Freeze all stuffed animals and all the clothes you can. If it is freezing out, bag them and put them in a freezing environment.

Clean your house better than you have ever cleaned it.

This happened to my kid. It's a horrible feeling, but it is NOT a reflection on you or your living standards.

Make sure that your school is on top of it.

And keep looking for nits. With a nit comb. It could take awhile.

Good luck.

Thanks. Fortunately it's in the 20's tonight, so all their bedding is out on the back porch. It's gonna be an all-nighter, cleaning stuff and treating my hair just in case. Mr. Cat is one unhappy dude. Hubby's not too thrilled himself.

Mostly I've been having the "ew" factor. The school has been really good about not being judgmental about stuff. They have rules they have to follow, and were pretty apologetic for having to send the boys home. They said the boys could go in tomorrow if I gave them a good treatment tonight.

All in all is was like picking fleas off the dogs we used to do every summer. The medicine pretty much stunned the little buggers and I could pick them out and kill them in a bowl of alcohol.

I had lice back in the day (2nd grade, I think- or was it 3rd?). Ahh, good times.

My kids used to get them every summer like clockwork. Use Nix; nothing else works. Treat your husband too, whether he likes it or not - if one person in the house has them, everyone does. Wash everything - all clothes, all bedding, all towels, all stuffed animals - in hot water and keep in a hot dryer for 45 minutes - I'd trust that a LOT more than freezing stuff. If cold weather killed lice there would be no lice. Use Nix spray on all upholstered furniture. Wash the curtains - no, seriously. I swear that's what made the difference one time when we just could. not. get. rid. of. them. Boil all the hairbrushes and combs, including the nit combs. And if all else fails, do everybody's hair, leave the house and go to a motel for a weekend. Sometimes that makes all the difference - lice cannot live off your body for very long. I think 48 hours is what they used to say but to be safe I always went with 72.

And, oh yeah, more bad news: if they're big enough for you to actually see them to pick them off? Everyone in the household definitely has them. That's infestation, alas - if they were just starting, you'd only be able to see the nits. The young ones are pretty much invisible: that's why you can't just pick them off as you see them.

Part of my job is dealing with policies around pest control. We pretty much have a "no pesticide" rule for lice control. We do not treat anything because experience shows that non-chemical control works better.

The school should be bagging coats, so as to not have one kid's coat hanging in contact with another kid's coat.

But then thousands of parents swear by Nix.

My deepest sympathies. My kids used to bring them home from school all too often.

There was also this thread if you'd like to look at other alternatives. I still use the electric comb to do checks on a regular basis when they get home from school or sleepovers or whatever. So far, so good for a long time now.

Well, the kids were let back in, but I'm now home with Older Boy, who had an epic accident, making them thing he's got some stomach bug.

Each student has a single cubby where coats and hats reside, so that's a goodness.

Hubby protested, but got chemicalized when he got home. I did an additional mayonaise treatment on me, which felt great. I got a second comb and will be checking every morning and night.

And lilywing13, ow! I can't imagine dye after lice treatment. Younger Boy is pretty stoic, but he was in tears by the time I got finished with him. I might email you if this keeps up beyond my endurance.

Thanks, all!

I didn't mean the hair dye part, lysdexic. I actually got a best answer in that thread for some other suggestions for dealing with those itchy critters. We keep an electric comb and that's been a miracle.

Younger Boy got sent home with head lice this afternoon.

Wait... does youngergirl have lice too?

I didn't mean the hair dye part, lysdexic

Oh, yes, lilywing13, I know. Just the subject of the post wierded me out.

Wait... does youngergirl have lice too?

Well, I'm not gonna check. You're on your own. ;P

Older Boy likes to type on the 'puter, but I'm not letting him online just yet.

I missed this post until now. But I can assure you that I do not have lice. In fact, I don't think I've ever had lice.