can crawl from them on to a human.

Of course ticks are not nice and no-one likes them, but they are not the fault of the school. (If anything, they're the fault of the huntin' and shootin' fraternity who like to keep a large number of deer around, so that they can sell shooting rights in the autumn. If there were fewer deer, there would be fewer ticks. But global warming and milder winters may also play a very significant part in the rise of tick numbers.)

Here is the Scottish Government's very recent and good advice. It also contains an address to which - if you wish - you can send your tick in a jam-jar, just to check that it is not infected with any dangerous diseases. The address is for UK-wide tick observations, not just Scotland. www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/521829/Ticksandyourhealthinfoabouttickbites.pdf

I am sympathetic - I've had to have antibiotics twice within the last 12 months for very, very dramatic-looking rashes surrounding tick bites.
But, sadly, ticks are a just fact of life in some areas, and there really is no point in blaming the school.

I'm really not blaming the school.

I live in a town and I'm pretty sure a good number of parents will never have seen a tick or know about Lyme Disease. Because of the museum there's a green corridor into the town centre, and the school is on the edge of both the museum and the countryside. Deer are probably rampant.

I'm not going to be sarcastic-nasty to the teacher. More ironic humour over the latest thing that's come home, especially as the teacher keeps asking for volunteers to take the actual class pet home (I have cats, it would not end well).

flora I am now tempted to post off my tick. I'm pretty sure it will all be well and that DD2 isn't going to develop anything nasty. It would only have been on for a max of 6 hours and it was carefully removed. But it might like the journey

Covering the tick with petroleum jelly(Vaseline or A & D ointment) for a hour smothers the tick, and makes it easy to remove.

And suffocates the tick, making it regurgitate into the bloodstream. Please never do this.

Ticks can be anywhere. It might have been on her at home then moved. You have cats, could well be from them.

There are ticks everywhere, it stands to reason that they'd be in any green space at school too. It's really not something the school can control.

You could always ask them to ban playing outside on the grass.

Cats can bring home ticks, which then bite people. I know a shut in who caught Lyme disease via her cat who wandered in the woods. The cat brough the tick which burrowed in under one breast.
How fast a tick swells depends on where they bite. I had a huge one on my neck within two hours. It bit near the carotid, as I had put up my hair that morning and would have noticed something.
My advice was oldfashioned and wrong. I apologize. Burling irons are fine tweezers with sharply pointed ends.

If you are looking to learn a lesson you need to ask yourself why you have cats, which are known to carry ticks, and no tick removal gadget. Are your cats routinely treated for ticks and fleas? This is worth doing along with routine worm treatment.

I had tick twisters when we lived in a rural location and they brought ticks home regularly. I check the cats over but haven't seen a tick in 5 years since we moved here.

Still it's obvious that despite not seeing ticks at home for 5 years and my daughter not having one in her hair in the morning that she got it from here - rather than in the long grass of the school sports field which is in countryside location, even though she came home with other nature-y bits and pieces in her hair.

I obviously won't mention it to my townie friends or the school... If their child gets one it must be from household pets and they should KNOW everything in the universe about everything, because no-one needs to learn this stuff for the first time.

Well if you haven't see a tick in 5 years you clearly do not need a tick removal gadget. Next time your DD gets a tick take her to A&E and make sure you write to the school to point out the error of their ways in having ticks in the vicinity - hopefully they will relocate.

What is the school supposed to do about nits exactly?

Some parents need educating about how to get rid of nits. School can do this via a letter home, and therefore try to minimise the spread.

This thread freaked me out!
OP thanks for posting this I will be more vigilant checking DCs over
Wrt to school they are idiots YANBU ,a letter, some information, showing some sort of concern wouldn't hurt them!

What is the school supposed to do about nits exactly?

Information on the prevention, detection and treatment of head lice may be included in a school prospectus or in any information schools send out to parents/carers when a child begins nursery, primary or secondary school. It is further recommended that such information be regularly included in a school newsletter, alongside other unrelated items, to remind parents/carers of their responsibilities for their children.

From the Head Lice Guidance document!

A&E for a tick?

Not sure what the school can do.

But as for spending a fortune on nit stuff, Boots/ NHS do a scheme whereby common medicines for children are free. It's called Pharmacy First and I don't believe there are any limitations - you can get the Boots equivalent of Calpol, Nurofen and nit lotion for free for children under 12. We use ours all the time and it's saved us a small fortune over the years.

A&E for a tick?
Do you know the damage a tick does if left inside?

Yeah i thought that. Anyone who goes to a and e for tick removal is a fucking timewaster. Go to the gp or minor injuries if you must. Ticks are not emergencies! And that lice guidance is a recommendation not a rule. Its still down to the parents control lice. The ironic thing is the ops kids are part of the great lice cycle and have no doubt infected other children because all kids get nits from time to time. I blame the parents.

Clearly I was being sarcastic with the A&E post.

Why the fuck are people being so bitchy to the OP?

If GP doesn't accept you for 2-3 days and you have no idea how to remove a tick properly you must find a way to get it out quickly! no way in hell I wouldn't take DC to a&e in that case. NHS are very aware of this problem and they do expect gps to sort it ASAP though

Yes I do, I grew up in an area with Lyme, I knew about Lyme from being small. I also know that you don't need A&E to remove a fucking tick. Dr Google will tell you how, and frankly it's exactly the sort of thing parents should self educate about and be prepared for.

Christ almighty, no wonder our A&Es are at breaking point

Nothing helpful to add (apologies OP) but has this thread made anyone else itch all over??

I think a lot of people may have missed the OPs tone? It sounded to me like she was trying to put a funny spin on the obvious continued annoyance of having her children arriving home accompanied by little beasties!

Also, FWIW, I work in a school and we would want to know if a parent suspected their child had caught (?) a tick on the premises. Most teachers/classes would love to see the tick in a jar too!

I don't think the school concerned is going to be even half as indignant as the many posters on here are being on their behalf!