I Need Some Advice - Collingswood,NJ

My 3 yr old attends a daycare in my area and last year there was an outbreak of lice. The director was able to determine where they originated and that child was immediately dismissed (which is a shame, but she had to). The mother of the child should not have sent her that day; her sister, who was in grade school had them.

The point being, don't be so quick to blame the school, they don't have control over some bad decisions that the parents make.

Both of my children in the last year have had lice - My son- first, worse than my daughter. Not sure if he got it from camp or using other kids batting helmets.Anyway- You need to follow the directions on the lice kit fully. Also you need to alert the school so they can make the other parents aware of it. She could have gotten it anywhere. The important thing is to do the treatment right and let the school know. I personally wouldn't leave the school. My daugthers lice episodes were all from the public school - hard to pull her out of there. They say the cleaner you are the better the lice like it.

HI K.-
Ultimately you have to make a decision that makes sense for your daughter and your family. Lice is really common. In fact, my step-niece got it when she was in high school - I think it's like getting a scrape or the flu - lice seems to be an inevitable part of childhood. It's a big nuisance to deal with, but maybe she can still go to her last day at least?
Take care!

Dear stay at home mom. First I'd like to take my hat off to you as I was a stay at home mom for two years and it was one of the most difficult things I had to do. Moving on to your question.

I too am married to a wonderful husband and the mother of a 3 yr old. I am what you would call a germ a phobe. I understand your diress, and I also understand our husband's point of view. My suggestion is to pray first. List the pro's and con's of the facility. If this is the only thing bothering you - maybe you should let her stay. Besides, she could go to another school and have the same thing happen. If there are other things bothering you maybe this is a final sign. I removed my child from what I thought was a pretty good Christian school because I found the bathroom deplorable one day. That was the final straw for me.

Well wishes,

J. B
Philadelphia

My family went through head lice hell last october. We have 2 kids at that time they were 5 and 1. The 5yo was in two schools at the time and neither had them. You need to let the school know that she had lice so they can check the other kids. It is a communicable disease and the question of where it came from can be answered as simply as checking the other kids in the school. In our case we got it from a hayride, and the baby had it the worst of all of us.You may think she got it one place , like we did, but really it came from another source. P.s. fall and spring are lice seasons and you can only get them from touching head to infected head, they CAN'T jump.

good luck

Hi K.!

I am a cosmetologist and have seen my share of headlice, believe me! If you like the school that your daughter is attending, it is not wise to pull her out over this, especially when it seems more logical that your older daughter probably had the problem first and passed it on to her younger sister! The fact that your older daughter had nits sounds more likely that she had lice first, since she already had the eggs laid on her scalp. Since you just found live lice in the younger one's hair without nits, she was probably just beginning to get them. It is a traumatizing situation for children and quite stressful for the parent who has to clean up the mess that lice leave behind, but it is extremely common with children and you can't protect them by pulling them out of their school.

You did well by using the Rid and should you find anymore, you can get a stronger solution via prescription through your pediatrician. Make sure that you contact the schools that both of your daughters attend and notify them of the problem! Chances are that they are unaware but will do something once informed. My oldest daughter's school has already had 2 outbreaks this year as well as my daughters' dancing school having 2 outbreaks since last July! Once the school was aware, they began sending each child to the nurse to be checked and the ones that had it were sent home until they were treated. They sent a letter home immediately alerting us of the situation and disinfected the school that afternoon. Luckily neither one of my daughters contracted lice-most likely because they never leave home with their hair down! It is wise to pull up their hair daily and if you use hairspray on them, it further deters lice from bothering to "force" their way in as opposed to a child who has their hair down, making them an easier target! It is a fallacy that lice are passed on from someone who is dirty, in fact, they only thrive in clean hair. They also can change in color depending on what color hair they happen to be residing in (black when in darker hair and white when in blond hair!)

Headlice can happen anywhere! Keep this in mind because you wouldn't want to cause more distress to your children by changing schools and having to start all over again, especially if they are getting a good education where they are! Good luck!

My opinion is that she could get it from any school or daycare. Children play very closely and are always touching eat other. It could happen to anyone. It doesn't necessarily mean that it came from the school directly. Of course, it's likely that it came from some other person at the school. And who knows where they contracted it. Did anyone else at her school get it? I know it's frustrating and upseting, but people get these things sometimes. Just like ringworm. If it happens again, then I would take her out. Good luck!

Hello K.. I have been a teacher for ten years now and have had experience with lice in my classroom. i do not think you are overreacting but you can get lice from anyone. i have been told that lice does not really live on dirty hair but on clean hair!! I do not think you should take your child out of the school because of this because i have seen it in my preschool and in my neices catholic grade school. you should notify the teacher that your daugther had it because any child that came in contact with her or the child who brought it to school can have it. i, myself have been lucky to not have ever had lice but i have been around plenty of children who have had it and lice does not discriminate. if i were you i would continually check your children just to make sure that there is no reoccurrance. but i do believe that any school you send your children to there is always a chance.

If you've liked the nursery school, I wouldn't yank her out because of lice. The lice probably didn't originate in the school, they originated with another child, and happened to be tranferred at school. The best thing to do would be to let the school know - they can then check all the children so anyone with them can be treated, and they can clean anything in the school that could transfer them.
Another thing to remember is that while lice are totally gross, they are not actually harmful in any way.