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???

Threadworms are easier to deal with than nits! The people above saying you can get rid of nits easily with just one wash of X shampoo are insane! I got them from a child whose head was literally crawling in them. The can transfer to hair via clothes apparently. Anyway, it took me 3 wks to be sure I was rid of the little bugs! Unless you spot them immediately and can deal with them immediately, they’ll lay eggs and then you’ve got to go through the whole lifecycle, killing the adult lice, the emerging baby lice, etc etc.

Contrary to all the adverts, none of those one treatment shampoos or foams work. They dont kill all the eggs or lice. The only method that works is conditioner combing night after bloody night for 2 or 3 wks until you find absolutely none.

Don’t relax though, as you can be very sure there’ll be at least one child in the class who’s never treated or properly treated and still retains a veritable head-city of lice, all ready to spread to any head in the vicinity. Nits don’t keep re-occurring. They’re never properly eradicated in the class so they go round and round.

You can’t keep children off for nits, but we’ve reported children who are clearly not being treated and suffering.

My Grandchildren are taught manners by their parents. My elder adult child when 23 knew not to ask silly questions. The OP should know her job, and I do think the poster is coming across as silly. This knowledge is basic.

Anyway we are not going to agree you have your opinion and I have mine.

It used to be the case in England. One of mine caught nits once, nit nurse came in as there was an outbreak. I had to treat him and then go to the clinic to get him signed as fit to return to school.

We didn't have so many nit outbreaks in schools back then.

Nits are normal. We are a huggy school and I've got them a few times, from children who were riddled, but also in sore need of some love and affection so got all the hugs regardless. You can generally avoid them though with heat styling, tied hair and occasional vosene shampoo, if you're not a sucker for a sad face, like me...

Worms definitely are too - they are a fucker in YR due to the playdough, which the eggs end up in, due to poor hand washing. And the touching, well, everything and very poor hygiene. We throw the playdough away regularly, but I won't use it after the first 'go', just talk encouragingly rather than join in. I also wash my hands very thoroughly and frequently and avoid touching my face. I've never caught them and we've had them in my classes often.

You can be fine for ages, but when something gets in the class, it's a bugger to get it out again, and completely out of your control. It's very frustrating.

YR to Y2 is just a whole special degree of minging and grotty, really. You'll get used to it!

Missed your post and basically posted the same thing. I can confirm you are right though.

Wear your hair up, the best solution is always the most obvious one.

It's your job to know the policy regarding your sick leave/days off whether you are part time or full time. Really any sensible person should know that nits are a fact of life in primary school and no you don't get time off for them

I kept my dc off for it so I could
treat them properly in one day and get every single louse and egg out. For their own comfort as much as to stop the spread .

As a preventative measure buy a large bottle of cheap conditioner and regularly spread it thickly on your and children's hair and run a nit comb through it. Saves using the chemical stuff
My head of school nursing always recommended this and it works.

You need to work in a different sector

Not long after my daughter started nursery she caught nits, I didn't notice for ages, and by the time I did realise, they were rampant in her hair, the baby had them and so did I. I didn't find treatments very effective, I used to just cake her hair in conditioner and comb it through in sections with a nit comb. I would do this every other day for weeks and eventually you stop finding them, if you don't find any say two comb throughs in row I feel like we are done. I did the same to myself. It's not that hard to get out most/all of the nits, but the eggs are much more of a challenge, almost certainly some get missed if you comb once, and obviously they eventually hatch, the nits are back and you are back at square one. Luckily for me she only caught them once more in 7 years of primary school. The youngest has avoided them since being a baby. There were though always quite a number of parents complaining they had treated their kids and 2 weeks later the same child had caught nits again. Threadworm is a different battle, that's been through our household more times than I like to remember.

Schools used to insist kids stayed off with nits and I agree @WiseFinch responsible parents would keep their kids off school with nits.

I used to get nits off my friends children then give it to my then husband. We both have waist length hair so treatment was an absolute bitch involving several bottles followed by mutual grooming like monkeys. It used to piss me right off.

Of course you can't keep kids off school for nits, the class would be half empty every day

My DD had nits for basically an 18 month period starting half way through year 2, and finishing at the end of year 3. So no, I wasn’t keeping her off that long! You would not believe how many products I tried and how much time and money was spent, I just couldn’t get rid of them. I finally found a different product which actually worked (none of the others had worked) and that sorted it. Might also have helped that it was just about the summer holidays by then so not in school to catch them again.

Absolutely normal for schools. You don't get authorised sick days for nits or worms. If children were allowed to not attend or had to be kept off school for nits or worms some children would barely come to school. I taught one class where a child had nits pretty much year round. Usually a letter/ email is sent out to the parents saying there are nits in the class. Best thing you can do is tea tree shampoo, nit comb through regularly and stay vigilant to them.

I’m an experienced TA and the idea of nits still give me the heebie jeebies. Thankfully I’ve never had to deal with them, even with my own dc, and I don’t think it’s one of those things that has to be inevitable when you work with young children. There’s a lot that parents can do to prevent and treat head lice and we generally appreciate parents who keep their children at home when they’re likely to infect or infest others. Even if the attendance policy does say otherwise.

I have never known anyone to be kept off for nits. they’re not sick?? The parents are treating it so I don’t see what the issue is. You are a teaching assistant, surely it is common and you know at least one child in class to have it at least once a year?

Nitty gritty comb and cheap conditioner is the best. Every Sunday night when I there was a wave.

No idea how but with two girls now aged 7&11 we've managed to avoid nits.

I do think I added some tea tree oil to their shampoo when in reception and y1.

Dude seriously crack a book. Nits can take time to get rid of due to their cycle. Adults can get nits (why do you think men in the war shaved their heads). It’s annoying, irritating and yucky but it isn’t a life threatening disease. Get a grip.

My child had nits 3 times during the great outbreak of 2024 and I kept DC off the first day (Nits were discovered that morning and was my first time trying to remove them so it took me all day to get to shop to buy stuff and then do it) 🙄 Soon learnt that mistake! The following time I kept DC off whilst I treated them and was back at school by 10:30am. Third time was midnight Xmas Eve!
I agree OP. I would never, ever send my child into school knowing they had nits. It’s selfish as fuck

Yes

Yes, kids can and do get worms, round and thead. You are not likely to catch those though :). They often catch them from a pet, children are less careful than (most) adults about appropriate hand washing.

It's life!

I was watching an old episode of 'Outnumbered' a week or so ago and the mum (Sue I think), was going through her daughter's hair with fine comb. The daughter, Karen, asked if she could keep a pet nit, it could have babies and then there would be a little town on her head. It was so funny, kids are matter of fact about such things.

I’m sorry but this is neglect. You could’ve hired a professional nit treater or had a chat with your GP’s nurse as they can prescribe something for super nits.
There’s been two children who have died from untreated nits. If daily combing with conditioner genuinely wasn’t working then you should’ve shaved his/her head. Awful yes but better than what nits can do if untreated. Your poor child.