In parenting circles, the word 'punishment' often brings to mind 'corporeal punishment' - spanking, slapping or other forms of physical action. One can agree that such behaviour is counter-productive in rearing a healthy child, while at the same time avoiding the false alternative of excessive permissiveness.

The world's greatest department store was established on its current site in 1849 by Charles Henry Harrod, a wholesale grocer. Harrod's son Charles Digby rapidly grew the business and by 1880 employed 100 staff.

Never one to be bowed by setbacks, not even a devastating fire in 1883, Harrods went on to make all its Christmas deliveries in that year and many since. Whether flying fresh fish to Alfred Hitchcock or embalming Sigmund Freud's body, the store that promises 'Everything to Everybody Everywhere' never fails to deliver.

Sometimes it's surprising that the divorce rate isn't actually higher than it is. Assuming it isn't just inertia on the part of the 54%, it's a tribute to the willingness of so many couples to work out their differences.

Sometimes a child labelled 'difficult' is just expressing a healthy need for independence. But in other cases, the label is actually too mild. Adults can be violent, irresponsible, indifferent to the harm they do others and typically that behaviour begins in childhood.

Adopting a child may be both a long train of practical and emotional nightmares and the fulfillment of a dream.

In considering homeschooling, a kind of do-it-yourself education, one of the first questions to ask is: Who is the 'you' in 'yourself'? Parents have busy lives, earning a living and pursuing other important values that benefit them and their children. Making time for giving a proper education at home, especially for single parents, can be difficult. What to do?

Taking into account that schools are a realtively modern invention, children have been home-schooled until the late 19th century. From then, laws compelled children to go to public school. However, public schools were not seen as the best option for the early advocates of homeschooling.

There are a dozen popular approaches to how to design a homeschool program for a child. They range from highly structured courses, to no structure at all.

Unschooling is an approach to homeschool education that represents the most unstructured approach to learning. It means, as the name suggests, not designing a curriculum at all. Instead, the child is allowed to explore any and all interests, at any pace and in any order they choose.

One of the best ways to see London is from the air. Unfortunately, that was fairly difficult until recently. Now it's as easy as stepping onto a platform that moves slower than the average escalator into the London Eye pod.