Heading off to camp? Don't bring lice home.

Summer is a fun, fun time for kids and often a relief to parents who have carted them around all school year.  Often, we send our kids off to camp, sometimes day camp, sometimes overnight camp and lasting from 1 week to all summer.  This means your kids are left to their own druthers, hygiene gets pushed aside for fun, sleep is minimal but the contact activities abound!  As parents, we need to be aware of these and take precautions and active approaches to things like lice.  Here are the top things parents can do or teach their children to do when going to camp.

1. Get a thorough check for head lice before you get to camp.  Not the kind where a CIT looks at your child’s head with a tongue depressor, a wet check done with a good lice comb.
2. Make sure your child with braid-able hair keeps it braids for their entire stay.  Head to head contact with free flying hair is the most common way to contract head lice.
3. If your child stay is NOT the first week that camp has been opened, be sure to treat the cots or other sleeping platforms before your child roles out their bedding.
4. Educate your child to not allow others to hangout or sleep on their bed at camp.
5. Help your child pack outfits in large Ziploc bags and encourage them to put the dirty clothes back into these after wearing or provide your child with a garbage bag to put all their dirty clothes into when they change, do not just throw them into their trunk.  This is also helpful in minimizing laundry upon their return home.
6. Remind your children to avoid hanging wet towels and bathing suits on top of others.
7. Upon arrival at home 

1. empty all dirty laundry into the washer followed by the dryer immediately for 30 minutes.
2. Perform a wet lice check before your child gets settled

These simple steps can help keep your summer relaxing and your return to school in the Fall lice free!!