Dear Readers: Here’s a nice story — and an ice story, too: Real boys build real igloo. I know — it’s too bad that this kind of this is so rare it merited a write-up. But that snow reason not to celebrate (with bad puns)! — Lenore
Back when the British media reported on this, I can only remember the oldest of the boys actually spending any significant time in there. He was the only one allowed to sleep in there (even though his mother worried about the thing collapsing). If he ever slept in an igloo again, he said he wouldn’t do it alone. Not only would an igloo sleepover be more fun, it would also keep em warmer.
Susan on
My 6th grader and his friend made two igloos this winter (so far), one at the end of the driveway and another on our back patio. Their social studies teacher gave the students extra credit for bringing in a picture (resulting in quite a few igloos in the front yards of our neighborhood!).
Shelly on
Tonight at 11……..Three children go to the park by themselves (!), and climb trees! You’ll only see it here, folks!
Dragonwolf on
Susan — That is awesome, both on the part of your kids and on the teacher for encouraging it.
A couple winters ago, my daughter and her friends built an igloo during an overnight “camp out” in the Cascade Mountains in December. Awesome!
Risa on
Neat! Though it looks more like a quinze (made from snow piled into a large cone shape then dug out) than an igloo (made from stacked blocks of ice). We slept in a quinze one year when we went winter camping–definitely not as easy as pitching a tent. Those boys have some real stick-to-it-iveness.
Jenne on
I think it was a cute little feel-good story. Why shouldn’t feel-good stories make the news? Building an igloo and camping out in it is enough unusual to make it in the local paper…
I like that it was in the news. I like that there was one less horrific story about someone doing something “bad”. Maybe other kids will want to play outside if they think they’ll be on the news… maybe.
ebohlman on
The writer could have chosen some better phrasing for his last sentence: “Despite the hard work…”? By and large, the things we enjoy the most are the things we’ve worked the hardest to attain. The phrasing buys into the notion that kids are inherently lazy. Oh well, I’m asking too much.
Gary on
Good thing the igloo did not collapse on the kids, or the headline would be that Child Protective Services Removes Children From Icy Home, Parents Charged With Not Supplying Hot Chocolate.
Dot Khan on
I was all bundled up with my knit cap with the red pom pom on top digging a snow fort below the surface of 3 feet of snow when I was a kid. Our cat came prowling across the top of the snow and pounced on top of my head not realizing that I was not some tiny red animal to attack.
I noticed an absence of snowmen and child-built snow structures this winter in our city. But I didn’t go looking in all the subdivisions.
Peter Brülls on
@risa I thought Igloos were made out of snow (hard snow, but snow nontheless), not simply ice. True ice wouldn’t have air trapped within the bock and therefor wouldn’t work very well as an insulator.
My little brothers (16 and 12) build igloos every year, and THEY’VE never made the news! =)
JonD on
I remember, after a school trip where I learned to make one, making a quinzhee in the back yard and sleeping in it.
It’s amazing how warm it is inside one of them as long as you keep the entrance low enough! I kept pulling layers off until I was wearing just my underwear and a not-very-good sleeping bag, partially unzipped.
18 Comments
WHAM!
I thought the exact same thing… kids building an igloo makes the news… how sad.
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Back when the British media reported on this, I can only remember the oldest of the boys actually spending any significant time in there. He was the only one allowed to sleep in there (even though his mother worried about the thing collapsing). If he ever slept in an igloo again, he said he wouldn’t do it alone. Not only would an igloo sleepover be more fun, it would also keep em warmer.
My 6th grader and his friend made two igloos this winter (so far), one at the end of the driveway and another on our back patio. Their social studies teacher gave the students extra credit for bringing in a picture (resulting in quite a few igloos in the front yards of our neighborhood!).
Tonight at 11……..Three children go to the park by themselves (!), and climb trees! You’ll only see it here, folks!
Susan — That is awesome, both on the part of your kids and on the teacher for encouraging it.
A couple winters ago, my daughter and her friends built an igloo during an overnight “camp out” in the Cascade Mountains in December. Awesome!
Neat! Though it looks more like a quinze (made from snow piled into a large cone shape then dug out) than an igloo (made from stacked blocks of ice). We slept in a quinze one year when we went winter camping–definitely not as easy as pitching a tent. Those boys have some real stick-to-it-iveness.
I think it was a cute little feel-good story. Why shouldn’t feel-good stories make the news? Building an igloo and camping out in it is enough unusual to make it in the local paper…
I like that it was in the news. I like that there was one less horrific story about someone doing something “bad”. Maybe other kids will want to play outside if they think they’ll be on the news… maybe.
The writer could have chosen some better phrasing for his last sentence: “Despite the hard work…”? By and large, the things we enjoy the most are the things we’ve worked the hardest to attain. The phrasing buys into the notion that kids are inherently lazy. Oh well, I’m asking too much.
Good thing the igloo did not collapse on the kids, or the headline would be that Child Protective Services Removes Children From Icy Home, Parents Charged With Not Supplying Hot Chocolate.
I was all bundled up with my knit cap with the red pom pom on top digging a snow fort below the surface of 3 feet of snow when I was a kid. Our cat came prowling across the top of the snow and pounced on top of my head not realizing that I was not some tiny red animal to attack.
Great story.
I noticed an absence of snowmen and child-built snow structures this winter in our city. But I didn’t go looking in all the subdivisions.
@risa I thought Igloos were made out of snow (hard snow, but snow nontheless), not simply ice. True ice wouldn’t have air trapped within the bock and therefor wouldn’t work very well as an insulator.
My little brothers (16 and 12) build igloos every year, and THEY’VE never made the news! =)
I remember, after a school trip where I learned to make one, making a quinzhee in the back yard and sleeping in it.
It’s amazing how warm it is inside one of them as long as you keep the entrance low enough! I kept pulling layers off until I was wearing just my underwear and a not-very-good sleeping bag, partially unzipped.