Friday Playdate » Blog Archive » I’m pretty sure it’s in the Old Testament

I’m pretty sure it’s in the Old Testament

Filed Under Henry&Charlie on September 29, 2008

Last week the kids came home with the Note I Hate — you know the one: Someone at School Has Lice!

Dammit.

The school never identifies either the specific class or the specific child, which I really like, but AS IT TURNS OUT this year the class is Charlie’s! Woo! I know that because his teacher went ahead and told us all last week during our parent-teacher conferences. I was glad she mentioned it because I was wondering why Charlie was making such a big deal about how he was NOT SITTING ON THE RUG in his classroom (”because there might be BUGS in it, Mama!”).

It all makes sense now.

Anyway, when The Note came home, I had The Talk with the boys. No, not THAT talk, the one about keeping their hats to themselves at school.

Me: So someone at school has lice, which are –

Charlie: BUGS! That live in your HAIR! They lay eggs. Behind your ears.

Me: Ugh. I mean, yes, right! Anyway someone at school has lice and –

Henry: Who has lice?

Me: We don’t know.

Henry: Charlie, do YOU know who has lice?

Charlie: WELL Henry I know that it’s –

Me: STOP! It doesn’t matter who it is.

Charlie: Right. But it’s someone in my class.

Me: Okay hello FOCUS. Pay attention. We don’t care who has the lice.

Henry: Yes we do.

Me: NO WE DO NOT. Listen to me.

Henry: Okay. Sheesh.

Me: We don’t want lice. So don’t share your hats with anyone.

Charlie: We’re not allowed to wear hats to school.

Me: Right. When it gets COLD and you’re wearing a hat for school, like outside at recess? Wear your own hat. Don’t share your hat with anyone, and don’t try your friends’ hats on. Okay?

Henry: Okay, but what if one of my friends forgets his hat? Can I loan him mine?

Me: No. WEAR YOUR OWN HAT.

Henry: But Jesus says that we should share with people.

Me: Jesus does NOT want you to have lice.

Charlie: Is that in the Bible?

Me: Yes. Yes it is.

Honestly? I think God will forgive me for that one, if only because the Holy Mother is TOTALLY on my side here. I just know she is.

21 Comments so far
Leave a comment

Oh, she totally is. I’m pretty sure the Virgin Mary had to do the mayonnaise hair treatment thing on the baby Jesus a whole bunch of times. Good thing he didn’t have a beard yet, right?

I think when it comes to lice prevention, pretty much anything is acceptable. It might not be written in the bible, but it probably should be!

I would take both the chicken pox note AND the strep throat note rather than that damn lice note.

Makes me itchy just thinking about it.

Cetaphil cleanser. Google “Cetaphil head lice” for more info.

How do they keep the coats and jackets in the classroom? On hooks touching each other? What about backpacks? Piled up together in the coat closet? Give your son a bag to stuff both his coat and backpack into and tell him to keep it at his desk.

Honey, I know more about head lice than you ever want to know. I would do the Cetaphil treatment just in case. By the time you can actually see the lice, it is way too late - they’ll have infested your house. You have no idea how many times a day your kids put their heads on something.

lice.

ew.

there is nothing more to say.

ew.

Lice are found in the Bible in Exodus 8:16-18 and Psalms 105:31 (I didn’t know this offhand - I Googled). I couldn’t find specific reference to the sharing of hats but it’s clear from the actions of those who are beset with lice that God doesn’t want people with good behavior to have lice…so if your kids are being good, it can be inferred that Mary would approve of them not sharing their hats. Are you confused? I think I am. Soooooo many reasons why I don’t teach Bible School. Lice? Eeeew.

I think it’s even a commandment: Thou shalt not share hats. ~God

As a 3 time lice veteran, I expect people to come forward and at least warn the parent’s of their childrens’ friends. If you are honest, it’s easier to catch it early, which means it’s easier to contain and get rid of quickly.

The best thing you need to do is really watch sleep overs. My kids got it every time from a sleep over. Every Time. WE do head checks on ourselves and guests before anyone is allowed to stay here and I’m very questioning before my kids can stay with someone else.

I think I’m getting itchy just reading this post. And yes, Mary would definitely agree - no sharing… of anything… EVER.

Seriously, I would recommend that you wash all their bedding too. Otherwise, they’ll just re-infest themselves when they go to bed. Super hot water too. I don’t know if it works better or made me feel better.

Gag!

It’s my daughter’s class right now. Claire was kind enough to identify one of the little girls (and all her sisters with their fresh haircuts) at a outdoor town fall event on Sunday.

Guess I need to work on classy and not-classy things to talk about in public.

Can you say, “batting helmet?” Sharing a batting helment resulted in a big lice outbreak on my kid’s softball team. Ugh.
But also…throwing coats in a pile spreads it like wildfire.

AND be sure to check your kid well yourself. We had a DOCTOR completely miss the mother of all infestations–just prescribed an antihistamine, because he thought DD just had a RASH! It took a daycare teacher to point out the critters…roll eyes here.

ARGH! ARGH! UGH!

One more thing I am TOTALLY DREADING about having older children–meaning, children in school. Along with homework and hours of organized sports games. Seriously, I am absolutely 100% sure lice will happen to my family in the future, and I’m already pre-traumatized by it.

I’m pretty sure my mom told me it was in the Bible, too. That and my period.

My son had one louse on his head this other week, which I caught combing his hair after a bath. I kept him home from school for a day and cut his hair short (he’s a fan of the buzz anyway) and did some herbal treatment. I also told the mother of the 4 neighbor kids he’d been playing with–only to have HER tell ME that her kids had had lice for TWO WEEKS and she’s not sure how to get rid of them but the school hadn’t noticed yet so she wasn’t worried. Oh! My! At least I know where my son got them, but those kids will NOT be coming in my house any time soon!

I know you probably don’t even want to know this, but if you will rinse your child’s hair with plain vinegar after you wash it, the bugs will not go there.

It is hard, vinegar stinks. But, when it dries the smell evaporates and the big payoff, lice don’t like it.

It works. I had a foster child once who was known as the kid in the class that had lice every year. When she came to live with me, we took half of our life for a month washing, combing and picking nits. AND RINSING IN VINEGAR. Once they were gone, we kept rinsing her hair in vinegar. She was no longer the kid that always had lice!

Dude isn’t is so annoying when your kids start to think. My daughter asked why I have “inappropriate” sculptures of naked people. Uh - they aren’t inappropriate they are art.
No, Mom. they are inappropriate because they don’t have any clothes on.
They have imaginary clothes on.
Geez they are soapstone and wood sculptures.

charlie and henry crack me up. i’d love to hang out with them for an afternoon.

Wouldn’t Jesus’ lice be able to perform miracles? Like, wouldn’t they be able to exorcise *themselves*? Or go around turning water into wine or something? Or maybe that’s just what Mary needed after dealing with the little devils. More wine.

Ok that was seriously fabulously funny! Oh my…yes! Very very very funny!

I just loved that!
Juicy Jenn

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

“Yes, yes it is,” - HAHAHAHA! That was so funny. Not the lice, but the story.

Take care - Kellan

Tis not a sin to have tis a sin to not
relay the issue for others to have the
priviledge to react posiively and for
go others..spread the bad word,,,,LICE
ALERT!

RSS feed for comments on this post.

TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

Content

Categories

Admin