Hi there,
Lice sucks. This is something I know you know because, hey, guess what? It turns out your kid had it TWO weeks prior to the fourth-grade outbreak that struck every girl in the class (including my kid). I found this out thanks to another parent (whose daughter ALSO had lice). Not from you.
Look, we all know lice is gross. Lice is embarrassing. It took us $750 out of pocket and a lot of stress and tears to make sure that everyone else in our family was lice-free and to rid my daughter of every single nit and bug. One thing they told me: Her case was two weeks old. No one else in our family had contracted it, which implies that it was very new, which coincides with right around the time that your child had her super top-secret case.
Lice is no fun. But it's especially no fun when we aren't told that our children have been exposed. Suck it up. Do what the rest of us did and tell the teacher.
Lice isn't cancer (thank goodness) and it's not life-threatening. It's not even really something that hurts children (other than trauma), but it's GROSS and highly communicable and our best line of defense is to be open with one another.
More from CafeMom: 6 Ways to Prevent Your Child From Getting Lice Now
So what gives? You just thought you wouldn't have to tell? Thought you might get away with no spread? Well guess what? With your silence, you actually helped to infect a number of children who may not have otherwise been infected.
It's too late for apologies now, but it would be super awesome if, in the future, all parents lose the embarrassment. It's gross, yes. But it's not the end of the world. More than anything it was an expensive nuisance that involved multiple trips to the professional delousers and frequent loads of laundry. All of this could have been avoided if you had simply done the right thing. But nope. That was too much to ask.
Still, when all of us other parents were sharing our stories and helping one another, it might have been nice if you — the PARENT OF PATIENT ZERO — had chimed in. But oh no. You still didn't.
So fine. But I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to face one of the things I had been dreading most about my children's childhoods. Now, I no longer have to wonder when we are getting lice for the first time. Because we have had it. Thanks to you.
Mind if I send you the bill?
Sincerely,
An annoyed parent
