February fills the air with love. Valentine’s Day is a fun opportunity to give those we love that extra special attention to fill their hearts! As parents, it is our job to protect those loved ones from lice and other common sicknesses that are around this time of year. We thought of a few quick tips to help you spread the love this Valentine’s Day and prevent head lice while you’re at it!
Spreading the Love to Your Family
- Make Personalized Valentine’s – Take a piece of cardstock or construction paper and artistically print or draw each person in your family’s name on their own paper. Now using color markers or pens have each member of the family write a loving note to one another. List their good qualities or things you appreciate about them. Now roll up the paper, attach their favorite candy with a ribbon and tie it off with a bow.
- Fill Their Buckets – “Filling a Bucket” for someone is an analogy often used to demonstrate how they feel about themselves. If someone’s feeling unhelpful, unimportant or like they have little to offer to others it is as if their bucket is empty. They don’t feel needed and loved. Parents and family members can do a lot in “filling the buckets” of those in their family. Notice the good your family members do and then acknowledge it! Don’t miss an opportunity to give a compliment, praise a good deed or point out moments that make you feel proud of them. Go the extra mile and only focus on the positive. In other words, try not to “empty their bucket” with negativity. Leaving kind notes, text messages or just bite your tongue when you feel like placing blame or pointing out a flaw.
- Family Time is Worth It – Schedule a day and time each week that is sacred family time. Treat this like an important appointment that cannot be missed or rescheduled. With this time create a pattern to go over weekly schedules, play games, watch family movies, address important topics and create fun, happy memories as a family.
- Nix Screen Time at Meals – When it comes time for family dinner, unplug your devices and focus on what really matters. Talk to each other about the day. Listen to the highs and lows everyone experienced. Mealtime is a great time to interact as a family and be involved in each other’s lives.
Preventing Head Lice on Your Loved Ones
- Spread Awareness – Make sure your children understand that head lice is a common problem in public schools, daycares, or any type of facilities and activities where children are together in a group. Talk to them about making sure to avoid head to head contact or sharing headwear and clothing as much as possible. If they are going somewhere overnight provide them with their own clean pillow, blankets, and towels. Throw their winter gear and backpacks into the dryer once a week for 20 minutes to kill any possible nits or lurking lice.
- Take Time to Check for Lice – Routine head checks on your children are an important step in catching head lice at the early stages. Take a small comb and sift through their hair for traces of bites, rashes, irritations or nits at the base of the scalp. As you do this regularly you will begin to notice what is normal and become aware of any warning signs as they may arise. This is a great way to catch the problem early and eliminate it quickly before spreading to your whole household.