Old bathtubs contain lead and with age as protective coating like porcelain starts to wear off the lead starts sipping into the water.

Most studies show that kids are at a much higher risk than adults when it comes to lead exposure and poisoning.

Ditto.

Although some (but not all) old tubs contained a small amount of lead in the porcelain coating, the amount was pretty small and it is unlikely that it will be absorbed through contact with your posterior.

And, unlike lead paint which tastes sweet and which some children find to be a lovely snack, children cannot eat porcelain. It's harder than tooth enamel.

So, really, there should be no health worries.

For aesthetics, I would probably have it refinished. I think the new stuff is less porcelain, more epoxy.

When we had our whole house redone, we had our old clawfoot tub refinished. They blasted all the old finish off and refinished it. It looked great for about 3 years, but just recently, the finish is starting to lift around the drain. This is my teenager's bathroom, so it is quite possible she isn't getting the drain area dry after use.

I think b/c that is where water sits, it's why it is starting to lift there. In hindsight, I think if we had been drying it, it wouldn't be lifting. They did it right in our house. I think they did it that way b/c our tub was on the 3rd floor of our turn of the century home and the thought of getting it down was ridiculous. Also, we'd had a house fire and everything was ripped out down to the studs, so it wasn't like spraying it inside would have damaged anything. I'm not sure if it is usually how they do it.

No, daisychain, what you are experiencing is what happens to most refinished tubs. It's only a temporary solution, unfortunately. For all that this forum abounds with folks who swear theirs are perfect--PERFECT--what you are describing is the universal experience of everyone I personally know who ever had a tub refinished, sometimes sooner, sometimes later.