Guest blogger Nancy writes: As a mom, I am a believer in parenting from the gut. I use my instinct as my guide and rarely question my own decisions. But when it comes to dealing with other people's children, I am clueless.

On a recent vacation, my husband and I had an incident where we truly wished that there was a handbook for parents. We were sitting in the kiddie pool with our 13-month-old son Ethan, who was having so much fun splashing and taking it all in. Every so often, an older kid would jump in the pool with us and engage Ethan. They would ask how old he is and then do some sort of "trick" for him. One little boy in particular, named Sam, who must have been about six years old, kept coming over to do "magic." Sam would reach down in to the water and grab a handful of pebbles then pick them up and make them "disappear" (by putting them in Ethan's hands). I had no problem telling the little magician that Ethan loves his "magic trick," but that he's still a baby and he likes to eat the pebbles (which he did).

However, one afternoon, when a little boy who clearly had special needs climbed into the pool, my motherly instincts shut down. Collin must have been about eight years old and like the other children, wanted to play and show off for Ethan. He sat down in the pool in front of Ethan and started to play "Peek-a-boo." At first Ethan thought it was hysterical. But about 500 peek-a-boos later, Ethan started to get a little freaked out (like his parents). Collin literally wouldn't stop, and the chant was getting louder and louder. I looked around the pool to see if someone was watching Collin, but couldn't tell ... What was the right thing to do?

My husband and I literally sat there not knowing what to do. On one hand, if my child had special needs, I would hope that some other family would engage him and welcome him to play with their child. On the other hand, Collin's actions were not only scary, but they were downright annoying and if it were any other child, like Sam the Magician, I would ask him to stop or just remove Ethan from the situation. Eventually, we told Collin that it was time for us to go dry off, and got out of the pool. I still feel guilty about it, but wonder if asking him to leave Ethan alone would have made me feel worse.

When it comes to our children, do "playground rules" and etiquette apply towards children with special needs? Or do we need to be more tolerant of certain behavior just because they're different?

Tell us your thoughts!