#this is a dangerous household please help me keep putting money in the house fund until i can find a job

[maggyoutthere]

Heyy commissions have been updated! Same prices, new look!

[fandom-puff]

Can you do me a headcanon of being the a Shelby sis and coming home with a POC girl for Sunday lunch? 😇😇

Thank you for requesting this!

I ended up turning it into a little oneshot. The reader is about 11 in this, and is younger than Finn.

Warnings: period typical predjudice

Welcome

Sunday lunches on watery lane were eventful to say the least. Polly (and Tommy too) insisted on the whole family having dinner together around the table, a whole roast chicken fresh from the butchers and Polly’s best creamy mashed potatoes. There was to be no talk of violence or business or anything like that at the dinner table, and thanks to you and Finn, the youngest of the family, being allowed to sit there, the small room was oddly... lighthearted.

“John, where’s Esme? I’m about to put the gravy on,” polly said.

“She’s staying home today, Pol, morning sickness,”

“And why aren’t you seeing to her, eh, brother,” Arthur teased, slapping his back.

“Kicked me out the house, said she can’t be doing with my hovering,” he grinned. “She left the kids with Mrs Wallace down the street to play with her lot, you know, Paul and Lucy and the little one,”

“Yeah, them lot. YN like playing with them,” she nodded

“Yeah, when we kick her out the betting shop,” Arthur grinned. “Speaking of which, where is our sweet sister,”

There was a brief moment of silence before you tumbled through the door, panting. “Pol- Tommy- I need- quick!” You said, bending over and panting. Polly frowned as Tommy tipped your chin up to face him.

“What’s wrong, YN, love? How’ve you cut your head like that?” Polly asked, already getting ready to wipe the gravel out of your forehead. Your brothers were all standing up looking thunderous, even Finn, who was mostly skin and bones and very short compared to the others.

“No- no time,” you insisted, trying to catch your breath. “Please, Tom! Some kids from school, some bigger kids, they started shouting at us- at me and my friend,”

“I’ll bloody kill ‘em” Arthur growled, rolling his sleeves up.

“Please, Tommy! I need you to help my friend! They’re calling her names like they call Jeremiah! I told them to fuck off like John said when people say stuff, but they pushed me down and carried on! I think they’re hurting her, Tom!” You cried, near tears as you pulled your second eldest brother to the door.

“Right,” Tommy said. He normally get involved with children’s tiffs, often letting Polly sort out yours and finn’s squabbles, but the panic in your eyes told him all he needed to know. There was a little girl in danger. “Arthur, John, you come with me. Finn, you run to Jeremiah’s house and tell him to meet us here,”

“What’s your friend’s name, YN?” Polly asked gently, steering you away from the boys. The shelby’s were always keen to keep you away from the violent side of life.

“Maria, Pol, but her last name isn’t Jesus,” you said, letting your aunt sit you down as your brothers left.

“I know, love, but her parents might see Jeremiah to hear him preaching,” she said softly.

“Will my friend be okay, aunt Pol?” You whispered in a small voice. Polly took a breath and considered her answer for a moment. The streets of Small Heath were dangerous at the best of times, even more so for the black people. Jeremiah Jesus faced abuse daily for preaching the word of the lord, and unless his little boy was with Finn, he wasn’t included in the games that the children played.

“I hope so,” was all she could say, pulling you in for a hug. Soon Finn came back with Jeremiah. You clung to your aunt as they asked you questions. About the little girl.

“Maria... yes. Her mother comes to my sermons. Father killed in Verdun. Finn, I need you to run down to the little church, you know the one, and ask for Mrs Oliver, tell her I sent you. Go, run! I’ll give you tuppemce if you’re back in ten minutes, eh?” Finn nodded and led straight away. You gripped Polly’s hand as she spoke about God and Jesus with Jeremiah. You didn’t really understand it. If god was meant to be so kind, why did he make people so horrible? Why did he make good people suffer just because of their skin colour. You were about to ask this when John came through the door, guiding your friend inside.

Maria looked terrified. Her dark eyes were wide with worry, but she seemed to relax slightly when she saw her friend, as well as her priest. You ran to her, wrapping your arms around her as John said his older brothers would be home in a bit- they were sorting some things out...

Polly soon managed to pull you off Maria. “Come on, love, let me have a look at them poor hands,”she said gently, her voice soft as she patched her up. You let the grown ups talk to her, simply glad that your friend was okay- physically at the very least. When her mother arrived she cried, hugging her close and hiding her face in her coat. Arthur and Tommy soon arrived, muttering about ignorant pigs.

Tommy cleared his throat slightly and offered his hand out. “Mrs Oliver. Thomas Shelby. We’ve... seen to the boys who attacked your daughter,”

“Mr Shelby! I’m so sorry... we didn’t mean to bother you like that,” she said, worried, digging around in her pocket for money, but Tommy cut her off.

“None of that, now, eh? Any friend of YN’s is a friend of ours,”

“Why don’t you join us for Sunday lunch?” Polly said suddenly.

“I... it’s no trouble, really, Ma’am,” Mrs oliver nibbled her lip gently, holding her daughter close. “I wouldn’t want to... inconvenience you, or- or dirty your China...” she hung her head, shutting her eyes.

“Nonsense,” Polly said firmly. “You’re welcome here, the both of you. You too Jeremiah, you look like you haven’t had a proper meal all week. Sit, all of you. There’s plenty for everyone, and you’re all welcome in my home, D’you hear?”

There was no arguing with the Shelby matriarch. All nine of you huddled around the table to eat, and when grace was said, you and Maria linked pinky fingers under the table. When Pol swept you off for bed, Tommy insisted Arthur walk Mrs Oliver and Maria home as it was getting dark out. He also added in an undertone to Jeremiah to ensure a small fund went to their household- Tommy remembered Mr Oliver from France.

“Thank you, Mr Shelby,” Mrs Oliver whispered. “For protecting my daughter,”

He nodded solemnly. Once they left, he went to your room, where you sat up in bed. “Hey, it’s ride to eavesdrop,” he said gently, sitting on the edge of your bed. You wrapped your arms around him, hiding your face in his neck.

“Thank you,” you whispered. “You and John and Arthur and Finn and Pol and Jeremiah,” Tommy ribbed your back gently, shushing you.

“It was very brave to stand up for your friend, YN,” he murmured. “I’m proud of you, yeah,”

You looked up at him. “She’ll be okay, right?” You asked, frowning. Tommy looked down, eyes flickering with guilt. “Promise?”

He swallowed. “I can’t promise you that, YN. I promise we’ll help as much as we can, alright. But there’s some people in this world who are ignorant fucks. Ignorant fucks who are evil and horrible to others, you hear me? It’s not fair, I know, and it’s not right either. But you stood up to them ignorant fucks today, and it was brave of you. I’m proud of you,”

You sighed as he tucked you back in and kissed your forehead. “I’m not the brave one, Tom. It’s Maria and her mum and Jeremiah who’re the brave ones. Cos they put up with them ignorant fucks every single day. And I’m gonna make it so they don’t have to be brave, Tom. Cos I’m gonna make it so them horrible people get punished for treating other human beings like-like... shit, Tom. Promise,”

He smiled softly at you. He knew you were strong. You would cause him an eternal headache when you were older, but he knew your heart was in the right place.

“I know you will, YN. Go check on your friend tomorrow. And, er, just make sure Pol doesn’t hear you say ‘ignorant fuck’ alright?”

[fanficshiddles]

Caught in his web, Chapter 8

Chloe wasn’t entirely surprised the following morning when she was given breakfast along with the morning after pill again.

But this time it was Loki that had brought it to her.

‘Won’t it harm my body if I keep taking these?’ She hissed, looking at him like she wanted to murder him.

‘It’s only short term, darling. I have a trusted doctor coming to see you next week to discuss options for protection.’ He grinned and sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for her to take the pill.

Him calling her darling made her skin crawl. She wanted to use the spoon that came with her breakfast and gouge his eyes out with it. If that was even possible. Though she would certainly like to give it a try!

‘Take the pill, Chloe.’ Loki said in warning.

She grumbled but reluctantly swallowed the pill. Her entire body tensed up when Loki reached out and trailed a finger down her cheek, then down the side of her throat, and down to her chest. He stopped just at the top of her breasts, where her night gown started.

‘You are such beauty... I’m going to need to keep a very close eye on you when you go to college. Wouldn’t want the idiotic boys touching what is mine.’ He growled low.

For some weird and twisted reason her stomach flipped in a good and bad way at what he said. Of course, being told she was beautiful was nice to hear, but she wasn’t so sure if it was nice to hear it from Loki…

‘I’m going to be out for most of today. But when I return this evening, I don’t want to hear any bad reports of you. Samuel will be around, so if you need anything go to him.’ Loki grabbed a bit of fruit from her plate before standing up. ‘Tania, the maid, will be around too if you want anything specially made for lunch. But I want you in the living room at six pm sharp. Naked and kneeling in the middle of the room, waiting for me.’ He looked her dead in the eye. ‘And you better be there.’

Chloe’s mouth was agape, she had no idea what to say. Like hell she would do that!

Loki had a feeling from the look on her face that he would have to punish her this evening. But he never quite realised just how badly she would behave while he was away…

After wolfing down her breakfast, Chloe waited by her window until she saw Loki’s car leaving. Then she jumped into action. She rushed into her wardrobe and got dressed, picking jeans and a top. She went downstairs and looked around for a while, to map out the best way.

There was a bathroom downstairs, a spare bedroom, a room that she knew was Loki’s office but it was locked. The living room and the kitchen/dining room.

The maid, Tania, was bustling about in the kitchen. So Chloe decided to try something first.

‘Hi, it’s Tania, isn’t it?’ She smiled.

‘Yes, that’s me.’ Tania smiled brightly at the girl. ‘Do you need anything?’

‘Uhm, no, thank you. I was just wondering how long you’ve worked for Mr Laufeyson?’ Chloe asked, leaning on the counter of the island, Tania kept cleaning while they talked.

‘Oh I’ve been working for Loki for around three years now. He’s a brilliant man.’ Tania said, still smiling.

Chloe frowned. ‘Really? Does he… does he treat you well?’

It was Tania’s turn to frown when she looked at Chloe. ‘Of course. I know he can be a difficult man sometimes, but he is kind and fair. He pays me very well, gives me plenty of time off too. He also paid to get my daughter through University, covered all the fees. I couldn’t have asked for a more generous and warm employer.’

Chloe really didn’t know what to say to that. Was she serious? Why would Loki do that?

‘He… he did? That was… nice of him.’

‘You look surprised, dear.’ Tania stopped cleaning and went over to stand next to her. ‘Do you not know of everything Loki does for the city?’

‘What do you mean?’ Chloe raised an eyebrow.

‘Come with me.’ Tania motioned for her to follow. Which she did.

Tania took her through to the living room, Chloe shuddered when she walked in. Thinking about Loki’s request for his return. The maid motioned to a bunch of newspaper cuttings that were inside a glass cabinet on the wall.

Chloe took a close look and was surprised. It was news articles about various work that Loki did for the city. Donating large sums to charities, helping fund various places like the local hospitals and also funding a dog shelter so they could make a new kennel block to save more dogs. He opened up a new library in the Camden area last month. It said on the article that he’d paid for most of it to be built, so it could be finished quicker.

Chloe couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘He does so much for the city. He really loves London.’ Tania smiled and gave Chloe a pat on the back before leaving her there.

It took Chloe a while to come to grips with it all. Part of her thought was Loki really as bad as she thought, were the rumours really true? But of course they had to be. He had kidnapped her for crying out loud. And she had overheard her father talking about him to her mother, saying that he was not someone to be messed with.

Could Loki really put up such a good façade that the city would turn a blind eye, or just didn’t want to know about what else he did?

It took Chloe a while to get over the news articles. But she pushed them to the back of her mind and concentrated on what he was doing to her. Then decided she had to still try and escape.

She went to the bathroom on the bottom floor and opened the window as wide as it would go. She was able to squeeze through it, just. And it was out to the side of the house, the side that her window looked out onto. She completely failed to notice the security cameras that Loki had installed at every corner of his home.

-

‘Do you want me to call Samuel?’ Ethan asked, grabbing his phone. But Loki put his hand out to stop him.

‘No. Leave it. I want to see how far my little adventurer gets. Tell Pete to look the other way, make her think she’s getting away with it. But have Ralph follow in the car, I don’t want her in any danger.’ Loki said, watching the screen on front of him closely.

He couldn’t help but smirk while he watched his new pet scramble over the fence into the neighbours’ garden.

-

Chloe’s heart was pounding in her chest when she ran across the neighbours’ garden and out onto the street. She looked over her shoulder, but it looked like she had gotten away with it. There was no one coming after her.

The adrenaline was pumping through her veins as she ran as fast as she could down the street. When she came to the end, she stopped and breathed a sigh of relief. It was a busier street, with people and plenty of cars going about.

She carried on, not really sure where she was going. But she recognised the area a little, having probably been through it on the bus or something. She had a feeling there was a police station nearby, so she asked a few people in passing and eventually someone was able to point her in the right direction.

When she got there, she went straight in and over to the reception.

‘Please, help me. I need to get back to my parents.’

‘Are you ok, love? Come through and take a seat, we will help you out.’ The policeman said and he opened a side door to let her through the back.

‘Thank you, thank you so much.’ She felt so relieved. Finally, she was going to get some help. I mean, if the police couldn’t help her, then who could?

She sat down and the officer got her a drink of water. He then called for a few more people through to speak to her. There was a woman who wasn’t in uniform and another man who was.

‘So, did you get lost from your parents?’ The woman asked, slightly confused because she looked like a young adult.

‘No. I was… kidnapped.’ Chloe said and looked down, fiddling with her hands.

‘Kidnapped? By who? How did you get away? Tell us everything you can and we will help.’ She said kindly and took out a notepad.

‘My father, he was due Mr Laufeyson money. Loki Laufeyson. And he couldn’t pay him back, so handed me over instead. Loki took me to his home, he wouldn’t let me leave. And he’ She was cut off when she looked up and saw the woman looking to the officer, who excused himself.

‘Wait here, Chloe. We need to make some calls and we will get someone to come and pick you up.’ The woman said and she put her hand onto Chloe’s shoulder before leaving too.

Chloe frowned, confused. What the heck was going on? Did they know how dangerous he was and were going to get her to safety now? That had to be it… Surely…

A few minutes later, the male officer returned with another officer, a female.

‘We are going to take you home, Chloe. You’ll be safe.’ The female officer said and motioned for Chloe to go with her.

Chloe nodded and went along with them both, happily thinking she was going to be taken home.

‘What about my parents? My father especially. I think he will be in danger, Loki said he would be if I was to go home.’ Chloe asked the officers once they were in the police car and on their way.

But neither of the officers said anything, they just kept quiet. That made Chloe a little uneasy. Then she realised that instead of heading across town, where her parents lived, they were heading back in the direction of where she’d just come from. Even though she gave them her address.

‘Excuse me? But this isn’t the right way. I live near Kentish town.’ She said, her voice high and panicky.

They still didn’t answer her. Then when they turned down Loki’s street, she went into full blown panic mode. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She started crying hysterically and banging on the door, but by that time they’d pulled up outside the house.

Pete came down the path and opened the car door. Chloe tried to make a run for it, but Pete caught her arm and held on tight. Samuel then came down the path too and took over, taking hold of her he led her back up to the house. The officers followed.

That’s when Chloe noticed that the head of the household was standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets and looking as terrifying as ever while he glared at her. But then he smiled sweetly at the officers.

‘I can’t thank you both enough, officers. For bringing my Chloe back to me.’ He reached out and put his arm around Chloe in a really restricting hold that made her cough.

She looked to the officers and started begging for their help. But they just ignored her completely.

‘Hush, my darling. Don’t be rude.’ Loki chastised her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

‘What the hell? What is going on!’ She screeched.

The officers glanced to her then looked back at Loki. ‘Glad we can be of service, Sir. We hope you have a good day.’ The female officer said and tipped her hat at Loki.

‘You too, thank you.’ Loki flashed her a dazzling smile and a wink, Chloe noticed her cheeks turning slightly red.

You have got to be fucking kidding me? Chloe thought.

But then her thoughts turned bad when Loki dragged her inside and slammed the door shut behind them. She tried to make a run for it to her room, but he grabbed her hair tightly and yanked her back into his body.

‘You’ve been very naughty, Chloe. And do you know what happens to naughty girls? Hmm?’ He whispered harshly into her ear.

‘You’re an evil monster!’ Chloe yelled at him as she tried to escape his clutches.

Loki chuckled darkly and kissed her cheek.

‘Well, I guess it is time that you find out what monsters do to bad little girls.’

[kryetara]

IRA J. DUNHAM                HEROIN.

following  on  from    my first post regarding ira and vices (link),  the time has come for me to dive into his addiction to the class a drug    heroin.  clearly a difficult subject matter,  so drug abuse content warnings apply going forward,  including also issues of sexuality and mental health.

0 1 .    BEGINNING.       right from his initial formative years, it’s clear that ira is the sort of person that struggles with confidence and self-image.  something that is,  generally speaking,  natural to his personality,  but partially driven into him by a childhood that was less than exceptional ;  first and foremostly,  his distaste for self coming largely from a difficult relationship with an emotionally unavailable father figure.  andrew duhnam is a quiet man that says very little,  rarely showing emotion and finding it extremely difficult even to appease his wife and daughter,  let alone a son he finds it impossible to communicate with ;  his own lack of confidence as a husband and father finding it’s way to infecting ira all the same with his own manifestations of it,  teaching him over time to bottle things up as oppose to letting them out,  to keep a tight lid on your emotions and don’t let them spew.  his mother siobhan’s firm bond with her daughter samantha,  the eldest of the two and the most favourable in and outside of school,  causes her unrest when attempting to figure out her son due to her need to compare them ;  especially amplified by andrew’s near non-existence in the family.  as ira grows and discovers in his teenage years that he has an attraction to men,  he is further driven into himself like a hermit crab  ----  too embarrassed even before at the prospect of being a poor son,  now doubly so at the idea of him being even more a deviation to their normal.  a typical middle-to-lower-class family in northern english suburbs in the 90s,  this was just after the conservative government under prime minister margaret thatcher passed section 28 of the local government act ;  banning local authorities from ‘promoting homosexuality’ and prohibiting the funding of educational materials and subjects that were perceived to support it    ----   meaning students like ira couldn’t discuss their changing feelings and wouldn’t receive any help understanding it.

0 2 .   THE NEED FOR DISTANCE.      having made it to an age where he could consider leaving home for university,  a family life that had now become one of almost total avoidance of each other ;  andrew spent more evenings holed up in the working men’s club than he did even looking in his son’s direction ;  ira felt an impending frustration to escape,  and to put up walls between himself and his difficult life at home,  additionally in the midst of his parents bordering on divorce.  having not divulged his attraction to men to anyone beside one of his friends,  of who rejected his attempt at an advance,  ira decided he would disappear to a university three hours down to the south of england in the bustling expanse that is london city   ------   wishing he could study history,  but at the bequest of his mother  ( pleased, at-least, that he was going to study ),  studying law and finance.  the transition from being trapped by absent authorities in his household,  to being met with such consuming freedom,  was overwhelming for him to say the least,  and ira spent a long time hiding most often in his room in the standard student accommodation ;  but as he began to make friends on his course and in his lodgings,  with this came the inevitable hedonism of teenage life.  exclusive to ira however was a need to match his peers and to yet go even further,  perhaps driven by his feelings of frustration for being locked so tightly in his shell,  labelling ira to become something of an ‘enabler’ ;  constantly pushing others to keep drinking more,  and,  eventually,  taking more,  even beyond the point of it being bad for their well-being  ( a total self projection  ---  if he saw someone drinking or taking excessive amounts of substances,  he felt it was suitable for him to do it too ).  ira’s relationship with drugs begins with smoking weed,  but his fascination for people involved in drug dealings opened him to a very different world than what he was used to.  to spite his sheltered life,  and in need of something that cut out the constant feeling of inadequacy,  ira adopted a ‘try anything’ motto ;  that no drug could escape his use,  even if it was just once.  in all actuality,  ira ended up doing just weed,  mdma,  lsd,  and on various occasions cocaine.  but it was a brush one night,  accompanying a friend to somewhere he didn’t know for a party,  that people were injecting themselves there ;  and from what he could see,  the results were quite enviable.  this drug is heroin.  the year,  at this time,  is 2008.

0 3 .    DISGUISING REALITY.        heroin,  also known as smack,  skag,  and gear  ( most common nicknames ira has used for it in the past,  though not the only ones,  as he liked to refer to it often as his ‘girlfriend’ ),  is a drug usually in white-brown to brown powder form,  that is made from morphine,  and extracted from opium poppies.  the unrivalled intensity of it’s effects were for ira an immediate success in his efforts to remove himself from life around him ;  to cut out those feelings of self-distaste.  the euphoria it presented him with was unparalleled,  unmatched by any other drug,  any drink,  any feeling ;  to not enhance reality around him or to distort it,  but to simply make him uncaring of it ;   it was always going to be a recipe for disaster.  ira began by smoking it,  inhaling the fumes when burnt on foil,  but soon was introduced to injecting it,  of which the hit is much faster and more intense.  initially cautious and denying injecting heroin at first,  but warming to the prospect over time,  as friends he made that also enjoyed the drug demonstrated it’s tidal wave effects.  when he took heroin,  he found that his anxieties and pains in life were numbed so effectively,  that by the time he came around,  he’d enjoyed life far too much a few hours before,  when these feelings melted into nothing.  it was immediately apparent to ira that life with those thoughts cut out was a much more preferable existence.  heroin’s addictive quality is also simultaneously it’s most destructive,  and it is the feeling of numbness that ira craves the most deeply ;  that illustrious mind wipe,  that ocean of dopamine. so thus a chase is born,  and ira spends the next 6 years of his life on and off this extremely dangerous drug.  it’s likely also that ira becomes so quickly hooked on it as a result of his peers about him using it,  and his need to blend into the background and ‘fit in’ amongst others,  to be unnoticeable,  also fuelled his first few uses of it,  and the beginning of injecting it ;  the drug however eventually demonstrating to him that his life wasn’t just bearable,  but enjoyable,  when using it.

0 4 .     DRUGS OR ME.      ira first attends a rehabilitation clinic,  of which was nhs funded,  at age 24 in 2010,  not too long after leaving university.  this is persuaded of him by his older sister,  of who discovered ira’s intravenous drug use after coming to visit him one day out the blue.  he remains in rehab for the space of a month,  able to kick the withdrawal cycle,  but this pattern doesn’t stick,  and ira would then revisit rehab innumerable times from this point forward.  this being the first year that ira’s family find out about his drug abuse,  sam and his mother siobhan attempt to try and help him as best they can,  offering him a place in their homes,  but most instances such as this are declined,  likely as a result of ira’s shame for his actions,  and for lying about passing his second two years in university.  his father andrew still remains passive and largely uncontactable,  again,  much to siobhan’s downfall,  and this burden then appears to lie most heavily with sam ;  perhaps maternally,  wishing in some way to protect her younger brother.  ira,  however,  still struggling to admit that he feels unconnected to his family and feels as though he doesn’t belong with them,  allows this to underline his actions,  and more often than not ignores them,  leaves texts unanswered,  dodges phonecalls,  unwilling to try.  this allows the void between them to grow,  and in the space where his absence lives,  the anxiety and pain felt by his mother and sister spreads like a vine ;  frustration on all ends ;  ira,  for his guilt and his displacement,  sam for her inability to help and for ira’s self-imposed distance,  and siobhan for her helplessness and pain for her son’s addiction.  as time progresses and ira found his supply of money wearing thin,  he would often pick up communications again,  largely with his mother ;  asking for some pennies here,  some pounds there ;  always with different stories.  siobhan,  though aware of where her money was likely going,  found it impossible to say no to him,  happy enough he was speaking to her and that she could hear his voice,  and sent it over without question ;  though the moment sam found out,  this,  to the largest extent,  stopped.  relations began to deteriorate even further as ira and sam would often have heated arguments over the phone,  and it was clear that life was soon to reach a crescendo.  this came in the form of ira visiting for a weekend,  and stealing things of value from sam’s home,  with the intent to sell them or trade them for drugs.  once this act was discovered,  and sam accused him,  she cut him out of her life completely,  and firmly advised siobhan to do the same.  this happens in 2013.  as it stands ira has still not spoken to sam since this point,  of which up to now has been 7 years.

0 5 .     THE RAT RACE.      addiction,  no matter what to,  is difficult to kick.  in the present day ira has been clean and sober for an impressive 5 years ;  but the thoughts are often still the same,  the reflexes are still the same,  that gut feeling,  that need,  still lingering on.  (  he’s simply gotten better at ignoring it.  )  in ira’s house on a pine bookshelf by his tv is a small wooden box full of the chips he managed to keep from rehab,  small tokens that he found himself unable to dispose of,  a trophy of sorts.  but just the same,  tucked under his bed,  is an old star wars lunchbox that he picked up at a charity shop,  of which contains a spoon,  cotton,  a lighter,  foil,  an old leather belt,  and a tin case with various needles.  sometimes taken out,  sometimes simply looked at,  unopened  ----  sometimes taken apart with waning intent,  then put together and away again.  ira manages to keep a lid on himself for enough time to last him until the deal is made with kel mehmeti,  and now suddenly entrenched in a world themed by the very thing he has spent such time trying to avoid ;  there may well be a 6th chapter to this meta soon.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic: The World's Greatest Detective (ao3) Fandom: Flash, Batman Pairing: Gen (background ships)

Summary: In this world, things go differently after Nora Allen is killed.

In this world, they walk down a different road.

In this world, the road leads them to...

Gotham?

A/N: ...so one day I wanted to write a fic where Barry meets Batman. For @oneiriad, for the inspiration and for your flight.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It's not that I'm not grateful," Henry says, because he is, really.

If it wasn't for the thief - for Leonard Snart, Henry forcefully corrects himself - then, well, who knows where he and Barry would be?

Not that Snart's story - that he'd been thinking about breaking into a house on the Allen's block (though carefully not admitting he'd actually taken the last step and done anything, of course) when a figure wreathed in lightning had appeared in front of him, calling him by name and begging him to protect the young Barry Allen - was any less fanciful than Barry and Henry's own stories about a whirlwind of lightning, but the cops knew Snart well enough to be surprised by the idea that he'd come up with such a dumb story ("If that's the best Snart comes up with, it's probably true," a detective by the name of Singh, who wasn’t assigned to their case, opined to the papers), and Snart had testified to seeing a man in lightning exiting the Allen household, splatted in blood, shortly after.

Henry knows that it was Snart's explanation, so scathing and sarcastic and matter-of-fact, of a man who had to be utilizing tricks to create confusion, that swayed the jury into finding Henry not guilty by reasonable doubt.

Not that that means that they didn't think he did it. They just don't think the prosecution proved it, but that's enough.

And, too, Henry knows that he owes far more than just his freedom and his son to Snart: when his practice failed and the hospital let him go (no one wants a suspected murderer for a surgeon, even if the crime is unrelated to his work), he didn't know what to do until Snart had talked to one of the downtown clinics about taking him on. Henry suspects Snart did more than that, too: the clinic has seen a startling rise in the number of paying (albeit clearly criminal) patients, and at least one had let slip that Henry was "just as good as Snart said".

Snart even managed to find them this house - far cheaper than the one he shared with Nora, something he could manage on top of the bills for the lawyers and Barry's therapy and all with his reduced salary - and Henry's grateful for that, too. He hadn't had many options or friends to turn to, what with Joe still thinking that he was a murderer who got away and all.

Henry knows all that.

But - and Henry is quite serious here - why is Snart still here?

"That lightning runner said to take care of Barry," Snart replies firmly. "And that's what I'm going to do."

Henry opens his mouth - looks at the kitchen where Snart's arsonist friend Mick is cooking them dinner since Henry's really only good at grilling, looks at the kitchen table where Snart is permitting Barry to teach him basic algebra as a sneaky method of teaching it back to Barry, at Barry who's laughing at Snart's long-suffering whining about how he dropped out of high school for a good reason, looks at Lisa (Snart's younger sister) who's finished her own homework and is playing the peanut gallery - and then shakes his head.

Nora always said he ought to stop looking gift horses in the mouth.

The problem, as it is, arises later.

Snart's word of mouth is apparently better than gold, because Henry never knew how many poor people were pathetically grateful to have an affordable surgeon in their area. They're not just criminals, as he'd originally thought: just poor people, stuck in the slums, ignoring increasingly dangerous ailments because they won't go under the knife of a drunkard.

"We need to hire more doctors," he tells the head of the clinic.

Pre looks at him with a touch of sadness. "Henry," she says kindly. "I would if I could."

"But I'm sure I could convince a few of my old colleagues -"

"The part time pro bono clinic you set up is great," Pre says. "Don't get me wrong. But we need full timers. People who take a case from start to finish. And I can't afford to pay 'em. I'm barely even affording you, and that's with you accepting pennies to the dollar of what you're used to."

Henry has to admit it's true.

"City Hall takes the money earmarked for the slums and puts it in their pocket," Pre continues. "More and more each year that they notice nobody cares. Our funding is very small. You want more doctors? Get us more money."

Henry nods and goes home early to look at his savings for the hundredth time. He knows he can't deplete it - there's Barry to think of - but so many people in need. He has enough to pay for one more doctor for a year, he thinks, or at least six months -

"You can't," he hears Lisa say through the door to his office, and he's stopped by the despair in her voice. "Lenny, please! You know it's a bad job, you said it yourself; you'll go to prison again -"

"There's nothing else," Snart replies, and his voice is wretched like Henry's never heard it before. "Lise, I've looked, I swear. I just ain't got capital for it by myself. I spent it all getting the cash for this place -"

"Exactly! You don't need the money," Lisa argues. "It's not so urgent as it was, anymore - I don't need to graduate early - I'm not back with Dad, getting hit more often than not -"

Henry flinches. Snart had insisted his sister get the spare bedroom of their new apartment and never explained why.

"I know, and I'm grateful for it," Snart says.

"And I'm grateful for the fact that it means you don't have to work for him anymore," she shoots back. "Or do you think I don't know what he makes you do, saying he'll take it out on me if you don't?"

"Lise -"

"We can wait, Lenny! I don't want you to go to prison!"

"It might not come to that," Snart says, but even Henry can tell he doesn't really believe it. "And even if I'm caught, the money’ll still be safe and – and it'll only be a few years, and Mick will be here -"

"I refuse to let you go to prison just to pay for me to go to college," she hisses.

Henry stops. He and Nora had put money aside for Barry's college fund, of course, and he'd never touched the money no matter how dire things seemed. But there was only money in there for Barry, university and even grad school, and it wouldn't cover Lisa, who he saw as practically one of his own, now...

"It's not that weird to take a year off," she continues. "That gives you more time to find something better."

Snart snorts. "Lise," he says gently. "I've been looking for 'better' for two years."

"But -"

"I got one big score," Snart says. "And I used it for this house for you, and for Barry, and I don't regret it. I get enough from the rest of the stuff I do to help pay the mortgage so Henry don't realize he can't afford the place. But it ain't enough."

"Lenny -"

"College can wait a year," he says while Henry's still reeling. "But your ice skating can't."

Lisa falls silent.

"Your coach said Nationals," Snart continues. "Maybe even the Olympics. But neither of us can afford the fancy training you'd need for it without some egotistical college backing you, and there's an age window for it. Now or never, Lise."

"I don't -"

"You've wanted to do this since you were a kid," Snart says firmly. "Decision's made."

"But -"

Henry knocks over a pencil case.

They both fall silent.

Henry opens the door. They both look squirrelly, neither having realized he'd come home early.

"How much?" he asks.

"Henry -" Snart starts.

Henry holds up a hand. Snart falters, and for a minute he looks painfully young. He's only twelve years older than Barry, really, and he's already been in and out of the prison system. He's seven years older than his sister, and Henry would bet that he's been caring for her ever since she was born.

He never got a chance to be a kid, and that's just as wrong as what Henry's been struggling with, with all those people in the slums that need him.

Snart needs him, too.

"How much?" Henry repeats.

Lisa says a number.

It'd be most of his savings.

"Okay," Henry says. "I'll write you a check.”

"You can't," Snart protests. "Barry -"

"I'm not touching his college fund," Henry says. "And if we need to move to a smaller apartment, so be it. He'll be fine."

"What about your clinic?" Lisa asks. "Weren't you going to use it for that?"

Henry hadn't realized they'd known about how he kept looking at the money he had stored away, but in retrospect he was probably fairly obvious about it.

“I have a different idea for that,” he lies. “Some things are more important.”

The Snarts look skeptical. He can’t blame them; from what he’s heard, they never had any adult that would help them the way a father ought to.

Just as he’s trying to think of what to tell them, an idea finally comes to him. He’s asked for his friends’ skills, not their money, thinking they would be more inclined to assist that way, but he hadn’t thought about fathers and children.

Or, perhaps more correctly, children who longed to be fathers.

“Go tell Barry and get everyone packed up,” Henry says. “We’re going on a road trip. All of us.”

Snart crosses his arms, clearly (and correctly) identifying Henry’s desire for him to join in on the road trip as a mechanism to keep him from the temptation of this sure-to-go-wrong job. “Where to?”

Henry smiles. “Gotham.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Thomas Wayne was an amazing doctor and an even better man. He’d been Henry’s mentor back in med school and, later, during his residency; he’d taken a liking to Henry when Henry had declined his scholarship because he could just about afford the price of school while the next guy in line had no hope of it. They’d kept up an infrequent correspondence for a while after Henry had moved to Central with Nora, and Henry had been distraught to hear of his death. He’d sent a note to Thomas’ son, Bruce, making sure to address the cover envelope to the butler who was handling correspondence with instructions to only give it to Bruce when it wouldn’t be a burden, and not to bother with a thank you note in return. He’d also included a message of condolences for the butler himself, of course.

“Your card was one of the kindest we received,” Bruce – now a young man, only a few years older than Snart but with tired eyes that make him seem much older in just the same way – tells him. “Most people forget about Alfred.”

“We’re unaccustomed to butlers in America,” Henry says wryly. “Sometimes people forget that butlers are people at all. I blame the movies, myself.”

Bruce cracks a practiced grin.

Henry shakes his head. “No need to make the effort to be charming, Mr. Wayne,” he says. “To be blunt, I’m here to ask for money; it would be rude for me to pretend it’s just a social call.”

“Most people still do,” Bruce says wryly, the smile fading into something a little more real. “I appreciate your honesty. What brings you here?”

“In this case I am like most people,” Henry says just as wryly. “I’m here to trade upon an old relationship and your reputation for philanthropy. I know you primarily focus on Gotham-based charities, but the slums in Central are, if anything, a match –”

Bruce holds up his hands and Henry pauses in his hastily cobbled-together sales pitch.

“You’re here to ask for money for a charity?” Bruce clarifies.

“I work at a clinic that services low-income individuals in the Central City slums,” Henry explains. “If we had an additional source of income – even for just one year – we could hire another doctor. Maybe two.” He shakes his head. “I’m a surgeon, not a generalist; I do what I can, but there’s always a need for more.”

“I see,” Bruce says. “I had thought…” He trails off, his cheeks pinking very slightly.

“You thought I needed money because none of my friends would talk to me after my acquittal?” Henry asks. It’s true. Not even Joe talks to him anymore.

“Yes,” Bruce says, the embarrassment fading. Henry’s not sure if it was ever real, or if it was for his benefit. Bruce is very self-controlled, masked behind a guise of carelessness; it’s only that Henry knew Thomas’ own self-control quite so well that he can recognize it.

Henry shakes his head. “We –” He swallows, because it’s still hard. “Nora and I, we put aside money for Barry’s college fund from the day he was born. I’m never touching that money. The rest of it, well, we’re managing quite well.”

“I heard you moved in with the criminal that testified for you,” Bruce says.

“He’s a good kid,” Henry says.

“You’re not denying he’s a criminal?”

“Bit hard to deny,” Henry says because, well, it’s true. Len’s a criminal down to his bones. “But beggars can’t be choosers. I’m not from Central originally, so I really only knew the more expensive white-collar areas. I needed advice and a place to go, and, well…”

“None of your old friends were talking to you.”

Henry nods. “That’s also why I’m here,” he adds, trying to bring the conversation back to where it started. “I know my old friends and the few that do still talk to me would disappear at the first request for money; I’ve asked them for time, instead, but some part-time pro bono work at the clinic can’t replace a real full-time doctor.”

Bruce nods. “I’m sure we can work something out,” he says. “I’m always happy to donate to worthwhile causes.”

Henry breathes a sigh of relief, which makes Bruce smile.

“Perhaps we could talk about it over lunch?” Bruce suggests. “Alfred always starts us promptly at noon.” He rings a bell.

The butler, Alfred, appears, as proper as ever – though strangely frazzled.

“The Allens will be joining us for lunch,” Bruce says. “Please ask Dick to join us.”

Dick presumably referred to Richard Grayson, Bruce Wayne’s ward of just over six months. It was a hard thing for a man in his early twenties to adopt a ten-year-old boy – less than a year younger than Barry – but Bruce had managed it.

“Master Dick has already made his way down,” Alfred says wryly. “He and the younger Mr. Allen have apparently taken a liking to each other and are currently playing tag.”

“Tag,” Bruce says, sounding bemused.

“Yes, Master Bruce. They appear to be pretending to be pirates as well. It is, I have been informed, a game known as 'Pirate Tag'.”

“Pirate Tag. Well, good for Dick,” Bruce says, shaking his head. “Let’s start lunch an hour late, then, and let them play. Dick doesn’t make friends easily,” he explains to Henry.

“Understandable,” Henry says. “Barry hasn’t really made many friends either, not since what happened to his mother.”

Richard Greyson lost his parents in a terrible accident, which some rumor claimed to be a murder; Barry had lost his mother to a murderer and very nearly his father to the criminal justice system. In retrospect, it made perfect sense for them to get along.

Bruce and Henry share understanding looks.

“So,” Bruce says. “Tell me more about your work in the clinic.”

Henry happily complies.

However, an hour later, the kids are nowhere to be found.

“The house isn’t that big, Alfred,” Bruce says sharply.

“My apologies, Master Bruce –”

“Oh, crap,” Henry says, looking at a window. The frame was just a little cleaner than the others.

He’d gotten pretty good at recognizing things like that.

Bruce looks at him.

Henry pinches the bridge of his nose. “Do you recall how I mentioned Leonard Snart to you?”

“I recall.”

“I brought him along on the trip, as well as his younger sister Lisa and his partner, Mick Rory; they promised they wouldn’t get into trouble, and I was under the impression that they were touring the city today, but –”

“A giant mansion is too tempting to resist?” Bruce asks, frowning. “I don’t mind that, but – what does that have to do with where the kids are?”

“They probably joined the kids’ game and explored the house,” Henry says regretfully. Kleptomaniacs, all of them! “Do you have any hidden compartments or anything? I think Snart can smell them out –”

Bruce looks alarmed. “Please wait here,” he says, and hurries away.

“I can help,” Henry tells Alfred. “But I understand if he doesn’t want me to see where he’s hidden his valuables. Is there anywhere else I can look?”

“Master Bruce will be able to determine fairly rapidly if Mr. Snart and the others have gotten into the relevant area,” Alfred says. “If they are not there, we can begin to worry –”

There’s a loud noise.

Henry dashes after it, Alfred in hot pursuit.

There’s an open wall – a candlestick bent over sideways reveals that it was once a grandfather clock that slide aside to reveal a passage – and there is the sound of voices beneath.

“Mr. Allen –” Alfred starts.

Henry ignores him – there’s nothing that’ll get between him and Barry, should Barry be in danger, not ever again – and goes down the cobwebbed stairs.

Inside, there’s…a cave? But there are computers everywhere. Some sort of server room? But why would that be hidden?

“Dick,” Bruce is saying. “You know better –”

“They found it on their own!” Dick is arguing.

“Can someone explain why there’s a giant penny?” Mick asks, his eyes fixed on what is, in fact, a giant penny. He’s there, because of course he is, and the two Snarts and a very excited looking Barry.

“Is this a server room?” Henry asks Alfred, starting to get the distinct feeling it is not.

“No, Dad,” Barry says. “It’s the Batcave! You know, for Batman and Robin!”

“…I can explain,” Bruce says.

“Nope,” Snart says. “You really, really, really can’t.”

----------------------------------------------------

"Lenny!" Lisa exclaims, hands on hips in proper angry sixteen-year-old girl style, even though she's now eighteen. "This is all your fault!"

Henry hides a smile under his hand. Len - definitely Len, now that he'd explained how much he dislikes being called Snart in private - blinks at her owlishly. "What's my fault?"

"You told the Penguin's people not to rough me up so much!"

"Oh, that."

"Yes, that!" she scowls. "How am I supposed to be a proper Robin if you scare the supervillains into behaving?"

"Not the supervillains, just the thugs," Len corrects. "And I told them that all three Robins are off limits."

"Wait, what?" Dick says, sitting up straight. He'd been smirking at Lisa until that point.

Barry - sitting next to him - laughs. "Told you," he says smugly.

"You can't do that!" Dick exclaims.

"I can and did," Len says.

"Bruce, tell him he can't do that," Dick says to Bruce as he walks in, half-dressed in his Batman gear and looking distracted. Alfred is walking in behind him with a long suffering expression.

Henry catches his glance and arches his eyebrows in silent question. Alfred shakes his head - no need for Henry to take up his part-time role as the Batman's private surgeon tonight.

(The kids call Henry the Bat-doc, but Henry's pretty sure Mick's the source of the name.)

It'd worked out surprisingly well, all in all. Barry and Lisa were Robins alongside Dick, now, which made them happy and made Dick safer, which made Bruce happy. Len and Mick - who'd gotten the media nicknames Captain Cold and Heatwave, respectively - were now fellow masked vigilantes, striking terror on the Bat's behalf and saving his ass on occasion, which made Dick and Alfred happy.

They do keep stealing the Bat-mobile, but they also return it, which everyone's taking as a win.

Henry gets to take them all back to Central for all holiday and summer breaks, which made him happy - sure, he's only a jet flight away from the fancy boarding school in Gotham Bruce had arranged and paid for Barry to attend alongside Dick, but he likes having them around and Len and Mick are always pleased to have an excuse to lord about their town (which, lacking as it did any proper supervillains, they'd conquered fairly quickly).

Bruce also paid for a dozen new doctors for Henry's clinic and Lisa's training for the Olympics, which she’d signed up for in lieu of starting college immediately, which made everyone happy.

"What can't he do?" Bruce asks. "Len, the Riddler left another love letter to you; you really need to stop answering his terrible riddles with terrible puns. It only encourages him."

"I've told him I'm taken. He just enjoys my ability to devise them on the fly."

"Yes, but the Penguin will still kill you if this continues. He gets jealous. Please check the note to see if he's invited you on another heist. If he has, refuse."

Len sniggers but takes the note.

"He's made the thugs agree not to rough us up!" Dick protests.

"Len?"

"Too hard," Len says. "Rough them up too hard. All the Robins."

"How'd you do it?"

"Made it a union rule."

Lisa, Barry and Dick all groan. The unionization of Gotham's supervillain thugs was the bane of their existence.

Mick had been unanimously elected union rep, for reasons that absolutely escaped Henry.

"How'd you even get them to vote it in?" Dick grumbles.

Len shrugs. "Limiting child brutality is for everyone's best interest; juries hate it. Having a blanket rule'll cut down jail sentences."

Bruce hums in thought. "And that way, we'll be able to identify anyone who's using non-union guys," he says. "Good. We don't want the League of Shadows sneaking in an army."

"Again."

"Yes, again."

"But -" Dick starts.

"It's too late," Barry says glumly. "It's settled."

Lisa heaves a sigh.

Both Dick and Barry take a moment out of their sulking to observe Lisa's bustline heave with the sigh.

It isn't even that impressive a heave - her chest is mostly covered in armor - but they are thirteen year old boys.

"Can we talk about my proposed Robin recruit instead?" Lisa asks.

Bruce frowns at her. "We're not recruiting new Robins. It's not an expanding position."

"Yes, it is," Lisa says briskly. "It has been since we talked our way into it. And if we don't recruit Barbara now, I'm telling you, she'll make her own costume and head out on the streets by herself without any training."

Bruce looks forbidding, which is really just his way of reluctantly agreeing.

"Better to get her training," Mick opines.

"She's the police commissioner's daughter -"

"Good, she can steal us info," Len says. "Use the resources you have, not the fantasy universe you'd like to have. I've seen the girl, and Lisa's understating things, if anything. I'd be willing to bet she already has a suit, except it won't have any of the nice padding and armor these three have."

"And we'll need someone to take over Lisa's role full-time once she's in college and has finals," Barry says. “Besides, the Olympics are coming up soon; she can’t afford to get hurt now.”

Bruce surveys the room, but if being surrounded by people has taught him anything this past year, it's how to know when he's being overruled by the will of the majority.

Len and Mick have strong feelings on democracy when not in an active battlefield, who knew.

"Fine," Bruce concedes.

The Robins cheer and jump to their feet, earlier grievances forgotten. "We'll go tell her -"

"Give her the warning spiel -"

"And her new suit -"

"Of course you've designed one already," Bruce says, but it's too late; they've already left.

"Welcome to the joy of having kids," Henry tells Bruce. "I use the term lightly."

Bruce shakes his head, but he's smiling.

They helped teach him that, all of them.

--------------------------------------------------------------

"You were in a coma for nine months!" Henry shouts.

Barry looks startled. Henry doesn't raise his voice often.

"Dad," he says, and comes forward, arms outstretched.

Henry pulls him into a hug. "God, Barry," he whispers. "You have no idea how the last few months have been - the Gotham crew thought it had to be a themed villain or something, that lightning; Barbara nearly burned her fingers to the quick looking for info in all the secret places in the world, and Jason got into a hundred fights with Bruce over how hard he was interrogating people - Dick started having anxiety attacks again - and Len, Mick, Lisa, god, they were wrecks -"

"It's okay," Barry says. "It's okay. I'm okay."

"The hospital didn't know what to do with you," Henry continues, fully aware and uncaring of the tears that dripped down his face. "Barry, they thought your heart had stopped. I thought your heart had stopped. Even Bruce's fancy Gotham doctor he flew in had no idea why you were still breathing. Hell, even that weirdo from San Francisco, the ex-surgeon friend Bruce has, he couldn't figure out anything; all he could say is that your soul is still in there. Brain death was a certainty. You were dead, for all intents and purposes -"

"Dad - Dad - it's okay - I'm here, and I'm okay - and I have superpowers now -"

"And the first thing you do is run off and fight a cyclone?!"

"Cyclone-guy, actually. He was attacking Central City! What was I supposed to do?"

Henry laughs wetly. "Once a Robin, always a Robin, huh?"

Barry smiles crookedly.

"I bumped into Joe," he says. "He said we need to keep my identity a secret - even from Iris -"

"Identity secret, yes," Henry says, finally releasing Barry. "Good job on getting a police contact -" Joe had finally started talking to Henry again, but made clear in every interaction that he thought Henry was a murderer let free on a technicality, so they didn't really talk much; but Joe was Iris' father and Barry did so love Iris, so he’d softened up on that at least. "But you shouldn't keep a secret from Iris."

"It might put her in danger."

"Barry. Has Bruce ever managed a successful relationship with someone who didn't know who he really is? And has it ever helped keep them out of danger?"

"...I take your point," Barry says, making a face. "Uh. Though. She started dating that Eddie guy, because she thought I was dead, so that makes things awkward."

Henry shakes his head and hugs Barry again. "You kids have been in love with each other for years. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Please let me know when the pining has been resolved, this time."

(Barry's later teenage years had involved a lot of ice cream and horrific poetry. The other Robins had read it out to Gotham villains as a low-key torture method; the Penguin in particular was susceptible to trying to bash his head in if he heard too much of it. Scarecrow usually offered suggestions on how to improve the meter.)

Barry laughs. "Okay," he says. "I'll tell Iris. And you should meet Dr. Wells and Cisco and Caitlin -"

"I've met them," Henry says. "They were taking care of you, remember? I visited every day. Dr. Wells said he might have an insight because of his work on the Accelerator, and I was desperate."

Henry's still a little uncomfortable with how hard Wells pushed for the transfer, but whatever; Barry's awake now, and himself. That's what matters.

"Say," Barry says. "I should probably think of a new superhero name. Since I'm not a Robin anymore." He grins. "Cisco still made my costume red, though."

Henry laughs and hugs him again. "Later," he says firmly. "I'm not letting you out of my sight for a while. Now sit and I'll tell you all the gossip from the last nine months -"

---------------------------------------------------

"I hate to do this," Henry says apologetically. "I mean, it’s terrible of me to even suspect him. He's done so much for us -"

"I know," Bruce says, his voice tinny over the phone. He’s probably in the cowl. "It happens that way, sometimes. I'll look into it - if it's nothing, it's nothing, but you'll have some peace of mind."

"Thanks," Henry says, feeling very much relieved. "I wish I could give you more of a lead than 'he acts creepy towards Barry sometimes' about Dr. Wells."

"I've worked with less," Bruce says, and then hangs up because he has terrible phone etiquette, and also possibly has started punching someone.

"Goodbye, and have a nice day to you too," Henry says into the phone, shaking his head and hanging up.

Still, he must say he feels better, having the World's Greatest Detective on the case.

Batman will figure this one out. He always does.

[caplofan]

Fiscally fit at 40?

There are many facets to being a financially fit and monetarily solid 40 year old, but as our author explains in the following article it can be extremely difficult to understand and take action on all of the different aspects of a healthy and fully rounded out financial profile, read this article to find out how to break down the goal of being financially stable by 40 in a small, easy to follow series of concise steps as laid out by the author.

On February 4, I turned 40. I attempt not to get involved ages and birthdays, however these turning point minutes (30, 40, most likely 50) constantly make me believe and stop. Mainly about the passage of time –– I still feel 27, so it’’ s hard to think that I am not, in reality, 27. What’’ s actually tossed me for a bit of a loop, however, is that it’’ s been a years given that I composed this story for MoneySense about turning 30, which took a look at what I need to anticipate in the years ahead.( The reality that I ’ ve been composing for MoneySense for 12 years is likewise astonishing. )

’In that piece I asked editors, specialists and member of the family for their investing and conserving guidance, and while all of their knowledge can be found in helpful, I didn ’ t value simply how tough it would be to follow. I ’ m not going to replicate that piece and attempt by asking individuals’what I need to anticipate in my 40s– if I discovered anything over the’last 10 years it ’ s that life is hugely unforeseeable which you primarily require to go with the circulation– however I will inform you what I determined in my 30s.

Your 30s are pricey.

Out of all the guidance I got a years earlier, it was previous MoneySense editor Duncan Hood who summed things up finest: “ Canadians discover their 30s are the most difficult years when it pertains to financial resources, ” he stated. “ First there ’ s the brand-new home, which not just suggests home loan payments “, however purchasing all the furnishings to enter it. There ’ s the brand-new cars and truck– or 2 brand-new cars and trucks if you both work. And simply when you believe your paycheque is being extended to the limitation, it ’ s time to have kids! ”

While I moved into my very first home and had my very first kid prior to 30, I had 2 more kids and moved 2 more times in my 30s.( Including one insane relocation from Toronto to Winnipeg, where I matured and now live.) We handled to hold back on a 2nd vehicle for a long period of time, however as the kids aged, shuttling them around in a single lorry ended up being harder. I did purchase a low-cost automobile, however it still harm to spend for it. In any case, he was right: Managing cash over the last years has actually been an obstacle. Kids cost a lot therefore too do the nights out you require to require to get a break from them.

Overall, I would state I ’ ve implemented just a few of the monetary recommendations I ’ ve spoken with the lots of individual financing specialists I ’ ve talked to overthe last 10 years, in part since’of all the needs on my time and my dollars. Like everybody else, I ’ m likewise lazy and I like to invest cash on winter season trips and white wine.

Make more, conserve more.

One thing I ’ m most happy with, though, is that I’’ ve handled to avoid of charge card financial obligation. I sanctuary ’ t constantly paid my cards off each month, however I’am usually able to get my balance to absolutely no someplace in between 20 and 40 days. I do bring financial obligation: I still’have a home loan to settle (it did assist that I made a 110 %return in 5 years on my Toronto house), which I ’ m hanging onto since rate of interest are so low.

I ’ m able to pay off that financial obligation, not due to the fact that of budgeting– I am most likely least pleased with the reality that I wear ’ t have a genuine budget plan– however since I chose 5 months afterI’composed that 30th birthday MoneySense column to—stop my day task and head out on my own.

It was dangerous for’sure, however with the media market apparently breaking down at that time( and still to this day )working for a huge media business like Rogers, which owned MoneySense at the time, looked like an even riskier relocation.

Making your own method interested me; I liked the concept of working for every dollar, and when you ’ re by yourself the capacity is limitless.

Thankfully, it has actually settled expertly and economically. As my expenditures grew, I discovered methods to’make more cash.

I do believe that ’ s an underappreciated concept: savings grow not simply by conserving cash, however likewise by making more, so that you have more to put away. That is, obviously, much easier stated than done, and simply attempting to make more might not be a terrific long-lasting strategy, however up until now it ’ s working.

While not everybody will work for themselves, attempting to make more, through brand-new and much better tasks, is one method to enhance your earnings.

Of course, keeping those expenditures in check is very important, however challenging. I believe budgeting can work, or a minimum of it will offer you a concept on where you might be able to cut down.

Conserve, however wear ’ t sweat it excessive.

As for investing and conserving, I discovered that it takes a couple of years to start. Yes, it ’ s constantly much better to begin early and do what you can– recommendations that lots of people offered me a years earlier– however I felt a lot less guilty about my absence of conserving when I understood that you truly wear ’ t requirement to stress over putting cash away for—retirement when you ’ re 30. At that time, paying for a home mortgage and purchasing diapers is the top priority.

It remained in my mid-30s when I began feeling a bit worried about my absence of cost savings, so that ’ s when I began to ramp things up. Still, I wasn ’ t sure how to start regardless of composing a routine investing column in Canadian Business publication. I didn ’ t wish to buy stocks( I like danger, however not that sort of threat), and I likewise didn ’ t desire another person to invest for me. Something I did understand from my writing and from checking out MoneySense is that it ’ s tough for active supervisors to beat the criteria which exchange-traded funds were the method to go. Fortunately, MoneySense had actually long been a supporter for the Couch Potato Portfolio , so I simply followed that.

However, I slipped up: When I began investing I put cash into a TD Waterhouse RRSP, however it wound up in money, since I didn ’ t put in the time to in fact divide it up amongst the ETFs. It took months prior to I divided my properties, throughout which time the marketplace increased a fair bit. Partially due to the fact that of that error, I began utilizing robo-advisor Wealthsimple * a number of years earlier, which divides up your possessions into ETFs for you right after you invest; now I put on ’ t need to stress over leaving any cash in money. I attempt to put as much cash as I can away at the start of the year instead of at the due date, however that, too, is typically much easier stated than done.

It ’ s been rather a trip over the last 10 years. My household has actually experienced a great deal of loss, consisting of the death of my father-in-law, which provided me a refresher course on life insurance coverage and estate preparation , however we ’ ve likewise experienced a great deal of pleasure. I ’ ve moved cities, altered tasks, made brand-new buddies, lost touch with old ones, invested excessive cash, however still conserved a lot and more. I ’ ve found out that life can be breathtaking, unpleasant and a great deal of enjoyable, typically at the exact same time. And while cash is what makes the world go round, it ’ s essential to delight in life, too. Unlike Suze Orman, I’would never ever quit my early morning coffee to conserve a couple of dollars.

Everyone I ’ ve asked states that your 40s are much better than your 30s. The kids are less’requiring( a minimum of on your time and presuming you have in your late 20s or early 30s ), you ’ re in your leading earning years and you beginto sweat the little things less. I ’ ll let you understand how it goes.

The post Fiscally fit at 40? appeared initially on MoneySense .

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[giancarlonicoli]

25 Basic Life Skills That Should Be Taught in School (But Aren’t) 

Editor’s Note: I know lots of you are homeschool parents. But please accept before reading this article that many kids are sent to public schools for a wide variety of reasons. Please do not turn this into an argument about homeschooling vs. public schooling or an insult festival toward parents who send their kids to school. That’s not productive. Let’s talk about what is taught vs. what is missing. And also, keep in mind that school is the only chance that some children have to learn new ideas because their parents are either disinterested or close-minded. While most of us try to teach our children these excellent skills at home, many young people are not raised in households like ours. ~ Daisy

By Meadow Clark

Think of the vast amount of time that students spend in school. But what do they come away knowing? They are taught very few life skills, so are they really prepared for the real world?

Here’s one of the glaring problems with public school: it’s designed to waste time.

Like a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who, school can zap your life away. It wouldn’t be half bad if you were being taught something useful. Sure, reading and math are important, but the bulk of those things can be taught in much shorter periods of time than are being utilized right now. Plus, reading skills are deteriorating and math was swallowed by Common Core.

Ideally, there would be myriad forms of trustworthy education that could suit any personality. And ideally many of these skills would be taught by family and imparted by experienced people – but that’s getting harder to do.

So in the list below, think of what it would be like if schools were ideal and actually preparing people to live meaningful lives.

Without further ado, here are…

25 Life Skills That Should Be Taught In School (But Aren’t):

#1 Individual Thought

Instead of regurgitating what the teacher says and mirroring their peers, people need to think for themselves only. That means no groupthink. Most people think they are unique but are only parroting. That’s why you can figure out who they are from just two of their beliefs. A lot of people struggle with who they really are but can’t even have a thought of their own. Life shouldn’t be so monochromatic and Borg-like. Calling all real individuals.

#2 Personal Finance, Saving & Budgets

The credit card and personal finance industry should not be the ones teaching us about money. And while I think Dave Ramsey’s advice from Total Money Makeover to start an emergency fund is golden; I’d like to nominate The Index Card by Helaine Olen as the curriculum. It is by far the best, most objective personal finance advice I’ve ever gotten. Takes all the confusion away. The name is from the idea that everything you need to know about finance fits on an index card – and the book even comes with it!

#3 Health & Nutrition

No fad diets. Just self-care and nutrition. Food selection and important information about vitamins, minerals, and bio-compounds. I know they teach health in school but c’mon… And why not include gardening and food prep?

#4 Resiliency & Failing Gracefully

The world can be crushing enough, perhaps resiliency and tenacity can be emphasized instead of measuring students against failure. Failure is inevitable after all, so people should be shown how to fall and get back up again.

#5 The Art of Conversation

‘Sup! Hav U taken this class B4?

#6 Logic, Reasoning, and Public Discourse

Did you know that schools have been rapidly dropping Logic classes? It’s time to stop the Idiocracy from spreading and revive Logic! Also, it would be nice if public discourse didn’t amount to two people rabidly screaming at each other.

#7 Character

You can’t legislate morality, but young people are eager to learn character. Instead of burdening children with global warming responsibility and punishing them severely for breaking unspoken social justice mores – how about letting them have fun but fostering a sense of character. Show them they have personal control/responsibility and that there are real-world consequences for their actions. Relationship skills probably shouldn’t be taught by government-run schools but ultimately those come from a person’s character.

#8 Negotiation

In order to make it in the real world and provide for a family, negotiating is crucial. It means being firm, having a backbone and the willingness to exhibit some disagreeableness.

#9 Cooking from Scratch

It’s a seriously needed lost art! And it overlaps with health, budget and survival classes.

#10 Survival & First Aid

All forms of survival, prepping and first aid, including wilderness first aid, should be taught to everyone. Survival without tech and during disasters or live shooting events – all of it. Gardening, self-defense, and firearms overlap with this class, too. The Dangerous Book for Boys, The American Boys Handy Book,  The Field and Forest Handy Book: New Ideas for Out of Doors would be a great, fun start! Of course, The Organic Prepper makes a great curriculum – hi, homeschoolers!

#11 Speed Reading (But with Deep Comprehension)

Speed reading is not the same as skimming. Many people have been taught to skim haphazardly because of the Internet, new gadgets and pressure to multi-task. This study shows that skimming is actually not a great way to comprehend more. Speed reading removes “subvocalization” while reading, and it can be done while maintaining comprehension.

#12 Self-Defense

Both with and without firearms. It would include boundaries, situational awareness, and improvisation.

#13 Crash Course on How Government Works

People are told to go out and vote but a lot of them don’t even know much about the positions they are voting on. I wish School House Rock had kept up the government songs! “I’m just a bill…”

#14 Creativity

Our linear-thinking and tech-driven world is rapidly extinguishing right-brain thought, and that is a travesty. Our creative force needs to be ablaze at all times and should never be downgraded or snuffed out.

#15 Household & Basic Car Mechanic Repairs

Why are these skills not taught to everyone? Learn to be handy and be independent from others while putting thousands of savings toward paying down a house. A lot of people are afraid to try, but only because they weren’t taught and may be afraid to ask for help.

#16 Time Management, Focus, and Productivity

Multi-tasking is a proven fraud. In a world driven to distraction, the art of focus is priceless in the working world. Maximized time is a maximized life.

#17 How to Read Literature With Deeper Understanding

Let’s face it: high school makes a lot of people hate books. Something tells me that’s the real reason why 1984 is mandatory reading. Who actually remembers the deeper message later in life? Curriculum: The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is a straight-forward, wonderful guide through the classical education most of us never got.

#18 Entrepreneurship, Career & Starting a Business in a Gig Economy

This is a crucial skill desperately needed in a changing job landscape. It could teach sales skills for all different personality types. And hey, wouldn’t it be great to cultivate what your passions are instead of being wedged into categories by those career assessments?

#19 Etiquette

Seriously. Make. This. A. Class.

#20 Social Skills

Social skills are different than etiquette and manners. It involves picking up on cues and tone, and knowing how to appropriately respond in different situations. There is dating etiquette and there is also dating social skills. These are just as important as having social awareness on the job.

#21 Study & Deep Research

Why do 12 years of school without first learning this key element?

#22 How to Selectively Make Real Friends

An elective class to win GOOD friends and influence people. Networking. Watching out for red flags in relationships. School is basically a big bullpen where you’re with the same people every day for 12 years. And they think homeschoolers aren’t “socialized”? Sheesh! Plus, social media gives the false impression of connection without much selectivity.

#23 Effective Communication & Writing

So apparently this is being taught now, but…is it really?

#24 Resume & Cover Letters

Firstly, a lot of people do not know how to craft these. And secondly, most of them are thrown into the trash or get lost in cyberspace. The soul-crushing job application process needs a serious makeover, but until that happens, people need to learn how to write an attention-grabbing human-voiced resume that gets that foot in the door.

#25 Understanding Credit Cards, Bills, Taxes, House/Car Purchases, Student Loans, Insurance

This is a much-needed course, unfortunately. This class would help students avoid predatory financial practices instead of being ushered right into them. Day 1: teacher cuts up all credit cards in a class demonstration.

Last but not least….a bonus that is only being sort of taught apparently?

GEOGRAPHY!

If people want to let their government charge trillions to lob bombs into another country, then by Jove, they’d better be able to point it out on a map… I’m being darkly facetious, but seriously, geography is important.

It may even drive a wanderlust to explore, and the government doesn’t want that. We were always at war with Eurasia!

What electives would you like to see taught in school?

I was tempted to put some other electives on the list like “Relationship Skills by Interviewing Elderly Couples” or “Why TV Sucks” but I realize that these fall outside the realm of objectivity and belong in class #1: Individual Thought.

Would you like it if schools taught some of the skills above? Which ones are your favorites? Did I leave any important skills out of the mix? Leave your nominations below!

[coruscorp-blog]

DEAR, MS. ( MICHA AHN )

We are pleased to have you back for another year as an UPPER FIRST YEAR STUDENT at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We sincerely hope your classmates in HUFFLEPUFF treat you well.

Mi-cha Anh is a student who strives to change the face of wizardry. Even though her mother was a wizard  her father was a Muggle, both parents loved her endlessly during such times. Mi-cha’s mother was a well-known wizard during her time. She retired (out of boredom) from being a wizard and decided to marry. Born with two other siblings, Mi-cha always got picked on from her two older muggle brothers for being different: her eyes were wide, lips were plump, almost like a living doll. Such characteristics, including her wizard-powers, were often made fun of by the two of them. Regardless, Mi-cha grew only closer to her mother while her father associated with the two boys. Around age 10, things began to grow tougher within the household. Both parents tried to sustain the endless amount of rent overdues and bills piling up, while also attempting to save up for Mi-cha to earn enough to join a wizard school. One might ask: how exactly did Mi-cha get to the school?

Prostitution.

After the father abruptly lost his job, the Anh family was forced into a small home with a two bedroom and a leaning ceiling. At age 9, her mother decided to make sacrifices and deny morality to get her daughter into wizard school at a proper age.  So every night, Mi-cha’s mother got up at midnight, slipped some clothes on, and scurred out the door without notice. Then, she’d come back home just in time at 9am to get ready for work. Initially, Her husband didn’t know of this, considering he became a NEET after losing his job, and only the wife maintained financial stability without anyone knowing.  Despite the family not knowing what was going on, Mi-cha secretly woke up at night, hid under the dining room table, and watched her mother leave out the door and come back hours later. As this was becoming a habit, bills started to almost magically disappear and rent began to stabilize. Oblivious as a cat, the father gave no mind to the sneaky actions ‘til one night around 4am. The night was silent, the kids were snoring away on their bunk-beds – of course, except Mi-cha. Mi-cha rested under the dining table where the chairs kept her tiny body hidden in order to watch the scene unfold.

A loud bang was heard coming from the entrance of the home. Irritated, Mi-cha’s dad came downstairs with an irritated, drowsy, demeanor.

“ Who is banging on the door this hour ? Holy hell…” he grumbled, beginning to unlock the door. With a turn of the door knob, the door was abruptly forced open with two men that was in front of the mother. These two men had baggy shirts and masks that covered their faces whilst holding two guns, aimed at the wife. Mi-cha instantly perked up from the table, practically first seat in the action.

The father, noticing his wife with her hands up “ W-what’s going on?! Put the guns down, my wife done nothing wrong. . ! You must’ve gotten the–”

“That whore of yours stole our fuckin’ money ! Snooping around and adding it to her funds. Now she has to die. Get out of my way or you’ll be next. ” One of the men said, pointing at her father next. Mi-cha eyes widened, noticing the tragedy beginning to unfold. She was too scared to move, too scared to cry for help in worry she’d anger the mysterious men. The mom, despite what was going on, remained a stoic, uninteresting visage. Her life was practically on a very thin line; however, the mother, clearly unamused, let out a soft sigh as if this was boring her.

The father grew worried for his wife and kids, since she’s known to put herself in worse predicaments. “Honey, please. Now’s not the time for—”

“If you want to shoot me, do it. If not, go away. You’re wasting my time.” She sneered, keeping her eyes locked on the two men. Suddenly, a loud BOOM struck the ears of everyone within the household. Mi-cha placed her hands upon her ears in total shock and kept her eyes as tightly as possible during the shot. Reopening her eyes, she pushed the chairs away and crawled out of the table to run towards her mother on the ground. Crimson-red blood was splattered from the shot through the mother’s skull. The two men, realizing they overstayed, ran out of the house and left the family in total, utter shock and sadness.

—–

Fast forward to her preteen years, at age 10, the family of now four moved into a smaller home. After the mother’s death, the father began to develop hate for his dead wife due to her ruining their image and cheating on him with countless other men. Even though it appeared as such, there were more reasonings over such: to help Mi-cha get to wizardy school. No matter how much she tried to make her father understand, he’d merely say “Your mother was a ruthless, impulsive, heathen who put the family in danger. Those men could’ve killed ALL of us.” As a result, the family quickly split into an us vs. them situation, being the father and the two brothers against the mom’s actions and Mi-cha on the other end. Regardless though, she never attempted to fight them or prove them wrong. She kept everything, including her over-emotions, to herself all the way ‘til it was time to go to Hogwarts.

——

Mi-cha went alone onto the train towards Hogwarts, and throughout her first years in Hogwarts (starting at 11), she kept to herself within the times at school. When it was time for the hat to decide what House she’d fit in, the hat immediately said “ Hufflepuff” for then and now. Given her mother’s death, Mi-cha grew to become patient and ultimately hard-working. People vividly knew about her mother, Yonnie. And often times, they’d compare her to her mother for her ‘heathen-like’ factors and ‘ugly beauty on the inside’; as a result, Mi-cha developed to be over-emotional and a very soft person all around. Despite people creating rumors about her and taking advantage of her over-kindness, she always kept to herself and let her thoughts wander within her mind. Her hard-working demeanor grew from people talking down on her mother for prostituting and as a result, often sent low expectations for Mi-cha; therefore, it became a goal to work as hard as she can to become an amazing witch that can help people in need and remain loyal to the code of conduct. Ultimately, She became a sweet, warm-hearted half-blood who did what she could during such years.

—-

Now, as an upperclass 1st year, she still remains the same. It’s odd that a girl with such a depressing past would be in such high spirits and smiling all the time. As long as her goal of becoming a great wizard remains within her mind, she won’t ever give up. In the house of Hufflepuff, she remained to herself: reading, journaling, keeping her thoughts tightly compacted in a notebook helped maintain her sanity within the school. In the house of Hufflepuff, her attitude towards dedicating herself with wizardry, proving people wrong with the arts, and maintaining loyalty with the staff were characteristics that she maintained within Hufflepuff. Even though she’s sensitive, naive, ditzy and over-emotional*, she still remains loyal to her beliefs and education. She tries her hardest to be understanding and welcoming to other people, while also being tolerable with different people and backgrounds. Nonetheless, if she’s pushed too far, she can become aggressive and mad when tempted just to prove anyone belittling her abilities wrong.

[netunleashed-blog]

Why Everybody Must Begin Investing Right now

https://homeloan-direct.co.uk/?p=10171 Why Everybody Must Begin Investing Right now - https://homeloan-direct.co.uk/?p=10171 It’s by no means too late to grow to be an investor. Beginning right this moment, even with as little as £1, will give your cash the very best likelihood to develop and doubtlessly safe a greater future for you and your loved ones. For me, investing is all about taking your financial savings to the subsequent stage, and these days you don’t must be a buying and selling genius to get issues began. Neither do you must must be an knowledgeable in inventory markets or currencies. Don’t let the typically complicated jargon, or the thought that you simply’re too previous put you off both. Investing is for EVERYONE. Whereas changing into an investor seems like a very grown up factor to do (taking adulting to the subsequent stage!), it’s really simply smart and fairly easy. And it’s greatest carried out sooner fairly than later. Listed here are my the reason why everybody wants to begin investing right this moment. Take advantage of your financial savings Whereas having a financial savings account is an efficient option to ensure you’ve received cash handy, both as an emergency fund if one thing have been to occur to your job, or as a little bit of ‘enjoyable cash’, investing any remaining money will help you to attain future targets. Nonetheless, past your emergency funds, retaining all of your cash in money might not end in the very best returns to your hard-earned money. Sure, you'll get a little bit of curiosity, however maybe you can be getting extra. And that’s what investing is all about actually. Over an extended time frame, your cash has the potential to earn you extra money. The magic of compound returns Profitable investing is all about giving your cash time to learn from the facility of compound returns. Now, we hate jargon with a ardour so, in easy phrases, compounding is the place you earn a return on prime of your returns. The longer you possibly can hold this going, the extra returns you can accumulate. For example, let’s say you’ve received £100 invested and earn an annual return of 4%. After the primary yr you'll get £Four revenue. You begin yr two with £104 (your preliminary funding, plus the return – assuming you reinvest all of your earnings). On the finish of the second yr, say you get 4% return once more. Now you earn £4.16 revenue. This small enhance in revenue in yr two is due to compound returns – you earned a return in your preliminary funding of £100 and in your first yr’s return. Preserve this going yr after yr and assuming you may have a gradual 4% per yr return, on the 20th anniversary, your revenue may have grown to £119.11, making your whole funding value £219.11. These are pretty small sums of cash, however they reveal how compounding will help your cash develop over time. And it’s simple to think about what including extra cash to your investments usually might do to spice up your total pot. This may not solely make you financially higher off, however might even provide you with a buzz! Latest analysis from on-line funding service, Wealthify reveals that 74% of us get a buzz from making a return on our cash, which has similarities to the thrill we get after we go on vacation, have a toddler or get a promotion at work. You don’t must depend on anybody else Not everyone seems to be within the place the place their dad and mom will give them an enormous deposit for his or her first house, pay for his or her marriage ceremony or equipment out the nursery of their first little one. And whereas it’s horrible to suppose additional ahead, not everybody will get an inheritance from their household both. This leaves it right down to you to work out how you'll handle your cash to ensure you can take care of your self once you resolve to cease working. In line with analysis, 44% of Brits who're already investing achieve this to ensure they've a cushty retirement. I’m not even positive if the Authorities is aware of whether or not a state pension will nonetheless be round once I cease working, however I’d guess (after years of paying in) it received’t be. There may not even be free bus passes or chilly winter funds assist. By the point many people cease working, they are going to be issues faculty children examine in historical past books. So, ensure you make investments right this moment and have a nest egg for later in life, enabling you to afford to do stuff, stay, eat – you recognize, these staple items all of us must stay properly. Once more, the sooner you begin investing, the extra time your cash has to doubtlessly develop and the extra money you can have for retirement. Investing is simple Within the age of recent expertise, with the ability to handle your funds is now simpler than ever. Older generations have by no means had the alternatives like now we have now to make the most of completely different web sites and apps that enable us to take care of our pennies and develop them. Relating to investing, gaining access to your funding plan 24 hours a day by way of your pc, telephone or pill offers you extra management and lets you monitor what’s taking place – it’s by no means been simpler! It doesn’t even matter if you wish to begin with £1 or £1,000 – something is healthier than nothing. With funding companies like Wealthify you possibly can make investments as little as £1 and it’ll take you lower than 10 minutes to create an account on-line. You may monitor your funding 24/7 by way of their website or utilizing their app. It’s all managed for you, so that you don’t must work out who or what you put money into, you merely belief within the consultants to make your cash develop. There’s additionally no tie-in, so you possibly can take your cash out at any time, with no penalty to pay. There’s no time like the current With funding companies like Wealthify making it this simple to start investing your money, is there any purpose to place it off? In the event you suppose there’s no level bothering ‘trigger you don’t have a big sum of money, then suppose once more. You can begin with as little as £1. In the event you suppose there’s no level because it’s far too sophisticated and also you simply wouldn’t know the place to begin, then suppose once more. There are apps and websites, like Wealthify, who can handle your investing plan in your behalf. They care for the whole lot so there isn't a want to fret. In the event you suppose investing takes up an excessive amount of time, then suppose once more. It may well take lower than 10 minutes to create an account. You need to actually attempt to begin investing as quickly as attainable – the early hen catches the worm! A cashback supply from Wealthify By signing up to Wealthify today, earlier than 31 July, you’ll get £50 cashback once you make investments £500. You simply must put in £500 over the course of six months, so you possibly can make investments it as a lump sum or put in £250 to begin after which add £50 every month. Your cashback bonus will likely be paid inside 30 days of you assembly the qualifying criteria for the promotion Then, not solely are you properly in your option to a cushty retirement, however you’ll have nabbed your self a free nifty fifty! Please keep in mind that all investments carry a danger as the worth of your investments can go up and down. Written in collaboration with Wealthify Ricky Willis is the unique Skint Dad. A money-making fanatic, father, and husband to Naomi. He's at all times searching for distinctive methods to earn somewhat further. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments); if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window, document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '1178215768912421'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); (function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.5"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); (document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Source link

[inbonobo]

A Toronto councillor is worried budget pressures will force the city to stop expanding a program that helps feed students in need, even as more children than ever are relying on the subsidized meals.

The city's budget committee will debate the funding for its Student Nutrition Program, on which the city spent $9.9 million last year to provide breakfast, lunch and snacks for some 194,000 students, at the committee's upcoming January meeting.

Toronto Public Health recommends spending an extra $2.2 million in 2017 so that more students can be fed through the program, budget notes state. But those same notes say the preliminary budget mentions a boost of $140,000, which would cover only the inflationary cost of food.

Coun. Mike Layton, who serves on the budget committee, blames Mayor John Tory's demand that city departments cut their budgets by 2.6 per cent.

Sadly, city wide recommended budget cut could put on hold planned expantion of student nutrition program https://t.co/2JgVPHduNZ https://t.co/F6pJkBV08F

A spokesperson from Tory's office, however, said the mayor has championed the expansion of the nutrition program and won't support its rollback.

Layton said he will urge councillors to support an increase that could help an additional 15,000 students.

"I hope that, in our wisdom as a city, we see value in an increase in the number of students that go to school with a full belly," the Ward 19 Trinity–Spadina councillor told CBC Toronto at city hall.

Last year, councillors spent city reserves to pay for the program, but Layton said that's likely not an option this time around.

The city covers just under 20 per cent of the program, with millions more coming from other sources like fundraisers and parents' contributions.

Toronto school boards serving more and more meals

Child poverty is a growing issue in Toronto. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) alone serves more than 136,000 breakfasts and lunches every day and opened 140 new breakfast initiatives in 2016.

"We would love to open up another 140 more but that depends on more money," Catherine Parsonage, the executive director of the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, a charitable organization that works alongside the TDSB to help students in need, recently told CBC.

A two-year study done by the TDSB in 2012 found students performed better academically when they were well fed.

That's something Parsonage said teachers didn't need a study to prove.

"The best teacher … can't teach a hungry child," she said.

How will city pay for expansion?

Layton said councillors need to find the courage to increase tax rates to pay for things like the Student Nutrition Program.

"This budget helps those who own very expensive property and it hurts those who rely on city services," he said.

"We need to look at this budget a different way."

Tory has vowed to keep property taxes at or below the rate of inflation and in a statement called the process of cutting department budgets "necessary and effective."

"Bottom line is we have to pay for the services we deliver like student nutrition, and what the mayor and city council have done is asked each and every division of the city to take a hard look at their books to make sure the money is being spent wisely," the statement from Tory's office said.

The city's budget debate is set to unfold during the next two months.

(via Councillor sounds alarm over how city will pay for student meals - Toronto - CBC News)

Not long ago, Dr. Leonard Sax was at a restaurant and overheard a father say to his daughter, “Honey, could you please do me a favour? Could you please just try one bite of your green peas?” To many people, this would have sounded like decent or maybe even sophisticated parenting—gentle coaxing formed as a question to get the child to co-operate without threatening her autonomy or creating a scene.

To Sax, a Pennsylvania family physician and psychologist famous for writing about children’s development, the situation epitomized something much worse: the recent collapse of parenting, which he says is at least partly to blame for kids becoming overweight, overmedicated, anxious and disrespectful of themselves and those around them.

The restaurant scene is a prime example of how all too often adults defer to kids because they have relinquished parental authority and lost confidence in themselves. They’re motivated by a desire to raise their children thoughtfully and respectfully. In theory, their intentions are good and their efforts impressive—moms and dads today are trying to build up their kids by giving them influence; they also want to please them and avoid conflict. In reality, parents are at risk of losing primacy over their children.

The dinner table is ground zero. “When parents begin to cede control to their kids, food choices are often the first thing to slide,” Sax writes in his new book, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups. A rule such as “No dessert until you eat your broccoli” has recently morphed into “How about three bites of broccoli, and then you can have dessert?” The command has become a question capped with a bribe, as Sax puts it. Dinner at home requires polling kids on what they’re willing to eat; the options might include roast chicken and potatoes or chicken fingers and fries. You can bet which they choose. So parents renegotiate: How about sweet potato fries?

Parents in North America have become prone to asking their children rather than telling them. “It’s natural,” says Gordon Neufeld, a prominent Vancouver psychologist cited in Sax’s book. “Intuitively, we know that if we’re coercive, we’re going to get resistance.” For trivial choices such as which colour of pants to wear, this approach is fine, he says. But “when we consult our children about issues that symbolize nurturance like food, we put them in the lead.” That triggers an innate psychological response, and their survival instincts activate: “They don’t feel taken care of and they start taking the alpha role.”

So if the girl served green peas does eat one bite as her dad asked, Sax says, “she is likely to believe that she has done her father a favour and that now he owes her a favour in return.” Food may be the first manifestation of the collapse of parenting, but many of the problems within families are a result of this type of role confusion. In this way, what happens over a meal is a metaphor for how uncomfortable parents have become in their position as the “alpha” or “pack leader” or “decider” of the family—the boss, the person in charge. The grown-up.

That discomfort comes from a loving place, of course. Many parents strive to raise their kids differently from how they grew up. They say, “I can’t do the stuff I was raised with, it doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to yell, I don’t want to spank,” says Andrea Nair, a psychotherapist and parenting educator in London, Ont. “There’s a massive parenting shift between our generation and the one before. We’ve come a long way from when you called your dad ‘sir’ and when he walked in the house you would jump out of ‘his’ chair.”

The evolution hasn’t been easy, though. “We’re trying to pull off the emotion coaching but we haven’t received the training,” says Nair. “It’s like teaching your kids to speak French while you’re learning it in the textbook.” Parents have made it a top priority that their kids feel heard and respected from a young age. They want to be emotionally available to them, and for their children to be able to express their own emotions. “Kids have permission to have tantrums now because [they’re] learning how to manage feelings,” says Nair. “Someone said to me, ‘Are we seeing more tantrums now than we used to?’ And I wonder.”

Parents also want a democratic household where each family member has a say about what happens—Should we go outside now? Are we ready to have a bath? Would you like to have the party here?—and they cultivate independence and freedom of thought in their children. Strict obedience used to be praised; now it is seen as outdated and potentially dangerous. Compliance might mean your kid is a pushover, which no parent wants, especially as bullying has spread from the schoolyard to cyberspace.

There are broader influences shifting the parent-child dynamic as well. Over the past half-century or more, the public has come to scorn power imbalances based on gender, race, religion and sexual orientation, and historic gains have been achieved in the pursuit of equality. Even corporations are now replacing pyramidal management with “flat organization.” In Western society, where equality for everyone has become a cultural objective and a constitutional right, children are treated like they are one more minority group to honour and empower. “Empower has come to seem virtuous,” Sax says. “Empower everyone, why not?”

But many kids are actually overpowering their parents. That’s the problem, say those working in child development. A functional family unit hinges on the one social construct that contemporary society has been working hard to dismantle: hierarchy. “You need a strong alpha presentation to inspire a child to trust you and depend upon you,” says Neufeld of parents. “If we don’t have enough natural power then we’re hard-pressed to [make] the demand or [set] the limit” for children. “The parent always has to be honoured as the ultimate person,” he continues. “We need to put parents back in the driver’s seat.”

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If not, the consequences can be far-reaching, starting with children’s eating habits, which might contribute to them becoming overweight and obese. Like the father in the restaurant, many parents can’t convince their kids to eat well. It doesn’t help that junk food is sometimes a reward for acing a test or scoring a goal. The message: healthy food is for losers. On-demand snacking—in the car, at the mall, while out for a walk—appears to disrupt metabolism and circadian rhythms, as well as hormonal balance. That many parents carry with them a canteen of water and a stash of goodies wherever their kids go is further proof of how much they want to satisfy their children, literally and figuratively. “I don’t want them to get hypoglycemic,” one mom told Sax while lugging a cooler of snacks to her car for a 30-minute drive.

Contributing to the extraordinary weight gain among North American children in recent years is a dramatic decline in fitness. There is even a medical term for it, “deconditioning,” which is described in the Collapse of Parenting as a euphemism for “out of shape.” It has landed kids as young as 11 and 12 in the cardiologist’s office complaining of heart-disease symptoms including chest tightness and shortness of breath. In fact, some hospitals in the U.S. have even opened pediatric preventive cardiology clinics.

While children are less active than ever, they do not, ironically, get enough rest. A common question Sax asks students is, “What’s your favourite thing to do in your spare time, when you are by yourself with no one watching?” The most common answer in recent years: sleep. That’s because children are too busy with school assignments and extracurricular activities to go to bed at a good hour, or because when they get to bed, they are on their cellphone or computer, or playing video games.

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This chronic fatigue may be associated with the rise of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and prescription drug use among children. “Sleep deprivation mimics ADHD almost perfectly,” writes Sax. In his experience as a doctor, insufficient sleep is one reason why kids are more likely to be diagnosed with the disorder. In general, “It is now easier to administer a pill prescribed by a board-certified physician, than to firmly instruct a child and impose consequences for bad behaviour.” Stephen Camarata, a professor of hearing and speech sciences and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University in Nashville echoes that point: “Parents say, ‘My child can’t do this particular exercise, they’re not paying attention,’ therefore I have to identify them as having a clinical condition.” A medical diagnosis might negate parental shortcomings or a child’s misbehaviour. “It displaces that failure,” he says.

Camarata worries that parents are asking too much of kids too soon, as he outlines in his latest book, The Intuitive Parent: Why the Best Thing For Your Child Is You. He points to the surge of books, toys and software marketed to parents of young children promising to accelerate learning. The ubiquitous metaphor that kids are information sponges has parents saturating them with educational exercises. “We’re treating them like little hard drives,” says Camarata, but “this idea of pushing children to the absolute max of their developmental norm doesn’t give them time to reason and problem-solve. It actually undermines both self-confidence and fluid reasoning, or the ability to think.”

Schools, too, have been focusing more on academic achievement than socialization. Sax documents how, 30 years ago, American students in kindergarten and Grade 1 learned “Fulghum’s rules,” which include tenets such as “Don’t take things that aren’t yours” and “Clean up your own mess” as well as “Share everything” and “Don’t hit people.” But since the 1980s, as other nations pulled ahead of the U.S. in scholastic performance, the primary objective of educators has become literacy and numeracy. In Canada too, says Neufeld, “we have lost our culture. Our society is far more concerned that you perform. Schools will always drift to outcome-based things.”

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That’s partly why a “culture of disrespect” has sprouted in North America. As kids have become less attached to and influenced by the adults in their lives, same-age peers have come to matter more to them. It’s a theme in Neufeld’s book, Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, co-authored by Dr. Gabor Maté. Young children “are not rational beings,” says Neufeld. Part of growing up is testing boundaries; little ones, by their very nature, can’t be relied on to hold each other accountable—nor should they.

“Kids are not born knowing right from wrong,” says Sax, pointing to longitudinal studies showing that children who are left to discover right from wrong on their own are more likely to have negative outcomes in the future: “That child in their late 20s is much more likely to be anxious, depressed, less likely to be gainfully employed, less likely to be healthy, more likely to be addicted to drugs or alcohol. We now know this,” he says. “Parents who are authoritative have better outcomes, and it’s a larger effect than the effect of race, ethnicity, household income or IQ.”

With stakes so high, authoritative parenting would seem imperative. But there is a psychological hurdle that people will have to overcome first, says Nair: “How to respect their child but also be the decider” of the family. Part of the challenge lies in the fact that parents don’t want to fail—at nurturing and governing simultaneously—and they certainly don’t want their children to fail in their personal development, in school and at social networking. These worries feed off each other in the minds of parents; that’s why parents second-guess the way they speak to their kids, what they feed them, how they discipline them and what activities they permit.

This is all the more true for the growing number of parents who delayed having children until they were “ready” with a secure job, a good home and a dependable partner. “People purposely wait so they can nail it,” says Bria Shantz, a 35-year-old mother of two in Vancouver. “That creates even more pressure. They want to get this perfect.” Shantz is, in fact, the daughter of Neufeld, and she has called upon him for advice or reassurance. That Shantz, who has a leading child psychologist in her family, one who helped raise her, can still occasionally succumb to parental insecurity, says everything about its potency: “There’s this slight panic. You want to do everything right,” she says. “Nothing prepares you for how much you want it to go well.”

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So as soon as parents conceive, they begin amassing a library of books on how to deal with the fantastic chaos about to enter their lives in the form of a baby; the collection grows with each developmental stage. They subscribe to online newsletters and smartphone apps that alert them on milestones their children should reach by a certain age. From the outset, parents are tracking how quickly their child is growing, how much they are achieving. For every expert a parent consults by phone or in person, they’re also checking in with the virtual wise man, Google. That almost never helps.

There is no parental concern too obscure not to have an online group devoted to it. Shantz is part of one focused on “baby-wearing” because she’s trying to decide whether a “wrap” or a “ring sling” would be better for her nine-month-old. “It’s the weirdest site to be on. You see posts and you feel guilty because [parents] are carrying their babies everywhere, doing all these things, having this connection.” And yet Shantz hasn’t been able to delete herself from the group, even though she keeps meaning to; nor has she been able to pick between a wrap or sling.

That pull and push moms and dads feel­—between caring about how other parents are raising their kids while rejecting the constant comparisons—defines this generation of parents for better and worse. Katie Hurley, a psychotherapist in Los Angeles and author of The Happy Kid Handbook: How to Raise Joyful Children in a Stressful World, says, “We’ve been conditioned to question ourselves—to constantly look for information to make sure we’re doing it right. Because of that, parents are in a state of learned helplessness.” [tweet this]

So what are people supposed to do? The answer is so basic that at first it might seem unsatisfying: For starters, says Hurley, realize that “nobody knows what they’re doing when they leave the hospital with an infant. Every parent learns by trial and error”—every year of their child’s life, and with every child they raise. That’s as true today as it ever was, and parents who recognize this will shed some guilt and anxiety. Building on this idea, Nair says that parents must “have a higher tolerance for things not going well.” How they recover from their own occasional mistake, outburst, loss of patience or bad call may say more to a child than how they are in happy times. “We’re missing that opportunity, which is how learning works,” she says. “That’s how we become more confident.”

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A significant portion of Sax’s book is devoted to the importance of parents modelling traits they want to encourage in their children. Chief among them, he says, should be humility and conscientiousness—which run counter to inflating a child’s self-esteem and sense of entitlement. To that end, he encourages parents to fortify their adult relationships so they are not overly concerned with pleasing their kids as a way of satisfying their own need for affection. Neufeld also urges parents, including his own adult children, to establish a network of surrogate caregivers—relatives, neighbours, daycare workers—who will not undermine their authority but back them up when they need help.

And invariably, they will. “Parenting is awfully frustrating and often a lonely place,” says Neufeld, especially when a child misbehaves. In those moments, he recommends parents reassure kids that their relationship isn’t broken. “When parents realize that they are their children’s best bet, it challenges them to their own maturity.” It gives them the confidence that they know what’s good for their kids, and that they should stand up to them—this is, in fact, an act of love required of parents. They become, in effect, the grown-ups their children need.

(via Maclean)