Lorna at Vicenza

I know the neck and behind the ears are favourite nit hideouts - warmest parts of the head - but believe me - I'm spraying everywhere.
I mixed up all the herbs into a bottle of leave in conditioner. Somebody else told me that if the hair shaft is quite slick or slippery it makes it hard for the nit to grab on.
Not sure if that's entirely true but I'm willing to try anything.

LivingHere

We have also been warned about pinworms at out school. Easier to get rid of but but more icky

Lorna at Vicenza

Quite contagious too aren't they?

indiebird

What are pinworms?? Don't like the sound of those!!

I have to say re the nits that they seem to leave ds alone and dd had them really bad once and it took us months to clear her but she hasn't had them for ages (touch wood!!) I tried all sorts including coating her hair in neem oil overnight (stinks and ruins your pillowcases!! ) and stuff that I brought at the Famacia. In the end it was putting her in a bath every night, covering her hair in conditioner, and using a nit comb to comb them all out and kill them. She hated it but once she was clear she was clear. Best to do this every week or so just to check that you don't have any and make sure that the girls wear their hair up for school. I do mix a bit of tea tree and lavender eo and just dab on the back of her head and behind her ears if i hear of a breakout now just to try and guard against them...

Lorna at Vicenza

Pinworms are just what we think of as 'worms' - the tiny little white ones that live in your lower intestines and come 'out' at night to lay eggs and give you an itchy bottom.

Kids are more prone to them than adults from scrabbling in dirt, not washing their hands all the time, sharing toys, towels etc. scratching and biting their nails. Medicine kills them off quickly.

indiebird

Ewwwww!! We've not had those (yet!!!!!) thankfully!! I must admit that I do make my kids wash their hands a lot but they do all the otherstuff a lot too!

indiebird

We got the polite, discreet pidocchi letter in dd's diary yesterday which means there is an outbreak at the school.... guess what I'll be doing tonight? Having fun with a sixyear old, a bottle of conditioner, and a nit comb....

It is scioppero here at the school today. Poor Julia is most annoyed as we had to go to the school to see if the teacher was there this morning along with masses of other parents and kids. I did write a note to her teachers yesterday politely asking whether there was school back and got rather a curt note back saying 'as they had already explained to the children, they couldn't guarantee that they would be there. It would just have to be a case of arriving and seeing' but this seems wrong to me. Especially when after lots of the same fiascos last year Harrison's teachers tell us now, with a weeks notice whether they will be there or not. Can someone explain how it all works to me cos i still don't understand. Do they do this deciding at the last minute individually to cause the most confusion and impact? It doesn't make me very sypathetic to their cause and I don't think I'm the only one. I'm usually more socialist in my opinions but having a six year old in tears cos she has to get up and leave the house in freezing rain while her brother stays in bed has made me a bit unsympathetic.

Lorna at Vicenza

I don't know how it works Indie. I have always been told in advance when there is a strike, or union meeting or if school will be starting at 10am instead of 8am. Not always with a lot of advance, sometimes a note on Tuesday saying that classes such and such will begin school at 10am on Thursday and classes such and such will have no school on Thursday.
We have never been expected to turn up at school and see who, if anybody is there.

I think teachers belong to Unions which are the different "sindacati" and they do know when they are having strikes or meetings.

When Alex was still at Materna they always let us know too. We have never been expected to tramp to school for 8am only to discover that we could have stayed in bed. I think that would cause a serious stink with all the village mums here .... how can they organise a babysitter at 8am ?

There are no kids off school here today so don't know what your teachers are doing.

indiebird

Thanks Lorna, It is a scioppero generale apparently but not sure what they means exactly. This is the second one this year so far! The meeting was on monday and I have been told before that the teachers get to chose individually whether they want to strike or not. In the Uk, these types of strikes are union led and voted and if the majority agree then there is a strike, but it is always seen that the head teacher has to then make the decision as to whether they can accomodate all the children or not and if not then the school is closed. I don't personally mind either way as I don't work, but for parents who work here it must be a flipping nightmare. This is what I never understand here, noone seems to make a fuss about these things. They are all 'cosi' with a shrug of the shoulders and I feel rude for asking the questions or saying when I think something is wrong. We were told in a note in the diary that they couldn't guarantee lessons but that was it and that was on monday after the meeting. I don't really see that it's much to ask that they decide even the day before whether they are going to be there or not. They don't want change here I don't think...

Lorna at Vicenza

I've had a quick read of some newspapers and yeah, it's supposed to be a national strike for workers in one of these groups ... not just school teachers. It's protesting about job contracts and stuff. Marches today in Rome and Milan.

Astensione dal lavoro di tutte le categorie del lavoro dipendente indetto da Cobas, Cub e Sdl

Nobody is talking about any strikes where I live and all the kids are at school. Maybe our teachers decided not to bother or maybe there are enough teachers present for the kids. I'll ask Chloe if anything seemed different at school today like if some of the classes were put together.

Like I said, we have always had proper written warning from the school about stikes and stuff so I presume your school could get more organised and let the parents have some warning in advance.

indiebird

Ahhh thanks Lorna. Must be more militant here or something! It seems to depend on the individual teachers and how they choose to tell you.... not sure what La Presida does here tbh, washes her hands of the lot of them by the sounds of it....

Lorna at Vicenza

Our new preside seems to be doing a bit of good so far. No idea what the teachers think of him.

I met one of Alex's teachers for the first time the other day ... not the one that made him miss PE. She was waiting with Alex at the school gate just so that she could tell me that he had had a very bad nose bleed at school and it took ages for it to stop. Thought that was quite nice of her.

After growing up in England and nearly always knowing year after year what teacher you were going to get in the next class or which teacher for which subject, it seems weird here sometimes that unless a teacher has a fixed position in the school, you never know who your kids are going to end up with.

I remember telling my younger sister all about the teachers that I'd already had and what to do or NOT to do in their classes. Miss Holmes was always sweet and nice and Mrs Firth was a fire breathing dragon.

indiebird

Yeah, I do miss that relationship with teachers. Was that just me in the UK or is it normal. I think it's quite normal. You know, just nice supportive people really. Here it seems you are not allowed to speak until spoken to. Ds got a bollocking just for us not going to the 2hour meeting on wednesday night to decide on the class representative. He tried to explain that we went to our italian lesson and was told that we should have missed it.... as dh says, we'll remember that you can just miss lessons etc. when we want to send the kids back two extra days after the xmas hols due to us going skiing!! Also, still never got to the bottom of which one we were supposed to go to, ds's or dd's and how we were supposed to keep the kids amused for 2hours as we don't have nonni etc. to look after our kids for these meetings. Apparently the prima class got a b***cking over the behaviour of the kids for an hour and a half... they are six for goodness sake, how hard can it be when you are professional's?? No hope when they get older is there.....

Lorna at Vicenza

They are not really supposed to get involved in your personal life outside school Indie and they aren't supposed to use the classroom to bollock your kids over a decision that the parents make.

I haven't been to the meeting to choose and vote for class reps for the last 3 years and nobody has said anything to me or to Chloe. I went to the first one and realised I didn't even know the bloody parents that had put their names foreward so voting for one was the same as voting for another - pretty pointless. In fact I miss most of the meetings - both those held in the school and those held in the library conference room. Chloe's teachers know her dad is often away for work and they know that I am not going to meeetings at 6 or 7pm at night if their dad is not here to look after them unless it is really really important. I didn't even go and pick up Chloe's school report at the end of term. I forgot ! I picked it up a few days later from the secretary's office. The last time I went into school was for parent teacher night. The note did say to not bring the kids if possible. I took mine with their Nintendo and told them to sit quietly in the corridor whilst I was inside for 5 minutes with the teacher. I knew I could trust mine to not run or slide up and down the hallways.

I went to a meeting in the library last year when the school and Comune introduced the new digital key for school dinners. I listend to the Sindaco rabbit on for 20 minutes and then I listened to him explain how the key worked. I put up my hand then and asked him when the key would be available to pick up in the Comune ... got my answer and then said "thank you - I believe I've got all the info I need now so goodnight. I have to get home to my kids." I stood up and walked out. I wasn't going to sit there and listen to another 30 minutes of parents rabbitting on about pros and cons of keys and could they trust their kids with a 5 euro note to recharge the key with cash. They don't half go on sometimes ..................

Forgot to say I booked our UK flights the other day. We're leaving on the 22nd so both kids will miss the last 3 days of school. They always have done. The schools don't break up until the 24th and that's too late for us. Of course materna was never a problem but Chloe has missed the last few days of primary school for the last 3 years. I have let her main teacher know personally every year and then when we return I fill out the absence sheet in the little blue book and just write "Christmas with family in England"
I have never been told off for this. The kids don't do much work those days anyway and the teachers know that I don't abuse the absence book and let the kids have a saturday off once a month or a week's holiday here and there.

indiebird

I thought as much but é cosi!! there were only 4parents who turned up apparently cos they do go on a bit. I remember going to a meeting at the dance school last year and, no word of a lie an hour and a half to give out info that could have taken 3minutes plus there are always people here who continue to speak over the person who is supposed to be speaking. why go to a meeting if all you're going to do is gossip? There will be trouble too in my son's class as the teachers told the kids that most parents have not paid the €55 they should have at the beginning of the year to cover all activities and school trip for the year. They are naming names in the class on monday if parents have not paid!! How bad is that. We paid and I do feel a bit indignant that we have but most havent..... but on the other hand, if there is a prob between school authorites and parents then it should be dealt with between Presida and parents not class teachers and kids.