Pediatricians Say Head Lice Not A Reason To Stay Home From School Bucking decades of directives from not just the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), but creeped out moms and school nurses everywhere, the AAP has updated their recommendation for lice management. The final conclusion in a list of anathemas is No healthy child should be excluded from or allowed to miss school time because of head lice. No nit policies for return to school should be discouraged. The reasons published in the clinical report for not insisting on student removal and waiting until all nits have been picked include head lice not transmitting disease (even if its really creepy and causes kids to constantly scratch their heads in class), better agents and chemicals to treat the condition and kill the bugs (the product mentioned in the report is Nix which has been available for decades), and that there is no real way to prevent the spread of head lice when kids are in school putting their heads together constantly. (Back in the 70s and 80s the rumor was theyd hide in the pile linings of coats and jump in the cloak room.) What the report does make clear is that kids with head lice do need to be treated to get rid of them. That includes washing hair with the special shampoo (Nix or Rid), and removing the lice eggs, or nits with a very fine comb. Its not like they jump from student to student when theyre sitting at their desks, [Pediatrician Wendy Proskin]said. You should encourage your kids not to share their hats and combs and hair stuff, but its not like theyre rubbing their heads up against their classmates (heads), as a general rule. As important as that is, the combing out the nit-picking is really huge, said Proskin, who also sometimes recommends the Nuvo method, a treatment developed by a dermatologist that relies only on Cetaphil, a skin cleanser. The product is combed through the hair and then blow-dried and left on for eight hours. One thing to remember about head lice: they are quite democratic. They will infest any head of hair they find. This writer was the only sibling in the house who never was infested and we used to be competitive swimmers (youd think the chlorine and algaecides would do the trick). More than one afternoon was spent holding hair while the nits were picked. But, no disease was transmitted and, yes, people missed school. The AAP now says there is no reason for this. I believe I read that they could jump up to 15 feet. It is a dirge to have kids with them each year in school, and yes in a lot of areas it was required to treat the head and return with a receipt that the products were bought. They spread somehow, so I dont think that they just imagine themselves in a kids head. My Mom was an Elementary teacher for 17 years as such we all became very well versed on this subject. Lice can jump up to 3 feet! Any child with them SHOULD stay home, according to the shampoos directions, otherwise, what will happen is an entire classroom infestation then any siblings will spread it to their classrooms as well! This article is completely nonsensical, unless the author is willing to sit in a classroom to see how long it takes for them to contract the condition in a classroom with a lice ridden child! Ever seen anyone with head lice??cant get far enough away from them fast enough.what a lousy topicpun intended!!! 