A swallowtail butterfly emerged on a day school was closed due to a typhoon

Today, both elementary school and kindergarten are closed due to the typhoon.

My part-time job is also off, so it turned into a day where we are all home together.

The children each have things to do.

My second son is doing his Kodomo Challenge.

My eldest son is doing his Challenge elementary school course.

In our house, our style is,

“Once you finish everything you need to do, the rest of the time is yours.”

Once they finish their homework, Challenge, piano, and whatever else they need to do for the day, they are free to play games or do whatever they like.

So, they both start working on their tasks from the morning.

However, it seems my eldest son had more homework than expected today, and he was working hard while complaining, “There’s so much!” (laughs).

On a day like that, when we were destined to spend the whole time at home, a happy event occurred.

One of the chrysalises we were raising turned into a swallowtail butterfly.

The children were overjoyed to see the swallowtail butterfly that had just emerged.

My eldest son put it in his picture diary.

My second son made an origami version.

They were both very busy recording it in their own ways.

Actually, we still have about seven other chrysalises at home.

So, this emergence was an event we had all been waiting for.

That is because something shocking happened the day before.

A tachinid fly larva emerged from one of the chrysalises.

Even though I know it’s not rare in the natural world, it’s still sad.

The children were also quite shocked.

I just hope the remaining chrysalises will safely turn into butterflies.

To begin with, why do we raise so many swallowtail butterflies every year?

It started with the lemon tree my mother-in-law grows at my husband’s parents' house.

Every year, swallowtail butterflies come there to lay eggs.

Once the larvae grow large enough that they can't escape through the mesh of the insect cage, we bring them home and raise them.

We often get the lemon leaves they eat from my husband’s parents' house, and when we run out, we use leaves from the kabosu and sudachi trees in our own garden.

And it’s not just us, the parents and children, who look forward to the growth of these swallowtail butterflies.

My father-in-law, who is knowledgeable about insects, also keeps an eye on them, asking, “How many will emerge this year?” or “Are they chrysalises yet?”

My mother-in-law also watches over their growth while tending to her lemon tree.

For my sons, it’s not just something they are raising on their own; it’s an annual tradition that their grandparents enjoy with them.

Last year, about half of the larvae we were raising were parasitized by ichneumon wasps, and the children were quite down about it.

But at that time, they looked it up in a field guide and seemed to learn more seriously than I did, saying things like, “So these kinds of creatures exist too,” and “I guess that’s just how it is in nature.”

Of course, I hope they emerge safely without being parasitized this year, too.

Even so, I think it is a very valuable experience to be able to encounter both happy and sad things while raising living creatures.

A day when we couldn't go outside because of the typhoon.

But thanks to the swallowtail butterfly emerging, it became an unforgettable, special day for the children.

Now, seven left.

Will they all emerge safely?

We are watching over them with bated breath.

#Parenting #RaisingBrothers #SwallowtailButterfly #InsectRearing #ObservationDiary #ElementarySchoolMom #KindergartenMom #TimeAtHome