DS (nearly 3) seems to have an imaginary friend - am I a bad parent?

[EugenesAxe]

That's it really... he has a sister of 15 months and they play together, but she's still mainly in the 'disrupting his play' rather than 'joining his play' phase as far as he's concerned.

Today he mentioned in the car 'Buppy' who was his 'big friend' & I sort of left it as a one-off comment... but he's just said something about his tea being 'Buppy's tea in the next room'. I do play with him but have a house to run so don't give him my undivided attention... just wondered if this was common or a bad thing that means I'm not really engaging with him enough. I don't think I'm much different from other parents but would be interested in stories.

[shebird]

Totally normal I was told it was a sign of a vivid imagination and a creative mind. DD had a 'friend' Bernie that was a boy wore stripped pyjamas and had red hair. It's a sweet little phase that allows them to act out different situations and enjoy a bit of fantasy.

[EugenesAxe]

Thanks everyone - laughed at "mahoohoo". wordfactory that's really exciting! Any we know?

Humphrey - "I see dead people"

OK so wrong emoticon, but it looks a bit like I did when I read your update...

[cory]

OP, did you read the thread on MNers who have an imaginary double life?

I was one of them; I'm 49 and not at all lonely or unhappy.

It's just creativity: like musical people sing and artistic people draw, people with an imagination make things up. Ds used to have his own country, with its own language and everything.

The only thing that surprised and shocked me about that thread was the realisation that there are people out there who do not make up stories: what do they do with their brains?

[Tommy]

DS1 had 2 imaginary friends - a boy called Honey and his sister who was called Ben
I'm sure they went just as quickly as they came! Thanks for reminding me and giving me a little chuckle

[artifarti]

DS1 is 4.5 and has an evil imaginary friend called Wozza; he's been around for 3 or so years. He turns up from time to time and causes trouble (i.e. 'Wozza just hit me!') and the other day DS1 told me that the jailmen had had to put him in space because he is so naughty We have worked out that Wozza always seems to turn up when DS1 seems to be a bit stressed about something (e.g. starting school) and I think it must help him to feel in control of something. He also has a nice one called Kacky, but he doesn't come very often. I don't worry about it .

[junkcollector]

DS2 had quite a few imaginary friends when he was about 2 or 3. Markum and Mr poo poo were an evil duo who were always saying mean things about people. Nobody liked them. There were various others that appeared from time to time.
The horses were the best though. We rode them on the way to DS1's school and it avoided all the faffing about looking at leaves and dog poo.

[Haberdashery]

Oh god, we had hundreds. The only one I liked was Super Sammy who used to find my hairbrush for me in the mornings. All the rest had endless lists of unfulfillable demands and were right little PITAs.

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

DD has many imaginary characters that people her world, she also has an alter ego called Red Cat.

[mummytime]

We used to have the Tweenies living with us, and used to have to wait for them to go downstairs first. DD1 had a whole other imaginary family.
Best name was "George-the-bin-roll-up-the-bath".