Back to School 2020 seems like a million years ago, doesn’t it? To say that this has been a crazy year is the ultimate understatement. I don’t know about you, but my nerves are pretty much shot at this point!

I can’t imagine what it's like to have children unable to be vaccinated and sending them back to school. I believe in my heart that the science and data are correct and our little ones will be safe in a mask in school. I also believe that children need in-person learning. As I have gotten older and watched my own kids grow up, I see just how important social skills are. Being a parent of teens during a pandemic had its own set of issues. Outside of the academic challenges, not being around friends and communicating in person was incredibly hard for me to watch. Jack missed prom and graduation; Ava started a new school on Zoom and made no new friends for nearly a year!

Here we are, faced with yet more challenges at back to school time for parents. As a type A, I try to control things – that’s why we created Rosemary Repel!! I can at least help control head lice 😊. One of the biggest lessons I learned during COVID was that I can’t control everything. For 20 years, our business during Aug and September is like Christmas time at Macys! We go at 100 mph every day, knee deep in all things head lice prevention and head lice removal! We were stopped cold in our tracks last year and to say I panicked is an understatement. But here is what I learned: I am stronger than I knew, I’m smarter than I thought and I am surrounded by a wonderful support system to lean on. My office is staffed with smart, kind and dedicated people who all worked together to keep the business going, support each other and sometimes just have a good laugh at the ‘WTF just happened moments’ and trust me, there have been a lot of them!

So as the school doors open, I hope everyone can take a big, deep breath and move forward. As parents, we must make the hard decisions for our kids. So, trust your instincts, trust the science and keep smiling! And of course, know that we at Fairy Tales are here for you as well, we can’t make your kids lunch, but we can make sure they don’t get head lice. Rosemary Repel is just a little peace of mind every day to help keep the bugs away – after all, we have enough to worry about, let's at least cross off the list head lice!

A spray a day keeps the lice away! Happy Back to School!