Facing head lice Is Like Facing A Breakup
We know it sounds silly, but going through the stages of the head lice process can often be similar to going through a breakup. Shock fear, frustration, acceptance and finally, relief. You may feel those emotions in both situations.
The Shock Stage
Most parents are in shock when they spot a case of head lice on their child’s head. They somehow thought that head lice would never happen to their child. “Head lice is only for other people.” Little do parents know that 6-12 million kids get head lice a year and it has nothing to do with their home life or how clean they are. They acquired it from another child and it’s nobody’s fault. This is kind of like when you get dumped out of nowhere. You never thought it would happen yet there you are. You’ll especially face shock if you’ve heard lots of misconceptions about head lice like that they come as a result of bad hygiene or that you can get lice from a pet. Please don’t get rid of the family pet because humans cannot get lice from pets and vice versa. If you just found out that your child has head lice or you just got dumped, don’t worry that feeling of shock won’t last forever because you’ll realize that you have to deal with it, which leads up to our next point.
The Fearful Stage
It’s still not a good feeling, but at least it’s a feeling. Chances are you’ll feel a sense of fear in the next stage whether you’re going through the second stage of a breakup or you’re finally passed the shock stage of head lice. The reason most parents feel fearful about head lice is because they don’t know anything about head lice and we naturally fear the unknown. Try not to show your fear in front of your child. You don’t want to scare them. We recommend not making it a big deal. And to be honest, it really isn’t a big deal. Head lice aren’t dangerous and they can be easily taken care of at our clinic.
The Frustrated Stage
This is the stage parents face when they don’t come to our clinic and instead try to eradicate lice with store-bought shampoos. That will certainly lead to frustration. Do not use over-the-counter products. We’ve said it time and time again that conventional lice treatments no longer work in the day of super lice. This is similar to the stage of a breakup when a couple weeks have passed and you start to think about all the frustrating things your ex did. You try to get back together but it just doesn’t work. You want to call and text them and just explode all your feelings at them. Just like we don’t recommend drugstore lice treatments, we also don’t recommend calling or texting in the heat of the moment. Trust us, put your phone out of reach and let yourself calm down first.
The Acceptance Stage
In a breakup, this is where you’d start to realize that the breakup was for the best and you’re ready to move on and forget about it. This is when you’ve finally accepted what has happened and you know you just have to deal with it now. It’s the same with the head lice process. You’re done being mad feeling sorry for yourself, you’re now ready to get rid of your child’s life with whatever it takes and then move on.
It comes to a certain point in both a breakup and a head lice debacle where you just have to pull yourself together and deal with it. “Alright, I got this!!!!,” you’d say to yourself. This is about the time most moms call Lice Clinics of America- College Station and we take it from there. At this point, you got all the dramatic emotions out of your system and you’re ready to talk options and just get rid of it.
The Relief Stage
A stage we all love. This is when you start to feel relief that that person or those lice are no longer in your life. You’ve gone through something hard and you’re proud of yourself for being so strong. Your kids are proud of you for getting rid of their lice and you feel like you did something right as a parent. You are relieved that Lice Clinics of America, St. Charles was there in your time of need because you couldn’t have gotten rid of the lice without them. Pure relief.
Just know that Lice Clinics of America, St. Charles will lead you to relief. We may not be able to give you relief after a breakup, but we’ll be there for you every step of the way during a breakup.