It's that time of year again

[clickprincess]

September brings most parents a bit of relief when the children go back to school.  We love them but there is only so many "I'm bored" statements that any parent can handle, right?

Unfortunately, fall is also when head lice makes it's presence felt.  In recent years, the outbreaks have emptied out whole classrooms and many wonder why they are so bad.  A big reason is that the lice have become drug resistant and the pesticides used in the shampoos no longer effectively kill the bugs.

One of the biggest causes of severe outbreaks is the common coatroom still found in many elementary schools.  The lice crawl from the infected child's jacket on to the other coats nearby.  If your school does this, insist that your child be able to carry their coat with them to classes or be able to put it in their backpack. 

[cjb11]

You can also suggest to your school that each child place their coat and belongings that are in the coat room into a big plastic garbage bag. The bags are labled so they don't get mixed up.  This is what one of our area schools does.  The bags are paid for by the school district.

[Silva]

Gosh, it's been many years since I had to deal with this problem so I'm not up to date with head lice, but I always remember the authorities telling us that head lice had to be transferred directly from head to head because they could not live away from their "host". I would never have thought of this and I will happily pass this knowledge on to my daughter once her little ones start school. Thank you.

[ABCDboys]

We have been very lucky (KNOCK ON WOOD!) that we've never had lice in my kids' classrooms. I remember when I was in school, 4th grade I think, there was an outbreak. The school nurse came to the classroom and inspected each of our heads thoroughly.

[Britlady]

Yes, we are currently fighting this battle. It's been just as icky as I remember it being when I was a kid. My kid is too young to know what is so yucky thankfully, and since there is the whole resistance issue now, I'm thankful that I don't have to use chemicals on her.

Unfortunately it means that to fully eradicate them will take so much longer-its a real pain.

Whoever mentioned that they cannot live away from a host is correct-they can only survive a few hours at most because they dehydrate. But in many schools the time between recess/lunch and other breaks means that coats are too frequently on and off for them to die in between.

Really though with a four year old, head to head contact is more of a problem, as I've seen her sat with friends almost hugging, and head on head. Easy path for transference.