Parent volunteer lice checks - can I opt out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yuck. Not a chance I'd agree to another parent putting their hands in my child's hair after they did a dozen other kids. Great way to spread lice. We check our own kid and use the special shampoo, conditioner and gel to keep the lice away.

Lice doesn't spread on your hands! LOL! You people are ridiculous!

All little girls with long, smooth hair and lots of friends are high risk for lice. Everyone else is still at risk, just not such high risk. Use rosemary shampoo, comb your children's hair regularly, and remember that we all want the best for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just learned that there are parent volunteers who do lice checks at our school at the beginning of the school year. I would prefer for my child not to be evaluated by a non-licensed / trained professional.

Does anyone know the process for either - allowing this or opting out? Nothing was sent home from the school to inform me that it was happening.

Tell the school (and also put it in writing) that you do not consent to an unlicensed person evaluating your child for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only on DCUM would you find defenders of parents doing lice checks on random children who happen share a classroom with their children. School nurse or teacher? If there's a good reason to look that's fine. Maybe these parents could set up shop at playgrounds or children's library space and inspect every stranger first so their precious kids doesn't catch lice

I don't want a random parent in my kid's head for any reason. I would complain to the principal to make it stop immediately as the parents are over the line of acceptable behavior.

+1

[Anonymous]

I mean, I can't imagine a volunteer (as opposed to a school employee) doing those without immunity from lawsuits. Waivers would have to be collected too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
For the benefit of the entire class, why not bring up the issue of privacy for everyone? It could be done in the nurse's office with each check done behind a closed door, with the rest of the children lined up outside. That way none of the children affected would be stigmatized. Right?

Just have a word with the teacher, OP.

Everyone will realize that your child has lice when the child returns to the classroom, collects his stuff, and leaves for the day. This doesn't help retain privacy.

+1

[Anonymous]

Thats right....start now getting your kids used to anyone messing with any part of their body....you tell them don't talk to stranger...but you let strangers poke around in their hair....its not like a doctor that they are used to and used to seeing....but to each its own

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yuck. Not a chance I'd agree to another parent putting their hands in my child's hair after they did a dozen other kids. Great way to spread lice. We check our own kid and use the special shampoo, conditioner and gel to keep the lice away.

You are a wimp, and more importantly, a mean and ugly person.

I could comb lice out of your children's heads easily. Since I'm mean and you probably wouldn't want to hire me, I'll let you know there are professionals who do this:

http://dc.licehappens.com/

(btw, I am not in any way affiliated with that business and any annoying opinions are strictly my own.)

The best vectors for lice are girls with clean (easy to cling to!) long hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yuck. Not a chance I'd agree to another parent putting their hands in my child's hair after they did a dozen other kids. Great way to spread lice. We check our own kid and use the special shampoo, conditioner and gel to keep the lice away.

great response

[Anonymous]

If there's the right to opt out, they should post the names of opted-out children on the school website, so that more public-health minded parents can take proper precautions with their kids.

[Anonymous]

There's a level of paranoia here that is difficult to understand. Don't people have to go through background checks to even volunteer in public schools?

Don't mess with little kids. Comb your hair, and your child's hair too. Wish well for the people who need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there's the right to opt out, they should post the names of opted-out children on the school website, so that more public-health minded parents can take proper precautions with their kids.

And yet people are arguing that there is no stigma to having volunteers -- probably people with this attitude -- check every child in the school's hair? Thanks for demonstrating the problem so well.

The people I would want to know to avoid are the ones that want to pass off the responsibility to check their kids' hair regularly to some other poor parent will volunteer to do the job for them. In my experience, they are the ones who's kids have ridiculous cases of undiscovered lice and never seem to be able to do the work necessary to get it under control.

[Anonymous]

When I was a kid, the school nurse and an assistant did the lice checks. And it was completely private. There was a line outside the close door, and you would get called in after the nurse and assistant was done with the last kid. There was no chance of infecting the next kid because she wore latex gloves and used a popsicle stick through the hair, which was disposed of with each kid. Did no one go through this as a child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think parent volunteers are capable of diagnosing lice. My guess is that they'll miss most of the actual cases and most of the kids that they'll diagnose with "nits" will actually just have scalp eczema.

I'm also a little paranoid about parents with big mouths since the time I emailed the other parents in my daughter's second grade class to warn them about my lice in the classroom and one d-bag mother told her 7-year old son, who then made fun of my daughter in front of the whole class for it.

You shouldn't be ashamed of lice. Nearly everybody goes through it one time or another, and you can be a helpful resource for other parents. We have one parent in our grade who's been particularly helpful with combing tips - she's been on the merry go round twice with her girls already. There are no secrets with kids, so let's take the stigma away instead.

Your personal experience doesn't equal others. The PP already said her daughter was bullied in the classroom because of it. I agree that being a parent does not automatically mean you know how to identify lice.

I agree there are many (maybe most) schools where there is a stigma about having lice. We are luckily not at a school like this. Kids get lice. It happens and it is a pain to deal with. The parents at our school tell each other ASAP when they find lice on their kid. At least once a year we get an email from a parent at night letting us know that they just found lice in Larla's hair. It is said matter of fact. Everyone goes and checks and deals with it. We also get at least one or two letters a year sent from the school nurse saying lice was found in your child's classroom. Same drill, everyone checks and deals with it. We don't hide it from our kids. We react the same way we would if Larla had Strep throat. Some how we have survived 9 years at this school (multiple children) with no one being teased or bullied about lice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
For the benefit of the entire class, why not bring up the issue of privacy for everyone? It could be done in the nurse's office with each check done behind a closed door, with the rest of the children lined up outside. That way none of the children affected would be stigmatized. Right?

Just have a word with the teacher, OP.

Everyone will realize that your child has lice when the child returns to the classroom, collects his stuff, and leaves for the day. This doesn't help retain privacy.

+1

Kids leave for any number of reasons -- sick, medical appointments, parents pull them early for whatever reason . . . nobody's business other than the school's

There's a privacy issue, but also a personal space issue. Our children are taught early on that their bodies are their own and there are limited circumstances where others have a NEED to enter their personal space, like a doctor or nurse. High maintenance parents don't qualify for any NEED other than their own egos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only on DCUM would you find defenders of parents doing lice checks on random children who happen share a classroom with their children. School nurse or teacher? If there's a good reason to look that's fine. Maybe these parents could set up shop at playgrounds or children's library space and inspect every stranger first so their precious kids doesn't catch lice

I don't want a random parent in my kid's head for any reason. I would complain to the principal to make it stop immediately as the parents are over the line of acceptable behavior.

I am usually the first person to poke at the self-important among us on DCUM, but I can't even let this one go.

Let your child get checked for lice.

It's not an STD and nobody's reputation will be scarred. It's nasty bugs in your kids hair, right? Why would you not want to make sure she/he has a clean head??

No, the advice should be - check your own kids for lice regularly or hire a specialist to do so (school nurses usually can provide referrals). If cost is a concern ask the school nurse to help. It's good for their school community but it's also good for your sanity because removing an infestation is a pain in the ass. Catching it early is also much easier to resolve.