The Photograffitis

Monday 1 December 2014

Think twice before speaking

I regret the day I suggested to my parents to give me a sibling. By then I was feeling so alone and miserable that my parents agreed. I had no idea what I was asking for.

The day finally arrived for my sibling to be born. Back then my friends had tried to warn me about the horrible things that happen when you have a little brother or sister, like having squabbles, or them 'borrowing' my clothes, or books or my computer. But I ignored them. They didn't know what pure loneliness truly feels like. That's why I was desperate to have siblings. My friends say that there are advantages to being an only child, like owning your life, not having fights every ten minutes, and getting a bigger allowance than I probably would have if I had siblings.

But these advantages are overpowered by one big disadvantage. When you're an only child your parents depend on you to be their big success. You have to be good at everything. You can't fail. You have to be neat and tidy, because it's much easier to have one kid instead of having lots of little kids screaming and running around the house. You have to have good grammar, tidy clothes, and table manners. It's a lot of pressure. That's why I want a sibling.

The problem was, I was completely and utterly oblivious to the fact that my friends were as low-spirited as I was when it came to siblings. Apparently they were so worn out by arguments that they just gave their stuff to their siblings whenever they asked.

Anyway when my sibling arrived, I could hardly contain my excitement! No more loneliness. No more pressure. For the first few weeks I was content in just cradling the baby. But after that the crying and yelling became annoying and my friends were saying 'I told you so'. I knew that as soon as my sibling can talk, there would be disagreements and quarrels every day. When that happened, I got so stressed and upset that I was almost wishing to be an only child again.

Life is like that. What you don't have always seems to be the things you want. So be careful what you wish for, think twice before speaking.

By Emma P

The life cycle of a butterfly

The majestic butterfly soars through the air and lands on a dew-covered leaf. She lays her tiny eggs and flies away. This is the first stage of the butterfly life cycle.

The eggs are miniature, round and oval. The mother butterfly must be very careful about where she lays her eggs, because when they hatch, the caterpillars won't be strong enough to crawl onto another plant, so it starts eating the one they were born on. It is important that they eat the right type of plant, for each type of caterpillar likes only certain types of leaves.

When the egg finally hatches, a tiny baby caterpillar emerges, very unlike its mother. It starts eating the leaf it was born on. As soon as it starts eating, it instantly starts to grow. It's skin does not stretch or grow, so they grow by moulting (shedding the out grown skin) several times while it grows. Mostly, in this stage, all they do is eat.

The third stage is when the caterpillar forms into a pupa. As soon as a caterpillar is done growing and they have reached their full length/weight, they form themselves into a pupa, also known as a chrysalis. Inside of the pupa, the caterpillar is rapidly changing. Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable metamorphosis (change) to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge.

Finally, when the caterpillar has done all of its forming and changing inside the pupa, an adult butterfly emerges. It's wings will be soft and folded against it's body. This is because the butterfly had to fit all it's new parts inside of the pupa. As soon as the butterfly has rested after coming out of the chrysalis, it will pump blood into the wings in order to get them working and flapping.

Once this has been achieved, the magnificent butterfly rises into the air and goes in search of another butterfly to reproduce with, and when a female butterfly lays her eggs on a leaf, the cycle will start again.

By Emma P