Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!!

The e-mail came late Friday afternoon. It said, "Dear Parents, we found out late today that we have several students in the building that have head lice."

My heart stopped. Lice?! LICE?! As in creepy crawly bugs that cling to a child's head like bears to honey? Come on, I thought. We're only one month into the kindergarten and already we're getting notes about lice in the school?!

"Please check your children for nits," the e-mail continued. "They look like dandruff, but are difficult to get off the hair shaft unlike dandruff." I hoped that since Michael only went to school twice that week he wouldn't be very likely to come in contact with the lice, but called him over to me to check his head anyway.

"Mom, what are you doing?" he said as I lifted up his hair and randomly checked the roots for nits. (Even typing the word nits gives me the creeps - to think that something could be crawling around in my son's hair is unimaginable.)

"I'm looking for bugs, buddy," I replied. "Sometimes little bugs can get in your hair and then you have to get them out."

"How would you get them out?" he asked, intrigued by the thought.

"Well, you might have to get your head shaved cause then the bugs wouldn't have any hair to hold onto," I told him, not really knowing if that were true but it sounded good and maybe it would scare him into holding still for me.

It did. "Oh, I don't want that to happen," he said and sat like a stone so I could do a thorough check.

Luckily, I didn't find anything. I know from hearing horror stories what a pain having a child with lice can be. I think that apart from the vomiting flu, having your child come home with lice is a mother's biggest nightmare. Not only do you have to get the lice out of the hair, which can be tricky, then you have to decontaminate the whole house and hope that you got all the lice because leaving behind just one can start the process over again. I know a woman who battled lice on and off for 2 years and finally got rid of them by smothering them with mayonaise and plastic bags.

Hopefully I won't have to go through that. Michael came home from school today and told me that someone went through his hair and looked for bugs. I didn't receive a phone call from the school so I have to assume that he is bug-free. And that's the way it will hopefully stay. Bugs belong outside in the grass and trees, not in little boys' heads. But I'll keep checking anyway.


Here are some informational links about lice and how to get rid of them:

http://www.oakgov.com/health/assets/Documents/fs_headlice.pdf

http://www.oakgov.com/health/assets/Documents/PPHS/headlice_checklist.pdf

http://www.s-e-a.net/