Members are discussing strategies for addressing hygiene issues with high school students, particularly how to approach parents about the problem. Suggestions include asking about potential medical conditions, the age of shoes, and access to laundry facilities. Some users emphasize the importance of building trust with students before discussing hygiene, while others mention the potential sensitivity of addressing issues related to homelessness or lack of utilities. Overall, the conversation highlights the complexities and challenges school nurses face in handling hygiene concerns among students.
Any good suggestions of how to tell a parent that their High School child has an odor that is bothering students around them in class?
I already had the hygiene discussion with the student last week, (which is not my favorite thing to do) and am still getting complaints since then.
Any good ideas on how to approach this issue with parents?
Also, if anyone has found something that works good for them for the hygiene talk with students too, I'd love suggestions.
It's my 3rd year as a school nurse, in a high school. Things get better every year, but I am still trying to find the best way to handle things, run the office, etc.
on an elementary level, sometimes i can approach they situation by calling the parent and using the "child has favorite clothing / resistant to bathing" angle. Occasionally i'll get more info like the hot water has been turned off or that the landlord hasn't fixed the plumbing in 3 weeks which I can then turn into a dfs issue, but usually I get a flustered, defensive parent.
I had the conversation with the mom today and it went well. I also discussed with her how teenagers wear the same hoodies everyday to school, and she did say that her daughter does that and it may be part of the problem. Plus I asked about animals in the house, and if they lay on hoodies, etc, which mom said happens as well. Hopefully things get better now. Otherwise, not much more we can do.
2) How old are their shoes/sneakers (especially boys!!)
3) Do you have a working washer and dryer?
4) Do you have hot water?
5) Do you have running water?
The answers may be interesting...
I'm on a school nurse group on FB (called School Nursing) and this is pretty much what they say with the added question of "is the student and their family homeless"? So sad...
We have a washer/dryer and a shower plus many stinky/dirty kids with families that do not have running water. Plus most of those kids have pets in the home that pee and poop all over stuff because they aren’t house trained properly and I hear (and smell) from the kids how no one cleans up after the animals. CPS gets so many calls due to the drug epidemic around here that unless a child’s life is being threatened they do not even concern themselves with this type of neglect. We have a home resource officer that will try and help the severe families get help for utilities but more often than not these parents hide from her and refuse to answer the door or return calls. When I talk to the parents about the hygiene issue I’m almost always told they just had a bath and they do wear clean clothes. So the younger kids we have change into clean clothes at our school and I then wash their clothes. I have yet to get one kid to agree to get a shower so I try to get them to use wipes and get the dirtiest areas. The older elementary kids, we will talk to them (usually the teacher first) and I’ll offer them soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc to take home plus offer to let them use my shower and I offer to wash their clothes but they always say no except for one. They are embarrassed and quite frankly I’ve found the parents stink just as much and many have this attitude of you can’t tell me what to do when we explain the importance of hygiene. Several of our parents are a little slow themselves and/or depressed feeling so stuck in their situations. It’s a bad mindset because we do direct them to resources and tell them steps to take to get out of their situations but they feel hopeless and too proud to ask for help. I do know that once they get to middle school they do partake in the showers more. I get so mad at a couple of our teachers who borderline bully the kids into getting cleaner so it won’t bother THEM so much. It makes me furious. We do offer free coats, shoes, toothbrushes, things like that throughout the year and because more kids need them than not, no one has any problem taking them. The problem we have with that is even after taking all tags off and giving a kid who was wearing a filthy torn coat 2 sizes too small, they come back to school without their new coat because according to the young child, mommy took it back to Walmart and returned it for cash and kept the money. It’s hard.
Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
On 3/30/2019 at 8:27 AM, Blue_Moon said:
We have a washer/dryer and a shower plus many stinky/dirty kids with families that do not have running water. Plus most of those kids have pets in the home that pee and poop all over stuff because they aren’t house trained properly and I hear (and smell) from the kids how no one cleans up after the animals. CPS gets so many calls due to the drug epidemic around here that unless a child’s life is being threatened they do not even concern themselves with this type of neglect. We have a home resource officer that will try and help the severe families get help for utilities but more often than not these parents hide from her and refuse to answer the door or return calls. When I talk to the parents about the hygiene issue I’m almost always told they just had a bath and they do wear clean clothes. So the younger kids we have change into clean clothes at our school and I then wash their clothes. I have yet to get one kid to agree to get a shower so I try to get them to use wipes and get the dirtiest areas. The older elementary kids, we will talk to them (usually the teacher first) and I’ll offer them soap, shampoo, deodorant, etc to take home plus offer to let them use my shower and I offer to wash their clothes but they always say no except for one. They are embarrassed and quite frankly I’ve found the parents stink just as much and many have this attitude of you can’t tell me what to do when we explain the importance of hygiene. Several of our parents are a little slow themselves and/or depressed feeling so stuck in their situations. It’s a bad mindset because we do direct them to resources and tell them steps to take to get out of their situations but they feel hopeless and too proud to ask for help. I do know that once they get to middle school they do partake in the showers more. I get so mad at a couple of our teachers who borderline bully the kids into getting cleaner so it won’t bother THEM so much. It makes me furious. We do offer free coats, shoes, toothbrushes, things like that throughout the year and because more kids need them than not, no one has any problem taking them. The problem we have with that is even after taking all tags off and giving a kid who was wearing a filthy torn coat 2 sizes too small, they come back to school without their new coat because according to the young child, mommy took it back to Walmart and returned it for cash and kept the money. It’s hard.
Oh, so much truth. Many of my parents are lower on Maslow's Triangle than I am. It's frustrating but so much good can come when we have resources, like washers and dryers and a big pile of free stuff!!
OldDude
1 Article; 4,787 Posts
On the elementary level the teachers are more worried about smelly kids than the other students are..."Oh, it's just grossing me out!"