If your child has head lice, it may be difficult to be consistent in treatment if your Ex isn’t on the same page. When kids share a home with both parents, or stay with other parent on weekends, lice treatment needs to be continued. Otherwise, it’s like starting all over again once they get back. Here are some tips to help you get your ex to cooperate with you in treating lice.
Educate
In most cases, if a parent is unwilling to participate in head lice treatment for your child, they probably don’t understand what head lice are and how to help. If you give the other parent useful information they can read and understand in a short period of time, they are more likely to cooperate in the fight against lice with you.
Do they understand that treatment is necessary to help the child get rid of lice once and for all? These discussions should take place when the child is not around. You do not want your child to know there is conflict about how to best handle the situation.
Advise of No Nit Policy
Does your child’s school have a No Nit Policy? If so, you can print off a copy or get one from the school so you can pass it on to your ex. Your ex may be resistant to do something simply because you asked them to, but if it comes from the school, they may be more cooperative.
Appealing to a third party often works on the same premise. The other parent won’t listen to you but if they were to get instructions from your child’s pediatrician, most will comply.
Take Control
If you are still unsuccessful in getting your ex to work with you to get rid of the lice, you’ll need to take control. If the other parent is unwilling to participate in the health care of your child, then maybe there can be no visitation that weekend so you can treat the problem on your own without interruption.
If you’re the non-custodial parent, you can always appeal to a higher authority by getting a judge to order the care. This is a bit too drastic for a one time appearance of lice, but if your child is infested with head lice week after week, you may need to take control.