to want to complain to ds's school

[DLI]

i am sick and tired that some parents dont check their children regularly for headlice. No sooner has ds got rid of them and he gets them again! i check him regularly and do everything a parent should so why can't everyone do it. ds has hem agin which is about the fourth time this school year! aaghhhhhhhhhh

We had a NittyGritty comb. Cue ds screaming that it was hurting. Looking at the comb it was full of his hair. We went back to the bug busters kit.

Some schools seem to have a much bigger issue with nits than others. We have had one episode (my children are nine and ten). I've read a few public health papers on nits, and an inspection once a year (or even once a term) doesn't make an awful lot of difference to infestation rates. Children with serious lice problems tend to have much bigger issues in their lives.

May I have a little rant here? Ok I will anyway.

I think the current advice on getting rid of nits/preventing them is hugely eurocentric. Allow me to explain:

My kids are mixed race. They have very curly, coarse, thick hair.

It is next to impossible to get a nit comb through their hair. If you DO manage to get it through it is a)extreamly painful and b)does terrible damage to the hair.

No amount of conditioner helps.

My darling girl had the biggest hair you ever did see. She got nits every bloody week when she was in primary school. It was horrible and it took me hours every day to get the nits and bugs out of her hair. I used to plait it and oil it and keep it up. Lots of little girls would have their hair down and all over the place and she would just get them again and again. I had to use chemicals in her hair so much I cant help but worry they may have contributed to her illness (no proof and not sure about it but it does cross my mind every so often).

My boys have dreadlocks. People are often v.snotty about them and think they are dirty. They are not and ironically I have yet to have a case of nits since their hair has been locksed up.

I may be wrong but I have yet to see any campaign featuring a child with afro or mixed hair.

I am happy to be put straight if anyone has seen one or has any tips (in case boys get them).

We have this problem too. Every time my two get nits, I get rid of them. they go back to playgroup/school, and they return reinfested. we now have the nitty gritty comb and so far it seems ok.

What is soo frustrating is that the teachers are seemingly not allowed to approach individual parents anymore. I really wouldn't mind at all to be told one of mine has nits. It's much more effective than a vague arty farty letter surely?!

chegirl, I have been reliably informed that nits are much less common in children with Afro hair (by my Afro-Caribbean chief of nursing, and there is some research to back this theory too). Obviously not your experience though.

My only memory of the "nit nurse" was the poor Afro-Caribbean girl in my class at junior school being made to undo her braids for the inspection. Having had my hair braided (once, and as an adult!) I can absolutely understand why she was in floods of tears about it - it was very painful!

Clean dreads in proper Afro hair can be lovely. I had a friend whose brother had dreads (in a lovely sculpted sort of way). He was very gorgeous! My objections to dreads are limited to the grungy look especially in white people which are obviously filthy with lots of bits in them.

LOL at Nooka! Yes grungy dreads are foul.

I have heard that nits are less common in afro hair. But I am sure anyone who works with neglected children will know that nits dont discriminate. I am not suggesting that nits are a sign of neglect but huge infestations that have been untreated are. I have seen black and white kids with hair that is moving.

I think it may be that afro hair that is oiled and braided is more resistant to infestation?

I remember one stupid delightful woman at my DD's nursery telling me that the nits couldnt have come from her princess because they were the wrong colour. Her daughter's hair was blonde and 'I'm not being funny but at the end of the day they cant be from my because they are black and nits are the same colour of the head what they come from'

I think thats because we all know that black people have different colour blood from black people.

FluffyBunnyGoneBad

"Sorry but I refuse to shave my son's head because some other parent can't give a shite about their own child."

Fair enough, I just like the easy life and didn't want to spend any energy at all thinking about it .

Actually my nurse friend said that she thought there might be some genetic variation - with lice that like afro hair being a variation on those that don't (actually probably the other way around). But more to do with the hair structure difference (ie more wiry and curly). That might have been total baloney though! I think her point was that in a school of mostly caucasian kids the kids with afro hair would be less likely to be affected because of lower transmission. In a mainly afro school that would be reversed.

Being unwashed and uncared for (and a lice infestation wold be an indicator of that) is indeed a big flag for neglect/abuse.

I as just going to start a thread about this very subject.

It is drivin me up the wall. hen they are on holiday they are completely clear and as soon as they go back to school, bang!! they return. It has been lovely not a nit in sight over the Easter Holidays but they have been back at school for a week and Hey Presto!! there heeeeeere!!! Grrrr!! WHY CAN'T PARENTS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND DO THIS FOR THEIR CHILDREN. The other thing is don't they get nits to? I know I have them if my children have them.