The Great Garage Bug Discovery of 2026

So apparently while I’ve been focused on gym selfies and Marcus has been obsessing over keyboard switches, our eleven-year-old has been running a full-scale entomology operation in our garage.

The Great Garage Bug Discovery of 2026

This is Marcus’s face when he went looking for his homebrewing equipment and instead found approximately forty-seven jars of beetles, crickets, and things I don’t even want to identify.

The pride in his face when showing off his collection

The pride on Theo’s face when he started explaining his “collection system” was honestly kind of adorable. Kid has been catching, cataloging, and apparently feeding these things for months. I’m impressed by his dedication and mildly horrified by the logistics.

Marcus processing that his workspace has been colonized

Marcus kept muttering “where did he even get all these jars” while Theo casually mentioned he’d been “borrowing” them from my meal prep containers. Mystery solved. Also, I need new meal prep containers.

The full scope of the bug empire revealed

The full scope of the operation is actually pretty impressive - organized by species, labeled with dates, and somehow he’s kept them all alive. I’m calling it a win for STEM education and trying not to think about what the neighbors might say.

We’ve negotiated a compromise: Theo can keep ten specimens (his choice), but they’re moving to a designated area in his room, not scattered throughout Marcus’s workspace. Marcus gets his garage back, Theo keeps his favorites, and I get to pretend I’m a cool mom who encourages scientific curiosity instead of someone who found a cricket in her coffee mug this morning.