Loading…
16
A librarian in Kansas City told me my blanket fort needs more air, not more blankets
I always thought the secret to a good fort was piling on as many blankets as possible until it got pitch black inside. Last month I was at a library sale in Kansas City and got chatting with a retired librarian who used to build reading nooks for kids, and she said the best forts leave a gap the size of a paperback at the bottom of one wall. She said the air gets stale in 20 minutes with no gap, and that's why people wake up groggy and think the nap was bad. I tried it that night with a 6 inch gap near my feet and slept better than I have in months. So my hot take is that airflow matters more than blanket count, and most of the fort photos here look like they'd suffocate a hamster. Has anyone else messed with vents or gaps and noticed a real difference?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
miles_young591mo ago
I ran into the same thing with my kid's fort last winter. We had it so sealed up that the air got thick and nasty after a half hour, and he kept waking up cranky from his naps in there. What finally worked was leaving a little opening at the top instead of the bottom, since hot air rises and it pulled the stuffy air right out. We used a folded towel to prop one corner up just an inch or two, and the difference was night and day. Too many blankets just traps your own breath in there with you, so the gap trick is the real fix.
2