“Let’s build a fort!” This is a common shout heard in many households with little ones running around. It requires creativity and lots of smiles. However, there are no materials for building it with bricks, stones or even piles of wood. The only things left to work with are your sofa cushions, pillows and some blankets. Your child’s eyes widen and you can see their imagination beginning to stir as pure joy illuminates their face. It becomes the coolest thing they ever heard of…a blanket fort. Cushions begin to be dismantled; coins and broken chip crumbs are visible, but the blanket fort walls are found. Your creativity bounces off your kid’s imagination and all the cushions are vertically stood on one end quickly but efficiently. Every now and then one cushion falls over, but pillows along with the support of the empty sofa come in handy.

The two key elements that are a must in creating this blanket fort are a covering and an entrance to it. The blanket is thrown over the top of the cushions that are barely holding their balance and there is a tiny gap for you and your child to get inside. It is complete. You use pillows to cover the entrance but a few toys seem to make their way in before you close the gates. The covering above takes a slight lean towards the center of the structure but as you sit criss-cross apple sauce, your head creates a center pillar. It is dark inside, but everyone is protected, hidden and having fun. All of a sudden everything becomes silent, but the smiles remain, you have just created your best blanket fort. It is the best not because of your skills in building blanket forts, but because of your willingness to build.