def labels(self, *labelvalues, **labelkwargs):
        """Return the child for the given labelset.

        All metrics can have labels, allowing grouping of related time series.
        Taking a counter as an example:

            from prometheus_client import Counter

            c = Counter('my_requests_total', 'HTTP Failures', ['method', 'endpoint'])
            c.labels('get', '/').inc()
            c.labels('post', '/submit').inc()

        Labels can also be provided as keyword arguments:

            from prometheus_client import Counter

            c = Counter('my_requests_total', 'HTTP Failures', ['method', 'endpoint'])
            c.labels(method='get', endpoint='/').inc()
            c.labels(method='post', endpoint='/submit').inc()

        See the best practices on [naming](http://prometheus.io/docs/practices/naming/)
        and [labels](http://prometheus.io/docs/practices/instrumentation/#use-labels).
        """
        if not self._labelnames:
            raise ValueError('No label names were set when constructing %s' % self)

        if self._labelvalues:
            raise ValueError('%s already has labels set (%s); can not chain calls to .labels()' % (
                self,
                dict(zip(self._labelnames, self._labelvalues))
            ))

        if labelvalues and labelkwargs:
            raise ValueError("Can't pass both *args and **kwargs")

        if labelkwargs:
            if sorted(labelkwargs) != sorted(self._labelnames):
                raise ValueError('Incorrect label names')
            labelvalues = tuple(unicode(labelkwargs[l]) for l in self._labelnames)
        else:
            if len(labelvalues) != len(self._labelnames):
                raise ValueError('Incorrect label count')
            labelvalues = tuple(unicode(l) for l in labelvalues)
        with self._lock:
            if labelvalues not in self._metrics:
                self._metrics[labelvalues] = self.__class__(
                    self._name,
                    documentation=self._documentation,
                    labelnames=self._labelnames,
                    unit=self._unit,
                    labelvalues=labelvalues,
                    **self._kwargs
                )
            return self._metrics[labelvalues]