To think kids with terrible cases of head lice should be kept home from school...

[dippymare]

until their carers deal with them?

If you can clearly see an army of adult head lice marching through a child's hair at any given moment, surely a school should have the right to insist that the child is kept at home until they are less infested?

I know its not really fair to penalise the nitee, but just don't think some parents/carers bother otherwise. Am just soooo sick of nit combing...

Agree
I don't think letting your child have masses of headlice is consistent with taking proper care of them plus its antisocial.

I think schools should be allowed to deal with them, if parents demonstrate that they can or will not.

And more information from day one - e.g. encouraging children to wet comb their own hair etc - would help to ensure the blighters don't pop up so often.

When DD started Nursery, for an awful few weeks she was coming out with lice every day (combing and checking morning and night, once checked her as we were leaving the school and found adult lice.) Didn't stop until her wee friend's mother shaved his head to a grade one because she was "sick of farking nits."

Here in Austria, schools and kindergartens do insist that children stay at home until they are free of headlice. I'm sure it must limit the amount of cases - none of my three (4, 6 and 8) has had headlice yet, at any rate.

YANBU. However, I do think there needs to be more information given about how to prevent and deal with nits, it's almost like a taboo subject to talk about it with other mums.

I also think the cost of nit solutions is unreasonable, even the cheapest solutions are around £7. Many parents simply do not have the time to wet comb with conditioner and need something affordable and effective to deal with nits so their children can be at school next day.

Someone shared with me that another school there was a child that was constantly infested (ie visibly moving lice at a distance) and the Head kept saying there was nothing he could do blah blah blah. Said friend informed the Head if they didn't get the parent to deal with it that she would report the child for neglect - suddenly it was dealt with pronto.

Untreated lice infestations are neglectful completely different to people struggling to get on top of them.

Can GPs prescribe for head lice b/c read somewhere that wet combing is not as effective unless you are meticulous with it plus it takes ages.

you can get the nit lotion etc free via care at the chemists.

infestations are a sign of neglect, it's one thing to have a few eggs/lice, but ongoing infestations to the point you can see them crawling on the head is neglectful, if the carers/parents can't/won't deal with it, the school nurse should be allowed to

In our PCT the GPs are not permitted to pescribe anything but the nitty gritty comb and we also don't have the care system at the chemists so you do have to may for any treatments yourself.

Wet combing is pretty quick and easy ime (10-15 mins) and highly effective when you do it once every 4 days.

Saying parents don't have time to do this is the worst excuse ever, its just a lie - ignoring headlice is lazy neglect.

I agree my daughter has had nits 3 times since september. She has also had an allergic reaction to both hedrin and lyclear - he skin was bleeding after the lyclear so it means ALOT of combing and washing.Would be easier if people treated infections before spreading them.

I doubt the teachers have the time in their day to nitcomb! And if they were expected to do so, I bet the number of chronically infested children would increase, as more parents wouldn't bother to deal with it because they knew that the teachers would have to do it for them.

Getting lotions free from your GP seems to be hit and miss. DD1 had Hedrin on prescription when all else had failed, but I know of others whose GP has refused to issue a prescription for nit lotion.

Personally, I swear by the tea-tree repellent stuff, the only time we got nits was when we had run out.

But surely children who are neglected are the children who are most likely to have poor attendance records? The ones who need to be kept in school as much as possible if they actually have made it through the door that morning?

Infestation (or for that matter, neglect) is not the child's fault, yet it is the child who suffers if you send them home.

My kids had it repeatidly despite me combing and buying lotions. As the lotions were expensive I probably didn't use enough to made them effective. Eventually went to GP who prescribed three large bottles of Derbac, I used loads on everyones hair and didn't wash it out for a few days - all traces of lice disapered.

The lotion really should be free to all and easy to get. I also think schools should inform parents if they see lice on a child rather than sending a generl letter to everyone.

What happened to Nitty Nora the hair explorer? Do schools still have nit nurses?

helly - nope not allowed to do that nowadays as it is blah blah infringing on childs rights blah blah blah.

Riven I'm surprised your DD's school do that. I thought schools weren't allowed to send children home any more.

I do agree that they should be able to.

Ours tell you at the end of the day if noticed and ask if they can be kept away until they have been removed and - ideally- treated (they respect the combers who don't want to use chemicals). Allt he mums and kids are quite open about it and every new case results in a letter going out to each child in the year group. As a result we only have one maybe two case each term at most amonst 65 children - I now realise from this thread that we are very lucky, ds has only had them once.

Ds1, 4.7, had headlice for the first time this week. He had quite an infestation despite regular checking of his hair! I found 2 large nits and lots of tiny tiny ones! That night I went to the chemist and got Lyclear and treated him immediately! I honestly thought it was sorted but the next day after pre school I noticed there were still some tiny ones, so I was back at the chemist purchasing Derbac, treated him over night and it looks like they have now gone! Also got a Nitty Gritty comb so hopeful;ly I can keep him clear now! When I worked in a Reception class, if we noticed a child had a severe infestation we would try to contact the parent asap, otherwise we informed the parent at the end of the day!

I have never seen a headlouse....yet.....

I was driven twisted last term with DS coming home with new lice each day from school.

If I can comb through my son's hair every night to remove them then another carer can comb through their child's hair.

I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be for the poor child that is infested and not being treated

YANBU. If kids were at home under their parents feet all day when they had lice, then I suspect they would be treated pretty damn quick! DD caught them earlier this year, and I had to walk round the street informing all her little friends that we had "visitors" and they needed to check their childrens hair. It took 4 goes with the comb/conditioner over the course of about 10 days, and we have been nit free ever since.
I dont know about the childs human rights, personally, I think children should not be subjected to discomfort and possibly illness from headlice, either from infestation, or from repeatedly catching them from an infested child. That seems to me to be more of an infringment of their human rights than the possible embarrassment of having your parents told youve got lice! Once again, world has gone mad, wish we could have a healthy dose of common sense (and possibly hedarin) into dealing with this problem.

Agree. My daughter spent years being infested and re infested by teh child that sat next to her - the teacher could see the lice in said childs hair. I did the combing, the treatments, the lot, but every week by Friday they were back.

When they went to different senior schools my daughter's lice disappeared.