Has your child got a Imaginary friend

[Shoshable]

OK will put this in the right category

One of my mindees Mums, came to me last night, he 5 year old DD, is in Reception at school, the teacher called her in yesterday, to say that she was concerned because the child had imaginary friends, in fact they are two dolls she owns.

It seems the child had told the class that they were twins and they were going on holiday with her, and that Daddy had got a suitcase for them which she had packed.

The teacher seemed very concerned at this, the child is only child, who has been with me since age 2. She is exceptionally bright, could read before she went to school, and had completed the work reading books for reception by December, (and the reception is part time till the January term).

I really cant see the problem with it! It is not as if she doesnt play with other children to, she is a fairly sociable little girl, very close to 4 year old mindee I have who will be at the same school next September.

Would you be worried about it?

[Hulababy]

My DD has imaginery friends. She has two. Cotcha (male I think) joined us way before she was 2yo, Bella a little later. Now she is 5 they are less frequently around and referred to, but they sometimes still make an appearance.

DD is very social with plenty of little friends, so it makes no difference to her interaction with others.

DD is aware that these friends are pretend, and always has been.

I am in no way concerned. She just has a good imagination.

[pucca]

My dd (3 yo) has a imaginary horse, don't know if that counts lol

Apparently the horse is called Zeena and goes everywhere, tesco, the park, nursery and in the car too.

Infact at the park we had to go back to the swings (10 min walk) because dd had forgotten Zeena lol.

[Shoshable]

I'm not the slightest bit worried about it, this child would make up stories for the younger children at daycare 'reading' from a book way before she could read, has a fantastic command of language as have the younger ones with me, (I think it was a case of learn to talk well or you will never get a word in ) and had passed her imagination down to the others, 2 year old now 'reads' stories to the 1 year old .

[Anna8888]

Very healthy to have imaginary friends at this age. It's the teacher I would be concerned about - how odd to find such a normal aspect of development a worry.

[Tommy]

I'm really surprised that a reception teacher would be concerned about this.

My DS1 is same age and his teacher recently commented no how great his imagination was that he can make up endless stories with imaginary friends and situations - entertains the whole class apparently!

He also had 2 imaginary friends and talked about them alot - relating their experiences to situations going on in our lives (e.g. some friends' Mum died and a few weeks after DS1 told me that his imag friends' Mum had died too and that they were going to live with their grandma)

Very normal and healthy I would say

[Shoshable]

bump

[NoodleStroodle]

I think it is absolutely fine. My DD is 9 and although she does not have an imaginary friend in particular she does talk to herself contstantly - chattering away. A doctor friend said this was fine as long as she wasn't hearing voices in her head. I would love an imaginary friend.

[Bink]

If the sole issue is having imaginary friends, then I'd say this is a very inexperienced teacher. Imaginary friends is one of those things like, say, mirror-writing, among young children - some do it, some don't, it passes and it's of no consequence at all.

If, however, there is something more - like the little girl fixating on her imaginary friends to maybe avoid interaction with others (just an example, could be other things perhaps) - then it's the "something more" that is the issue, and the teacher needs to be asked more about that.

(My ds is 8 and still has imaginary beings, but they're ones he shares with his sister (who's 6), so I get to listen in on some surreal conversations about how their pet miniature flying whale is currently misbehaving.)

[Jacanne]

My incredibly sociable daughter has 2 imaginary friends called Coli and Choli. She has lots of friends, loves being with other children. I think it's quite a healthy thing to have - shows a good imagination. Maddy is also well aware that they are imaginary and if I ever pretend I can see them she says "Mummy, they're invisible." with the "oh God you idiot" tone of voice I thought they only developed when they're teenagers.