Take care of lads from Midlands (4)
I believe the answer is:
mind
'take care' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'lads from midlands' is the wordplay.
'from' is a deletion indicator.
'midlands' with 'lads' taken out is 'MIND'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for mind that I've seen before include "Intelligence" , "Watch - intellect" , "Seat of the faculty of reason" , "Intellect; object to" , "Brain" .)