Those Pesky Bugs

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“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.” – Mark Twain

Heads up: this post might bug you.

Oh boy, there are so many great puns about lice. I’ve been thinking about that because we got them last week. Lice, that is, not puns. Well, maybe both.

Funny thing about lice is that they come with an acute sense of shame. This has been going around the school – and seems to be worse after the classes rotated through the bike unit in PE. But even knowing that AND after finding out that four other families from our school were booked at the treatment clinic, I still felt it. It must be a powerful trigger of the fear of community ostracization.

I managed to get over it long enough to tell the school, the teachers, and the families we’d played with recently. Like I’ve found with my other vulnerabilities, it turns out that sharing came with a blessed sense of camaraderie. Most families with elementary school kids have gone through this and the parents had hilarious stories.

There was the family who had sent their three kids to a camp in France. The whole camp played a game where they passed a hat so that the hat wearer got a turn to speak, sing, or dance. Every single kid in the camp came home with lice.

And a mom told me the story of having to go to the clinic to be checked. As she was sitting in the chair getting her hair combed out, a former work colleague came in also to get checked. He launched in to a long conversation with her despite her best, “Can we talk another time?” face.

Someone shared a hilarious video with me that mapped the lifecycle of a mom’s feelings about lice: the shame, the fear, the disgust, the exhaustion, the acceptance.

It makes me scratch my head to wonder why I need to keep learning that being vulnerable results in benefits. I mean benefits in addition to immediately knowing the washing machine cycles answer in a recent NY Times Connections game because I’ve spent so much quality time with my washer in the last week.

These things that come with life aren’t easy. But when we put our heads together, [oops, don’t do that], they can be at least a little funny!

(featured photo from Pexels)

You can find me on Instagram @wynneleon and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wynneleon/

I co-host a storytelling podcast featuring authors and artists with the amazing Vicki Atkinson. To tune in, search for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts (and subscribe) or click here. Or the YouTube channel features videos of our interviews. Please subscribe!

My other projects include work as a CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer), speaking about creativity and AI through the Chicago Writer’s Association, and my book about my journey to find what fueled my dad’s indelible spark and twinkle can be found on Amazon: Finding My Father’s Faith.

81 thoughts on “Those Pesky Bugs”

  1. As an ex-teacher there were many head-lice stories that did the rounds. My favourite was told by an experienced teacher who had taught in many of the city schools with poor, underprivileged children, and was proud that she had avoided the little ‘visitors’.

    She got promotion to a school for the rich and well-to-do – with their clean bodies and clean clothes. It was there that she had a personal encounter with head-lice!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Right! It’s so outdated — but I suspect that’s how they’ve survived for all these years. Keeping people from talking about it is part of their secret! Thanks for the great comment!

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  3. This is a post MANY parents will relate to, and you’ve done a great job, Wynne, including some great and identifiable stories. Ah, the lessons life keeps doling out to us! 😏

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  4. What an ordeal and as Jane said, oh-so relatable. I appreciate the humor that you found along the way. It sure can sustain us when we have no choice but to keep moving! 🥰😉🥰

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  6. Ah, the joys of having kids in elementary school – though, of course, as you pointed out in your funny stories, it doesn’t just happen at school!

    It’s almost a rite of passage (though I was lucky and neither of my kids were “gifted” with a headfull!)

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I had lice as a littlest girl. It was a shameful thing😃! My mom convinced me saying lice liked certain kinds of hair textures and not all 😂! My boys never got it from school.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, that’s so hard! I think boys do have an easier time escaping this particular bug. Maybe it’s the longer hair? Thanks for chiming in, Ganga!

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  9. Oh, I’m feeling so itchy after reading your post, Wynne. I know lice is a rite of passage not just for kids but for caregivers too. We have been so fortunate to avoid it so far but I imagine we’re not done elementary school yet.

    I love all the puns and your sense of humour and perspective about it all!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Ah, the dreaded head lice. I wasn’t all that worried about the shame of it, but I really hated the amount of work it took to eradicate those little guys. Stinky hair treatment, nit combing, wait a few days, stinky hair treatment, nit combing again. Wash & sanitize everything. Bag up all the stuffed animals. It seemed to drag on forever. Glad that you got rid of them and came out with a positive perspective.

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    1. Oh, you aren’t kidding about the amount of work, Gwen! I think there was a day last week where I had 14,000 steps — just cleaning the house!! 🙂 I hope we are done with this. Thanks for commiserating!

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  11. This brings back humorous now … not then… ‘lice ain’t nice’ incidents with my own children Wynne. I gotta’ admit though, I found myself scratching my follically deprived noggin as I read it 😊

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  12. I’ve lost count the number of times one of the kids came home with them and we all had to go for treatments. Yuck!

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  14. Oh my gosh Wynne, it’s never a dull moment. 😲 Love your lightheartedness with this: “But when we put our heads together, [oops, don’t do that]…” 🤣 What a great attitude to have in spite of the dreadful circumstances. Hang in the kiddo! 🤗

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  15. Great timing reading this post because I just got a message from school today saying they have spotted lice, please check your kids’ heads 🤣 Yay! Last time we almost had lice, I took my sons to get their heads shaved because apparently lice don’t like short hair. Maybe I should do that again, before it’s too late!

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  18. My children’s school had several bouts of lice. Fortunately, my kids didn’t get it. Maybe it was their daily dose of chlorine in the city pool at swim practice? Another thing we did as a preventative measure when we learned of the outbreak was use tea tree oil. I’d douse their heads in it! The kids at school created a skit using Frank Sinatra’s L-O-V-E song using L-I-C-E and performed it for us!

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  19. I’m sorry you’re dealing with lice. This is one of the joys of kids. Pinworms is another thrilling rite of passage.

    One thing I learned when my kids were young was that lice love a clean environment. When my son’s kindergarten class sent home the inevitable letter, he got gel in his hair and hair washes dropped to once a week. Success!

    I was grateful not to have to do the big wash.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Ah yes. The shame and ostracization of lice. We’ve been fortunate to have never dealt with it but when my son was in school, we occasionally got a note that someone in his class had it. The note was accompanied by facts I didn’t know: lice aren’t attracted to a dirty head or hair (as I’d erroneously believed) and in fact, prefer a clean head. Being vulnerable can be tough but I love that you found camaraderie on the other side.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Yup, we can all relate. I recall my 7-year-old daughter coming home from school one day and telling me that there was a disease going around the school called “headlights”. Then she proceeded to explain that they were not to share combs or hats etc. I burst out laughing when it hit me what she was talking about.

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  24. It is sad that getting head lice comes with such a stigma. Do we make people feel bad about themselves if they catch a cold or the flu?

    I remember a 5th grade boy who came to school on picture day with a shaved head. Lots of kids asked him if he had done that for picture day. He just shook his head. Later, he came to me at recess and asked if he had to get his picture taken and confided that his mom had shaved his head because she couldn’t get rid of his lice. 🙁

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  25. If it makes you feel better, lice are attracted to a clean scalp more than a dirty one. But the shame still exists. Makes me wonder what I’m ashamed of that doesn’t stand up to reason! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. That is good to know. Isn’t it interesting, Belinda? I suspect that lice still exist because shame keeps people from admitting they have them. What a great question wondering what else it might apply to!

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  28. You make a great point about opening up and being vulnerable. And we’ve had a yucky time with lice… We were doing the special lice-killing shampoo and combing each other’s hair. But we kept seeing what we thought were lice eggs on hair strands. So we kept combing. For DAYS! Finally, my wife hired a lice specialist who makes house calls. She checked our heads, and she said those things were dandruff 😆😆😆 Talk about relief! I’ve never been so happy to have dandruff before or since.

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    1. OMG – I’m laughing, Dave. That’s hilarious. And so relatable. Even from reading descriptions, I had no idea what I was looking for when I was checking for them. NOW I know! 🙂

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  31. After raising five children, I can totally relate. It was a mixed batch of emotions, but I realized it was a problem that can happen to anyone. I’ll never forget the first time, covering my girls hair in Vaseline and pretending all was well. Lol. The preschool was on to me. Haha. It took forever to wash out! I learned it was better to face it head on, tell everyone around the kids (so they could be on the lookout) and attack it with exactly what you mentioned- the washing machine- along with the vacuum cleaner and lice spray for beds and pillows. There were many nights of sitting with a glass of water and picking out eggs one at a time out of little girls long hair. You get through it and learn a lot. It gives you an excuse to give your child a little extra attention through the process too. Not fun at all- but we made the best of it.

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    1. Oh, Lisa, I love this comment! Such a good perspective to turn it around as a little extra attention to the kids. Right on! I’ve heard all sorts of great remedies too by sharing. It’s nice to have community! Thanks for chiming in.

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  33. Haha nice last paragraph😁 We had a lice situation too when the kids were in elementary school and it was rough! My wife was pretty much repulsed by the whole thing. She painstakingly combed through each kid’s hair every night. They were also repulsed, which I guess gave them the patience to sit there while this was done. I suggested we all just shave our heads and be done with it-hair grows back. They didn’t think I was funny at all, but I wasn’t trying to be funny. I was ready ✂️😁

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    1. Ha, ha, ha! One video I saw suggested that the only person who gets sick in this is the parent when they discover what it is. 🙂 🙂 I hear you about the head shave. That long hair takes so much patience!!

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  34. “It makes me scratch my head to wonder why I need to keep learning that being vulnerable results in benefits.” Same here, Wynne.

    “I mean benefits in addition to immediately knowing the washing machine cycles answer in a recent NY Times Connections game because I’ve spent so much quality time with my washer in the last week.” Right? Same here. 😆

    ❤️😁! (still)

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  35. I don’t think I’d ever put giggles and lice in the same sentence, but after reading your post, Wynne, it works! I love your humor! I’m sorry you had to deal with that. For some unknown reason, my family dodged the lice. Our kids never had it and I don’t know how we got so lucky. But my husband and I sure thought about it now and then, keeping our fingers crossed. The story about the camp in France, oh my gosh! I hope the chaos has ended and life is back to normal for you. ❤️

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