I'm in my den, as if at my workspace, when one of my nephews enters the room with a toddler in his arms. "Oh, it's Briggs", I exclaim, referring to my in-real-life son of my niece. "No, it isn't," says the nephew, one of my brother Dave's boys.

Now that I look at him, it clearly isn't Briggs; the child is unfamiliar. I explain that I knew it wasn't my daughter Amber, therefore I thought it must be Briggs who is the same age, but now that I look it obviously isn't him. My nephew explains that the child is the son of his dad's boss, and asks me to take care of him.

I feel rather awkward about this. I have my own child to care for, and I'm happy to take care of my relatives, but this is a child of a person I don't even know.