Monday, February 23, 2009

Are You Nit Picky?

As a child, I had lice once. There, I said it. See, I'm not ashamed. We weren't a dirty house and we had good hygiene. Lice Happens.

My mom ran an in-home daycare and that's how we got it- I do remember having the school nurse and parent volunteers coming in to my 2nd grade class with these wooden skewers and latex gloves, and I remember them checking everyone's hair. I wasn't one of the kids that had it, and I don't remember if we did have kids in our class that did. Needless to say, it didn't traumatize me; but again, I didn't have a school nurse discover it and freak out in front of everyone.
Why am I bringing this up? See the article below. And by the way- with all this lice and nits talk, did your head start to itch at all? I hate when that happens. :)


Schools Getting Less Nitpicky about Head Lice

Rather than summarily sending home any child with signs of head lice, most schools across the country have loosened their policies, allowing youngsters to stay in class if they have nits, or lice eggs, but no crawling lice in their hair.

About 60 percent of schools now allow children with nits to stay in class, says Amy Garcia, executive director of the National Association of School Nurses.

The change has been backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses. It’s welcomed by many educators and parents, who worried that students were missing too much school and being made to feel ashamed.

It’s not known whether there have been more infestations in recent years as a result of the new, more relaxed policies enacted after a 2002 study saying the real problem is lice, not their eggs.

click HERE for the full story

I don't know if I like this lax outlook on lice. What if there was a child that had just the eggs, was allowed to attend school, and the eggs started to hatch while at school? It feels like it's a ticking time bomb waiting to blow. Even with this policy, if one of my children had lice I think I'd keep them at home anyways.

What's your take on this? Take our poll, if you want!

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