The playground is perhaps the trickiest locale for dealing with other people's children, whom you are unlikely to know and yet have to talk to and may even have to look after. When, suddenly, the little boy who has been happily playing with your son for 20 minutes falls flat on his face and gets up with a cut on his lip and no grown-ups he knows on hand, what do you do? Well, a mother will rush in with soothing words, pick him up, rub his head gently, maybe even wipe his eyes with a tissue.