The School Germ Train

by Cathy

All aboaaaaard!!!!
The School Germ Train will be leaving the station momentarily. We are expected to reach our destination in June. There will be multiple stops along the way but please note that no one is allowed to get off; once you have been seated, you must remain seated. Along the way, flus, viruses, bugs, snot, fevers, vomit, strep and all of their relatives will be joining us, so make sure to leave some room. Seat belts must be worn at all times; this will be one bumpy ride.

This morning, Ari woke up with a cough, followed by the groggy strains of, "My throat hurts!"

This must be a new record...it took a whopping 12 days of being in school for one of my kids to get sick. I knew it would be coming sooner or later. I just didn't think it would be SO soon.

To make things worse, we received a two-page school memo, basically telling us to brace for lice. LICE. As if we didn't have enough to worry about. The letter desperately tried to reassure us: "It's very common amongst kids in school and camps! It happens to children with particularly squeaky clean hair! Lice has been around for over 3,000 years - longer than us!"

We've stopped in Liceville once before with Bella, back when she was in kindergarten, when we had no idea that lice was still being spread in schools because we were first-time parents. We were appalled. We didn't know to look out for it until we received a letter after Christmas break that year saying that there is now an 'outbreak' of lice throughout kindergarten and we need to check our kids pronto. Sure enough, Bella had it. And I had it. And the process of removing it? SUCKED.

I never want to stop in Liceville again, so now I have become a lice freak. I'm always putting their hair up, telling them: Don't hug other kids! Don't share headbands! Keep your hair up! Don't play with other kids at recess! Just play by yourself!

So as I tighten my seatbelt and brace for the long, winding road on the School Germ Train, I am comforted by the fact that I remembered to pack my sense of humor and my brave determination.