Having school friends over and threadworm

[Bibi133]

Hi
will start by saying I do have severe anxiety problems and a bit of OCD about germs.
Basically I would love to have my kids’ friends over from school for play dates and for tea but I am absolutely terrified they might spread threadworms around my house. My kids have had it about 6 times now (in past 4 years), I despair, it has me crying and shaking with stress every time. I think I have PTSD about it now. I am mostly just terrified of the horror stories where people never got rid of them so in my mind, having children over is more risk to me.
my kids need a bit of help creating friendships and bonds so I’d really like to loosen up a bit and have them over.
What does everyone else do?
Do you worry about them wiping ‘stuff’ on your furniture and around your home?
Do you clean and scrub everything after?
(FYI my house is very clean, my kids go to bed with onesie suits on every night to stop any potential infection. They wash hands consistently and before every meal but seem to bring ‘it’ back from school)
I know I sound a bit crazy. I probably am.
TIA.

Gosh, I must say this has never once occurred to me! Your kids are very unlucky to have had it repeatedly, and I know that must have been horrible, but honestly, you're blowing this way out of proportion & not inviting their friends over because of this irrational fear would be a real shame.

Literally never given any of this a thought, OP.

If your anxiety is dictating what your children can wear, you should speak to your GP.

You need to address this with the school. If the children are catching them this often the school need to know (that's probably the place they're passed on) and do a deep clean as well and if they do circle time on the floor, stop that and get as vigilant as possible about hand washing. That's the schools hygiene issue to deal with. You can't be the only family affected they're so contagious!

Fear of catching them after so many instances must be really strong and I don't think there is a way of switching that off, all you can do is try to avoid showing your children your anxiety and decide which is more important, social interaction or contamination avoidance and I don't mean that flippantly, I feel for you.
If they're catching them at school not having visitors isn't going to make much difference.

Fwiw I don't think you're fear is irrational. If you've had threadworms 6 times in 4 years that's a lot! They are a nightmare to deal with, far worse than headlice.
Onesies nightwear are a sensible practical precaution as the main source of spread at home is scratching in your sleep. Once you have gone a decent chunk of time without reinfection you can make different choices.

Your own children are just as likely as these other kids are to pick them up in school and bring them to your home.

Your poor kids. This is definitely not a normal way to think.

I worry that I'm a bit OCD with germs but this has literally never occurred to me! It's not healthy to be this worried about threadworms- yes they're a pain but they aren't serious. I think you need to speak to your GP about it, particularly with regards to your anxiety.

Also speak to the school as there is a hygiene issue, surely in part at school.

As a pp mentioned about circle time on the floor, this really grosses me out, yuck! Imagine going into an office environment and being told to sit on the dirty floor. Sorry for the detail it's just always bugged me 😂

Are you having talking therapy or medication for your anxiety? Because I think that's where I would start.

Do you have an OCD diagnosis?

It's really worth speaking to your GP about this, especially if the shaking and crying is in front of the children.

Op's fears are causing a debilitating reaction and it would be good to seek help with that.
But I don't understand pp saying thread worms have never occurred to them and therefore don't get why she's so worried... That is surely because those pp haven't been affected by them, I think anyone who has them 6 times in 4 years would not be saying it hadn't occurred to them!

They are serious in that reinfection easily reoccurs unless you make big hygiene efforts once you discover you are affected, and the itching wrecks your sleep.

Tackle the school if you haven't already.
Get help to reduce the symptoms of your (reasonable) fears to a proportionate level.
Let your kids friends come round occasionally and do whatever it takes to be calm as messy kids happen. Go to their house /out instead when you can. While the weather is nice use the park.