So what should parents be doing to protect their homes and families against bed bugs when their children are attending New York or New Jersey public or private schools?  How do you avoid becoming the next victim of bed bugs?  Parents need to take the same proactive approach to bed bug encounters at school as they would to bed bugs being encountered at work, the gym, movie theaters, retail stores, hotels, motels, taxis, buses, airplanes, and even friends or family members homes.  In this time of bed bug resurgence, bed bugs can and will appear anywhere.

Although it is time consuming, parents should make concerted efforts to check their children’s belongings when they arrive back home from school.   Although bed bugs are small, they can be seen with careful examination.  Be sure to check along the insides of backpacks at the area of the seams as this is a fantastic place for bed bugs to hitch a ride home with your child.  Even a child with a tightly closed backpack can still transport bed bugs back home from school.  Brushing your child’s backpack off with a strongly bristled brush outdoors is a good way to keep any would-be hitchhikers out of your home too.

Parents should not be alone in the fight to protect their children against bed bugs.  When a teacher finds a bed bug on a student, the school in question should not assume that a student was the source of transfer of the bed bug.  Children move from class to class and travel up and down hallways and stairs…and so do bed bugs, often with greater ease.  Once a school has found bed bugs, parents must insist that the school receive treatment for the infestation.  It is irresponsible for a school to assume that one, or a few bed bugs found, are the result of a student instead of an infestation in the building.  Schools need to also understand that repeated treatments from a pest control specialist are the norm when these blood suckers are involved.

Bed bugs might have been a thing of the past, but for now, they are unfortunately the wave of the future.  Protect yourself with knowledge and always have a good pest control company at the ready in case you become infested yourself!