PARENT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Carrie Fox
The ‘Adventures in Kindness’ co-author and
Mission Partners CEO shares her family life
BY LINDSAY C. VANASDALAN
on dinnertime conversations. To think about
our actions more intentionally. In a lot of ways,
it feels like it’s our responsibility as parents
and humans, and as a family, to really be aware
of the world that we’re in and to be taking
meaningful steps every day to contribute to a
more just and connected world.

What is your goal with the
second edition of the book?
Your work with Mission Partners I have in this world, I want to think about
contributing something good.

and Adventures in Kindness is
focused on social impact. Why
is this area important to you?
How has that mindset inspired
We have one planet, and it’s in danger. Every your family?
What is one lesson you hope your
children learn from your career?
There’s a sign that hangs above my daughter’s
bed, and it says, “Be brave,” and I think that’s
a lot of this. If we start where we are and every
day take a step forward toward justice, we will
day, especially as a parent, every minute that I think it’s given us opportunities to go deeper tip the world toward love. n
28 Washington FAMILY JANUARY 2022
PROVIDED PHOTO
M ission Partners Founder and CEO Carrie Fox always had a mind for social impact. After
starting a communications consultancy for nonprofits, C. Fox Communications, at
age 25, she knew she could do more if she focused exclusively on issues of community,
such as social justice, sustainability, children’s health and higher education.

“It was as the 2016 election was unfolding, and we were thinking about the role that we were
playing and could play in disrupting a lot of the toxic and harmful narratives that we had seen
play out in our country,” she says. Mission Partners, a strategic communications firm which
guides nonprofits, foundations and corporations, was born in 2017.

Two years later, Fox got the chance to share her passion with her eldest daughter when her
daughter asked “why people in positions of power can be so mean.”
“That was a really big question for a little kid,” Fox says.

She asked her daughter, Sophia, 11, what would happen if she could put the opposite out into
the world. “Adventures in Kindness” was born. The two co-authored the book’s second edition,
packed with mission-focused apparel and kindness adventure kits for kids 7 to 13. Their project
hit bookshelves last month.

Fox spoke with Washington FAMILY about balancing family life as a mission-focused CEO
and author. She lives in Rockville with her husband, Brian, daughters Sophia and Kate, 8, and
their dog Baxter.

We wrote the second edition reflecting
on the year that was 2020 and everything
that happened in 2020. What we wanted
to do with the second edition is to include
new adventures that are directly informed
from having lived through that experience.

There are new adventures like how to
practice the use of your preferred pronouns
and how to introduce yourself using your
preferred pronouns as a way to advance an
inclusive mindset.

We have new adventures around starting
kindness clubs and new adventures around
supporting the planet more intentionally—
even around signing a no-bullying pledge.

The second edition is designed to build on
the first and to be very in tune and reflective
with where our world is now. Keep in mind,
you know, we wrote that first edition well
before (COVID-19) was even in our minds,
and funny enough, a lot of it was really
relevant. Perhaps the best way to say it is
we’ve gotten more explicit in why kindness
really matters.

Being kind is being deeply compassionate
and empathetic and understanding in a
way that is far greater than saying “please”
and “thank you” or holding a door open for
someone. It’s really thinking about stepping
outside of our own shoes and understanding
the larger context of the world we live in.




HEALTHY FAMILY
How to Handle
Head Lice
KEVINDYER / E+
W “HIRING A PROFESSIONAL
SERVICE AT THE ONSET
VERSUS AS A LAST
RESORT CAN SAVE
PARENTS THE MONEY
SPENT ON MULTIPLE
TREATMENTS AS THEY
RESPOND TO ROUNDS
OF INFESTATION.”
—NANCY PFUND,
LICE HAPPENS
BY ELEANOR LINAFELT
hile head lice can spread at any
time of the year, it’s especially
important to be on the lookout
for signs of lice in the winter, especially when
we are all spending more time gathering
indoors in close quarters.

Lice spread through head-to-head contact.

“Winter holidays often involve multiple
celebrations and sleepovers among extended
family members and friends. These close-knit
gatherings provide close-knit opportunities
for head-to-head contact, which allow head
lice to spread,” says Nancy Pfund of Lice
Happens, which provides lice treatment
services in the Washington, D.C. area.

Your family can take some preventive
measures to avoid the dreaded itchy heads,
but if someone does get lice, you can
eradicate the problem.

Preventing lice
No parent wants to deal with a lice
infestation to begin with. How can moms
and dads prevent it from being a problem in
the first place?
“Don’t allow children to share jackets, hats,
helmets, hairbrushes and hair accessories.

Keep long hair pulled back or pinned up,”
says Charlotte Savarino, a pediatric specialty
coordinator at the Shaw Family Pediatric
Emergency Center at Suburban Hospital in
Washington, D.C.

Parents can also use lice repellant sprays
available to discourage lice from crossing
to one head from another. “Parents can
spray the top and underside of their child’s
hair with a repellent spray,” Pfund says.

“While repellents can play a role in avoiding
the spread of head lice, they are not suits
of armor.”
Staying alert for signs of lice
Treating lice as early as possible is crucial
because lice won’t go away on their own, and
the volume will increase greatly over time.

“Signs of lice are constant, relentless
scratching, a rash on the neck or shoulders
and exposure to known contacts with lice,”
Savarino says.

It’s hard to see the actual lice in hair, but
it’s easier to spot nits, the eggs. “They look
like tiny grains of sand that attach to the hair
shaft,” Savarino says. “Nits are easier to see
in dark hair. Nits are generally found close to
the scalp, at the beginning of the hair shaft
around ears and the back of the neck where
it is warm.”
Treating a lice problem
Parents can seek over-the-counter and
prescription-medicated shampoos and lotions
for killing lice, as well as homeopathic options.

Additionally, lice combs can help with
removing nits from the hair, a crucial step in
the lice treatment process.

“This is the single most important thing
you can do,” Savarino says. “Check and comb
hair nightly to remove all nits so that any left
in the hair don’t hatch in seven to 10 days and
repeat the cycle.”
Knowing when to seek
professional help
If the lice case is too severe or challenging
to get rid of at home, or if you don’t want to
have to handle it on your own, professionals
can help with removing lice.

“Hiring a professional service at the onset
versus as a last resort can save parents the
money spent on multiple treatments as they
respond to rounds of infestation,” Pfund
says. “Treating a family’s head lice infestation
takes a lot of time and effort. A professional
service, especially one that educates and
gives parents hands-on training, can save
parents multiples of both and help parents
prevent future infestations.”
It’s a myth that only people who are
unclean or have bad hygiene get lice.

“Children contract head lice from social
interactions, not because they did anything
wrong or because of poor hygiene or lack of
cleanliness,” Pfund says.

Anyone who has hair on one’s head can
get lice. It’s important that kids and parents
are all aware of the signs and how to treat a
lice problem effectively before worsening an
outbreak at home or school. n
WashingtonFAMILY.com 29