At first we put the scratching down to shampoo left in the hair. Friends did mention ‘nits’ to me, to which my reponse was confidently, “No way. None of my family have ever had nits.” However, on closer examination of all our little heads, to my horror I discovered that they were alive with 3mm black beasts. Due to my total denial, the little mites had spent many weeks settling in and they were going nowhere in a hurry.
My approach was to treat this as a ‘Major Household Incident.’ I was prepared to do whatever it took to ensure that every last nit was eradicated from heads, hairbrushes, pillows .. and the dog. Everyone queued up to be doused with strong hair treatment that left a distinct odour lingering in our house for several days. Friends that visited promptly left. Weeks were spent combing hair with ‘industrial’ nit combs, obsessively attempting to extract the enemy and their mass of little white eggs. Even now the children only have to raise their hand in the direction of their head and I whip out the comb to ensure we remain ‘nit-free’.
They do say that once you have experienced nits, you will go to extreme lengths to ensure they never return. A friend who has four children at primary school said that she was spending a staggering £60 per month on nit treatments. “There were persistent non-treaters at school and eventually I threatened to keep my children at home.”
To my relief, a new programme has been introduced to some schools called, ‘National Bug Busting Day’. The children take home a Bug Buster kit on set days throughout the year, which includes nit combs and guidelines to encourage parents to check for lice. However, in the absence of this scheme at your school, you can always wash your children’s hair in coke which apparently loosens eggs, spray the hair with tea tree oil and water before leaving the house or persuade them to keep their small heads away from other small heads in the classroom.
