To be annoyed with the nursery for not informing parents of severe headlice outbreak

[ManInYourClothes]

Because and I quote 'it's bad for business'?

I think most patents just check routinely.

I can't remember ever being informed of an 'outbreak'.

Headlice seem to be endemic.

Any outbreak of anything was noticed to us via a note on the door from headline to hand, foot and mouth. I would of thought that is not unreasonable to expect to be notified. Our junior school always lets us know too!

Yabu
It is up to you as a parent to check your child on a regular basis
I don't want to put up a notice in my nursery telling the whole world the children have nits
It is bad for business
We do put up notices for things like chicken pox and other illnesses that could have serious implications for other people
But nits? No
I assume most children have them anyway

Thanks that's true.

It just seems to be rife at the moment with most, if not all the children, itching profusely. I have seen lice in quite a number of the children's hair from a distance.

Having previously worked in a school I have never seen it this bad. I feel as though the nursery should say something or send a letter out.

We sometimes get a text from school. I check mine every week anyway though.

We always get a wee letter out although tbf I'm paranoid checking anyhow lol

Do you check your own kids regularly? That's where you should focus your attention

I religiously go through her hair 3 times a week using a nitty gritty comb and lashes of conditioner.

I know I should only worry about my own but I can't help but feel sorry for the other children.. Anyway suppose IABU

To get it to stop, I think you do need to let all parents know. A note or text to each parent is enough. It is what our school does.

YANBU - DD's nursery (she's now at school) used to inform parents of outbreaks via letters/poster by door and on their webpage.
Her current school are hot on this too.

Stuff image - it's important.

A bit of an aside but itis disgusting how in schools that we are told to just ignore this issue these days. It is a massive red flag indicating terrible parenting if kids are left constantly untreated. I really don't understand why schools/nurseries are not allowed to discuss this with parents directly anymore and shame people into sorting it out- the epidemic boils down to this and nothing else! In a developed country it is disgusting and is setting up children with constant headlice to be isolated by their peers and obviously feel very uncomfortable. More excuses/ no challenges made for shite parenting yet again which inevitably means some kids are expected to suffer as a result.

Why would we need to be told? If your child has them, you'll know when you brush their hair or put it up (girls). If they don't, you didn't need to worry anyway.

It's headlice, not the bubonic plague.

"I religiously go through her hair 3 times a week using a nitty gritty comb and lashes of conditioner."

Honestly???

I have 3 girls. 10, 8, 7. One of them has had headlice, once, in their entire lives.

Why do you need to check your DD 3 times per week?

I use the nitty gritty comb and conditioner at least 3 times a week. Since my girls started preschool/primary they have had nits literally more times than they haven't! It is a never ending pain in the arse. The girls have collar length bobs now as going through really long hair so often was tedious and painful for all of us.

I just do it as part of the bath routine have for a while now.

And we are informed that there is yet another outbreak via the dreaded yellow form which is placed in every child's book bag. Bits are quite honestly the bane of my life.

YANBU. Id be pissed off if they knew and didn't bother mentioning it.

I check DD's hair once a week. If I knew there was an outbreak at nursery id be checking at least every 2 days to try and catch any infestation before it started.

What other outbreaks would they fail to mention because it was bad for business? Chicken pox? Impetigo? Measles?!

Bring back the nit nurse I say!
Would be less of a problem if parents were onformed and the kids could all be treated in a timely fashion. Yes to pp who suggested that it can be a symptom of bigger issues of neglect with a child whoch may not be picked up if it is 'brushed' under the carpet, so to speak.

I just don't understand what we do to avoid them Three girls at two schools and only one single episode of nits for one child. It's very bizarre to read these accounts of rampaging nits constantly reinfesting children's hair.

What makes the outbreak "severe"?

I nit comb when they condition their hair, seems to keep them at bay.

Some children are more prone than others. Are you black, lougle? Lice have more difficulty clinging on to Afro hair- apparently the cross section is oval rather than round so their little grabby legs slide off!

I once heard a theory that rarer blood types are less likely to get nits. Apparently once the nit has fed off a certain blood type it can only feed off that type of blood for the rest of its lifecycle.

Like I said it's a theory but would be interesting to if your girls have a less common blood group lougle?

Yes a letter can be helpful but, honestly, if you can actually see lice in kids hair from quite far away then I doubt a letter is going to help. The parents of the licey kids are presumably not treating. I do think nursery should be able to exclude kids (temporarily while they are treated) who are very obviously crawling in lice. I feel quite sorry for the poor nursery workers as well as the kids themselves.

I think all the brushing under the carpet of head lice makes it more of an issue. In the days of the Nit Nurse I don't remember any kids being teased or made fun of. Nowadays I quite often hear unpleasant little whispering campaigns amongst the parents as they speculate on who is responsible for not treating their kids. It was a real leveller when I was young - we were all found to have nits at one time or another. And as we were sent home until treated our parents had a vested interest in getting it dealt with quickly.