Life is busy. There are jobs, after school activities, homework, chores and suddenly you get the dreaded call: “Can you come to school right away? Your child has lice.”

Aagh! How why? When? Oh really? Big! Few things are as repulsive as the thought of parasites crawling across your child’s scalp until he contemplates the possibility that they could soon eat up his entire family. So what do I do now? In addition to making sure your child doesn’t touch anything, it’s time to face this nemesis head-on, no pun intended.

Usually the solution has been to run to the drugstore to buy the smelly bottle on the bottom shelf, often opting for the one with the ‘Free Nit Comb’ rather than having to buy it separately. And what the heck is a ‘nit’ anyway? For the uninitiated, a nit is a louse egg.

You’ve spent about $50, sit down to read the instructions and you’ll quickly be overwhelmed because in your busy life as a parent, you’ll have to deal with these chumps for at least the next 4 hours. But after reading the ‘cautions’ and ‘warnings’ in the lengthy instructions, you’ve just realized that you may be dealing with this nightmare for weeks to come, as it all depends on getting rid of those damn ‘nits’.

The ‘treatment’ involves rubbing a pesticide solution on your child’s scalp. It doesn’t matter if they cry due to burning and itching, that means it’s working right? After shampooing your hair, now the real work begins. You, as the parent, are now solely responsible for inspecting and combing every strand of hair on your kid’s head to make sure all those nits are combed out so they don’t hatch and replay this whole horror movie over and over again. Any remaining nits will soon burst to multiply and infect even more chapters of his life.

How secure is this? Well, putting synthetic pesticides on the absorbent, porous scalp of a growing child is possibly crazy, except for the fact that killing the pest is a hassle of epic proportions. So what does a father do?!

Well, there are a few solutions outside of chemicals – you couldn’t really do anything but get rid of the nits and finally be in full control. But that excludes the busy life mentioned above. There are some natural products that work and some interesting old wives tales, some of which have scientific merit. For example, many swear that a thick layer of mayonnaise under a shower cap at night will do the job, and possibly have a big effect as lice suffocate in these conditions. But mayonnaise takes forever to get out of hair, doesn’t affect nits, and often requires multiple applications, but at least it’s not poison!

The best bet is to avoid them in the first place. They are usually spread by the constant jamming of school-age children’s jackets, backpacks, scarves, and hats, since everything they own is stuck on pegs about four inches apart. Plus, kids love to roll around on the rug and beanbags during story time and there’s no better hiding place for a parasite to sit and wait. So if you suspect lice in the classroom, insist that your child keep belongings separate and inspect each item (including her child’s) thoroughly before entering the house.

After going through an episode of head lice, rest assured, it’s something you won’t soon forget, and it’s certainly something you’ll want to avoid at all costs. Remember: your life is already busy and packed with activities. Combing out nits shouldn’t be one of them.