How To Teach Your Children About Head Lice
A head lice infestation might be just as scary for a parent as it is for the child who has to deal with the unbearable itching. Panic and fear are common first reactions to finding out there are bugs crawling in your child’s hair. Well, we don’t want head lice to be a scary thought at all. It really doesn’t have to be. The stigma associated with head lice should be diminished and we should all understand the facts about head lice. We recommend teaching your children about lice in case your family ever has to deal with it. Teaching them what lice are, how to prevent them and which items to avoid, can be beneficial in case of a head lice outbreak at your child’s school. Here are four recommendations for teaching your children about lice.
Educate Yourself First
In order to teach something, you’ve got to understand it yourself, right? Turn to reputable sources to learn the life cycle of a louse, how they are spread, how to prevent them and how common they are. The more you learn about lice, the less scary they are. One of the biggest reasons people freak out about lice is because they don’t know anything about them. People often don’t realize that lice are not detrimental in any way. The unknown is scary to us. But when we have a good understanding, we can then teach our children not to worry either. The more you know about something, the better prepared you are to deal with it.
Use Children’s Books
In this day and age, we are lucky to have so many resources when it comes to education. There’s an array of children’s books about head lice out there and we now have I-pads, Kindles and other digital notebooks where we can purchase affordable books. Silly and light-hearted picture books can be the easiest way to teach your children about head lice. This can also help to make them unafraid of lice. How scary can a comical louse from a picture book be?
Teach them the stats
It’s common for a child to feel alone, isolated and embarrassed when contracting head lice. Well, about 12 million children get infested with head lice a year. If they know that anyone can get head lice and that it isn’t caused by being dirty, they will be better prepared to deal with rumors at school. They are not alone and there is nothing wrong with them. It’s important to teach your children that lice can happen to anyone.
Have a Preventative Routine
To help prevent head lice, it would be helpful to have some processes in your family to keep lice from spreading. Having separate bins in the entryway for each member of the family to put outwear in upon coming home from school or work, making sure each child owns their own brushes and combs and quickly checking your children’s head when they get home are some of the simple things you can do to teach your children good habits. This way they are likely to carry these habits to their friends’ houses and to school. Let’s teach our children good habits from a young age.
Head lice don’t have to be scary. Sure, they are a nuisance, but understanding the facts can keep you and your little one calm during a head lice crisis.