I write more on this since I love the breed so much.
Labs can be playful, and I'd suspect that there's a chance you'll have to work through some behavioral issues from adopting a dog, but that'd be no different with any breed. I'd give German Shepard a close second, but I think labs are the smartest and most people-sensitive dog in the world - there's a reason they are used more than other breed as guide dogs for the handicapped (also bomb sniffers). As far as children goes, I remember clearly my baby cousin laying on her back, pulling her ears and poking at her eyes, nose, and snout. I'm not sure she even licked him. They are very friendly dogs.
As far as sheds, I think the goal would be to take advantage of their natural desire to retrieve, after all that is part of their name. A young lab that has an antler as a toy and that takes walks catching a retrieving an antler with verbal commands would turn out to be a good shed dog (if there's really such a way to train a dog to bring back sheds instead of sticks). Obviously they are duck dogs foremost, but also are used by some to hunt pheasants. I've rabbit hunted with a lab that went along and he was a bit of a pain in the ass though...
Can't think of a better dog as a companion and friend. It's been 4 years since we put our lab of 11 years down, and I still miss her everytime I go to mom and dad's, expecting that she'd be on the porch or within the front door greeting me. I only have 1 picture on my desk and it's not of a girl or my family, it's a lab.
