One of the very fun parts about
teaching is that you get to meet so many really nice, cool people, both adults
and children. Some of the children grow
up to be Afghan war heroes, some grow up to be Receptionists at local car
dealerships, some grow up to be famous authors and artists, and still others
grow up to be that which they aspired to be in Kindergarten… a worker at the
local Dairy Queen.
This particular story doesn’t
involve any of those children, even though those kids actually were students of mine at one time or
another.
No, in this story, children are
involved, but it also includes one of my very favorite people, a Kindergarten
teacher named Leslie; we called her, “Lester.”
Head lice are rampant in any
school setting, public or private.
There’s just no escaping it, no matter how many times you bathe and wash
your hair.
It’s just a fact of life, like
taxes and love.
On this particular day we were
told by our building principal that we needed to briefly discuss a parent
letter that was to be sent home that afternoon.
The letter contained information about which treatments worked best, how
long to leave the formula on your child’s scalp, checking for nits, eggs, and
so on. Pretty straight-forward stuff.
The following day, wouldn’t ya
know it; two bright-eyed youngsters came hopping and skipping into Leslie’s
classroom ready for a big day of fun and learning. Following the morning announcements, the
children gathered in a circle at the front of the room to briefly chat about
last night and what they were going to learn that day.
The topic of head lice came up
and the group had a very lively discussion.
No sooner did the little ones break into their usual groups then two
girls, we’ll call them Janey and Sally, decided they needed to go use the
restroom.
They were gone for what seemed
like hours, but were actually only out of the classroom for about 10
minutes. When they returned, both Janey
and Sally, holding hands, skipped into the room.
Leslie, turned, and just
gasped. She was beside herself.
Her two young charges had taken a
shampoo bottle into the restroom, dampened their hair and put what appeared to
be a half cup of shampoo into each other’s hair. Oh, and they worked it into a good lather,
too!
Poor Leslie. You could tell she was just fuming. Her eyes got big, nostrils flared, and she
glared at the two little darlings.
“We do not shampoo our hair
at school!!!”
Well, as you can imagine, the
smiles instantly left Janey’s and Sally’s faces as they were marched over to
the sink where they took turns holding their heads down and having the shampoo
rinsed out. They were each given a
rather large handful of paper towels to use for drying their hair.
Thankfully for our two young
hooligans, the weather was nice that day, and yet they still left the room for
recess with their heads hung low.
Their mommies were
less-than-thrilled about their girls at-school beauty salon experience, and
assured Leslie that there wouldn’t be a repeat of this little stunt any time
soon!
