it to be treated like any other childhood infirmity, is the willingness to
*talk* about it. When each of our daughters, 9.5 years apart, had bouts with
head lice from both daycare and school, we openly talked about it, including
discussing the changes in treatment that had occurred the intervening years.
When you talk about it like it was the chicken pox, the stigma goes away.
The problem is that while many of us know from having read the most recent
research that it's *not* a cleanliness-based problem, many people still
think it is, and no one wants to be the first to say "our kid has head lice"
and possibly be shunned by the unenlightened.
On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 11:22 AM, <marty@ucls.uchicago.edu> wrote:
> I'm a parent in our lower school, which is probably the only reason I can
> give feedback on this. When there's a case of head lice, a note goes home
> in the backpack of each kid in that homeroom, simply saying that there has
> been a case of head lice in the class and listing what to look for and how
> to deal with it. The child isn't named, so perhaps that's enough to
> protect privacy.
>
> The parents just sigh and start inspecting heads. There doesn't seem to
> be any stigma attached. The kids don't (at least mine don't) come home
> talking about somebody having lice, and I haven't encountered any teasing
> about it at school. I think we're pretty good at treating the occasional
> bout of lice as part of lower school life -- perhaps that's an attitude
> that has been consciously crafted by our administration; I don't know.
--
keg
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Keith E Gatling - Computer Instructor
Manlius Pebble Hill School
5300 Jamesville Rd
DeWitt, NY 13214
315.446.2452
http://www.gatling.us/keith
Some teachers teach subjects. Others teach people.
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