^{Originally published on BabyCenter.com March 22, 2013}

The worst day of my parenting life came about a year ago when my wife and I found out that our son had lead poisoning. All I could think of at the time was, “We just screwed up our son’s life.” Fortunately, that wasn’t true.

We live in an old house, which means that we have lead paint in the walls. That paint has been covered up by multiple renovations and repaintings, but it’s still there. We were aware of that the moment we bought the house, but the thinking was that as long as we didn’t have any paint chips coming off the wall we’d be fine. Technically, that’s true, but we made the mistake of not expecting the unexpected.

We had a small kitchen fire in which I did just about everything you’re not supposed to do in a fire (to learn more about that harrowing story, you can go here and see my thoughts the day after it happened). Because we were so focused on fixing things up after the fire, we didn’t think about the fact that the flames had peeled away old paint on the walls. We kept our son out of the room while we repainted the kitchen, but the old lead was already in the air, which meant it was getting into all of our lungs.

Luckily, because we live in an old house, it’s standard procedure to do a lead test at one of the milestone checkups. The target number for the test is 5 or lower. Quentin’s test was higher than 10. Cue the panic, cue the self-loathing, but most importantly, cue the learning.

In the weeks to come, we had somebody from the state check our house out and give us some important lessons about lead poisoning. And this is what we learned:

1)      Thumb-suckers are more at risk. Sarah babysits our nephew, but his lead count turned out to be normal. The difference between him and Quentin? Quentin sucks his thumb. That means that while his hands, which were touching lead-filled dust while he learned to crawl, were then going right into his mouth, giving him more lead exposure.

The solution? If you have a thumb-sucker, you can protect against lead exposure by practicing good handwashing techniques. It doesn’t have to be anything extreme – just a good wash with soap and water before meals will do the trick.

2)      If you have lead inside your house, you probably have lead outside your house. If your home was built before 1978, lead paint was probably used on both the interior and exterior. In the case of exterior paint, rainwater and inclement weather probably left some of that lead running off into the yard, leaving traces of lead in the ground closest to your home.

The solution? Implement a firm “no shoes in the house” policy. This will help reduce the chance of lead-contaminated soil getting tracked into your living room. If you have a garden outside, make sure you plant away from your house so the vegetables won’t soak up much lead.

But most importantly? Plant sunflowers. (See, there was a reason I used a sunflower as my featured image.) Sunflowers soak up lead, reducing the levels in the soil. By planting sunflowers around your house, you are making the yard safer for your kids. Just don’t eat the seeds, as tempting as that may be.

3)      Barring some very expensive removal methods, lead doesn’t go away. You can cover it up with other paint, but it’s probably always going to be there. You need to be extra vigilant about peeling paint, cracks, burns (ahem), or anything else that might expose the lead underneath.

The solution? Be vigilant and stabilize any peeling paint. Just get some vinyl paint in the color of your walls and go over the area if you notice the paint starting to give. You might end up with a few splotches where the colors don’t quite match up, but it’s better than a lead hazard.

Now the really bad news? By the time a high lead level is detected, the damage has probably already been done. (This news brought both Sarah and I to tears when we first heard it.) In small children, lead can impair brain development and lead to an increased incidence of impaired learning and behavioral problems.

But the really good news? Hands-on parenting will usually win out. Even though the damage has already been done, the brain is a marvelous thing. Especially in children, it is constantly changing and building new pathways. If you spend time with your kids, talk to them, read to them, and keep their minds engaged, then you are building new pathways in their brain and overcoming the damage that has been done. In essence, if the lead wiped out one synaptic road, you are building a sturdy bridge over it when you read to your child.

After we started putting the solutions above into practice, the lead level in Quentin’s blood dropped to 9. This week, he was tested again and came back with a result of 4 – well within the safe range. In the meantime, he is physically healthy and active. He’s got a sharp mind, too. He’s using words very well and constantly surprising us with his development.

The best way to avoid problems with lead is to prevent them from happening. Be aware of the dangers around your house and take the proper precautions. But if mistakes do get made and your child does become exposed, don’t panic. This is a problem that the power of love can overcome, or at least mitigate somewhat. By being an attentive parent and helping your child learn, you can keep them on the path to happiness even if the worst does occur.