To think this child should have been kept off school (nits)?!!!

[WiseFinch]

I am a teaching assistant and have been working with early years this week. Child informs me that they had “fleas in their hair” and had to have special shampoo last night.,
My first reaction was to keep a wide berth but this is absolutely impossible with a 4 year old.

Through the course of the day, it is very clear that this child still has a raging case of nits and is itching their head - and also hanging off me every five minutes for a cuddle… This was two days ago and now my head is itching. I did not have close contact for very long and it wasn’t head to head, plus my hair was up, but I’m now absolutely paranoid I’ve got nits - and I’m sure they’ll be going around the whole class as we speak.

I am new-ish to this job and don’t have kids myself, but surely you should keep your child off until all of the nits are gone? It’s not a case of neglect here, family are well to do and are quite nice people! So I am fully prepared to be told IABU. What does everyone think???

Yes, you’ll see them on the comb. Rinse then away down the sink.

My children are in their thirties and were never kept off school when they had nits and I am in my 60s and we were never kept off school when nits either. The nit nurse would check our hair and if they found nits they came to the house with Derbac soap to kill the nits black and smelled unpleasant but we still had to go to school!

I'm genuinely amazed you've worked in nurseries and never heard of threadworms?! Unfortunately not just from wiping bums, a child could have eggs stuck under nails and play with playdough, Lego etc. you/other children then also play with playdough, eggs get on hands, you/other children touch your mouth/eat food/something similar and you all now have worms. Fun!

Yanbu used to be ok to send a child with actual crawling lice home. Now they have to stay so they can spread it around. Nice.

Sorry OP but it's very easy to pick up thread worms from small children! I even had them once as an adult with no dc / not working in schools at this point. Still no idea where I caught them.

You should know all of this, it's your job ffs. I honestly would not want anyone like you in my kids class room, your ignorance is staggering.

Buy a nitty gritty comb. Do it every Friday evening. Wash beefing weekly.

if I was mean I would also add Scabies into this thread. (My Dad was a teacher, we all got scabies once)

Yes they were. I’m 54 and we had a nit nurse check regularly. If you had them you were sent home.

It's really not that big a deal. Itchy and annoying, that's all. My dd repeatedly got them, so therefore, so did I. We just got used to regular combing after a hair wash and medicalised treatment - though for a while it was advised we didn't use it as the head lice were becoming immune to it.

Bit harsh. I’m a 23 year old with no kids of my own trying to have fun with the children and help out with their reading, and the kids love me! I teach kids in my classroom to use kind words, I hope there is someone like me influencing your DC.

Sadly, it is usually the same child who keeps spreading them, as they haven't been treated properly at home.

Some schools have a bigger issue than others, put a few drops of tea tree oil into your shampoo. It worked for us.

You have been very lucky then. Nits go round nurseries as well because some children have older siblings at school!

A bit late now, but the best thing to do when you have a confirmed case of lice is to talk to the teacher/office so they can send a letter/email home with the kids.

As for yourself, comb throughly during the weekend (you can even use one of the many treatments for extra safety) and make sure your hair is always up(preferably tightly braided) and if you want to, use the Vosene spray.

Oh and wash your hands as often as possible, keep nails short and make sure you scrub under them. Particularly if you’re handling playdough or anything similar.

Order yourself a nitty gritty and give your hair comb through whilst wet and conditioned twice a week. It's part of the job!

My children had headlice for the first time last July. I used the nitty gritty comb every day for the best part of three weeks but every school day we would be back to square one as they were coming home with new adult lice 🤮 it wasn’t until the summer holidays when we finally got clear.
I have been a teacher for almost twenty years and haven’t caught them from my pupils, wearing hair up is really helpful.

OP the easiest and cheapest is a large bottle of cheap conditioner on wet hair, get the hair all lovely and straight and knot free with a normal brush, then use the nit comb all over. With the conditioner they slide out and it's cheaper than pointless nit shampoo which stinks.

you have to do it over a period of weeks though to get rid of the whole nit cycle.

Might as well do your own hair, then at least you know you're in the clear !

It’s never just one kid with nits. You could have caught then from any of them. Wait until threadworms make their appearance. Working with kids requires a strong stomach.

I caught nits for the very first time from a 2 week work experience in a primary school which was mandatory immediately before I started my secondary PGCE. I discovered I was carrying the little blighters on the very first day of my course, as I was meeting my fellow students and tutors for the first time. I was beside myself, but nothing Hedrin and a nitty gritty comb couldn't deal with.

Once DD was at school she had them a number of times, and her hair was right down her back it was very time consuming combing them out. I kept a comb in the shower and checked myself when conditioning at least once a week.

Worms on the other hand.... I had them as a kid, and the powder you had to put into milk has put me off anything raspberry flavoured rather than actual raspberries for life. Worms can be a beggar to get rid of as little ones don't wash their hands effectively, then play with play dough, which someone else then plays with and sucks their fingers... And if they travel at night from anus to vulva they can really irritate. Waking at night or knackered in the morning, I learnt to question whether bottom was itchy, and kept a pack of (thankfully tablets now not vile raspberry milk) in the medicine box so I could treat all of us when worms found. Nasty.

Kids are gross let's face it. Thankfully mine only ever had nits. Never had the joy of worms thank god.

I have Grandchildren now and I sincerely hope they do not have a TA who is as silly as you. You are a adult, but sound immature.

4 daughters here. They would never be in if that's the case! Hate the little blighters. I always keep solution in the house. The treatment itself causes very itchy scalp so that could be why they were itching next day.

Oh leave the OP alone. She's said she's new to the role and at least has a sense of humour about our gross and disgusting kids. TAs are to be treasured. 😊

Yes I agree.
My dd have super long hair, we had to always use at least two bottles at one time and after a few weeks she brought it back from school again- it was a nightmare.

We were never sent home if we had nits. Maybe different local authorities did things differently. We had home visits but the nurse always made sure the other people in the class couldn't identify who had nits. And certainly no one had to stay off school