You know how when you hear that someone has lice, you instinctively start scratching your head? Do you remember in school when kids would get head lice and teachers would start bagging up anything and everything made of fabric?
Well, gone are those days.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) now insists that kids with head lice should NOT be sent home, but should remain at school with bugs embedded in their scalps to help prevent “social stigma and psychological stress.”
Yes! Let's embrace kids as they come, head lice and all!
According to AAP’s clinical report “Head Lice,” released online on Sept. 26 and published in the October 2022 Pediatrics Journal, head lice isn’t something to freak out over.
Dawn Nolt, lead author of the report, noted that “Head lice are an unpleasant part of the human experience, but they can be successfully managed and are no reason for a child to miss school.”
I’m already getting itchy.
AAP indicated that head lice is not a health hazard and therefore kids don’t need to leave school. AAP also noted that lice cannot jump off of a child’s head, only crawl. Therefore, a child with lice supposedly needs to have head-to-head contact with another child in order to transfer lice.
The reason for all this risky behavior is so that kids don’t feel stigmatized about having head lice.
“School officials should protect the child's confidentiality,” News 12 Long Island recounted.
I forgot that kids nowadays are pansies - made that way by adults trying to avoid every "stigma."
Personally, if someone sits next to me with head lice and doesn't go home, then I am packing my own bags and walking out the door.
