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Original poster

Imaginary friends

18 replies

tarantuless · 26/04/2006 14:14

Dd (2.3) has just begun chatting about 'her sister who lives in the garden'. Her name is apparently Annie. She chats about Annie in the same way as she talks about her brother (my dss who doesnt live with us) and her cousins but we've never seen her 'playing' with Annie IYSWIM tho she does chat quite a lot to herself and plays puppets with her fingers and other dolls/figures and all that. I dont know if this will go much further with her but.......

Would love to hear stories of other kids imaginary friends. How long did they last? How did you deal with it? What happened to them and that kinda thing? also how much did the kids want the friend included in family life (table settings extra drinks etc.) Funny stories would be good too.

Cheers

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Hermit · 26/04/2006 14:45

My dd (6) has an imaginary friend who is an elephant called Jumbo. He has been around a couple of years, although slightly less recently. He telephones, appears in the car and sometimes needs food or drink. Mainly he gets the blame though for anything untoward that happens! I often get 'Jumbo made me do it'.

Original poster
tarantuless · 26/04/2006 14:47

lol sounds like Jumbo is a great scapegoat. I can see dd using that one when she gets a bit older.

OP posts:
Flamesparrow · 26/04/2006 15:12

DD has an imaginary fish who lives in the carpet Grin Every now and then she spots him again and makes us hold him.

Original poster
tarantuless · 26/04/2006 16:18

An imaginary fish Now thats unusual and very creative. At least it doesnt need the water changing Grin I like that one.

OP posts:
hulababy · 26/04/2006 16:27

DD has had a couple of imaginery friends for a while now. She is 4yo (just). the first one, a "boy" called Cotcha, has been around for a couple of years. The other, Bella, has been around for a bout a year. She refers to them slightly less now than she used to, but they are both definitely still on the scene. She is very clear that they are both pretend and not real. We don't have to set tables, leave places, etc. for them and we aren't really involveds in the role play type games she has with them. However we do acknowledge they exist (in her mind) int he same way we do with her dolls and teddies. Bella and Cotcha do get the blame for various incidents - but that is when WE remind HER they aren't real!

Kelly1978 · 26/04/2006 16:30

ds has a worm that pops out of his jumper and likes to go shopping! Smile

dd had an imaginary friend who I've forgotten the name of, when she was about 3 yo. It didn't last mroe than a month or two. Once she started nursery and made more real friends she got forgotten.

swedishmum · 26/04/2006 20:52

dd had 3 monkeys - the only one I remember now is Lawming. She's 12 now. She used to dash up the stairs in shops leaving me at the bottom with the buggy while she chased the naughty monkeys. She's now very well balanced and very bright so don't worry - it's just the sign of an active imagination.

zoeuk1 · 26/04/2006 20:55

my son whos now 12 had an imaginary monkey too!

fastasleep · 26/04/2006 20:57

Mine 2.2 has started babbling about a boy called Dawson which is really weird because we don't watch TV so where he got Dawson from I don't know..

I thought he was a bit young for imaginary friends!

He wanders around all day going 'oh no, naughty Dawson, bye bye Dawson' 'Hello Dawson, Dawson on swing' it's very weird!

sassy · 26/04/2006 20:59

Dd1 (3y6mo) has lots of imaginary chldren! She is always playing mummies with them and it amuses dh and i greatly to ask how many children she has today. The answer varies from 4 to 16!!

Generally they are now becoming a device to exert her opinions over things she knows we will say no to; e.g. "My children, when they are in the car, they don't have to wear seatbelts".

\Dead cute really

1Baby1Bump · 26/04/2006 20:59

dawson! lol

my neice's was called Rita.

Beauregard · 26/04/2006 21:02

DD has 2 'friends'-Lissa and Norma ,norma is a boy apparentley!!!They quite often have accidents such as cutting themselves or falling down.They are also very good at hiding things that dont belong to them and according to dd they have always been there done that.They arent mentioned as often now.

SleepyJess · 26/04/2006 21:05

You mums should get \link{http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0007212259/qid=1146081788/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-2252717-8100464\this} book! You might think a little differently about the imaginary friends of your LOs if you did.. Grin

ebbie22 · 26/04/2006 21:20

my dd 3,has one called chady,always 3 months old???,and is everywhere with my dd,more or less all the time...dont know how to handle her friend sometimes,and now some things dd says to me and other people make me wonder how pretend chady is to her.....lol

Tommy · 26/04/2006 21:33

DS1 (4.3) has an imaginary friend called Honey who has a sister called Ben.... Apparently they both have chickenpox at the moment.
He used to talk about them all the time but in the last few months they have only appeared occasionally.
I think it's sweet! Smile

FrannyandZooey · 26/04/2006 21:37

I had to play hide and seek with ds' imaginary friend Von. He was really crap at seeking so I stood in the cupboard for bloody ages Angry

Once ds was in the garden shouting for me to come and lift him up so he could chat to the boy next door. I told him to hold on a minute, and heard him mutter "Oh don't worry, I'll ask Von to do it..."

northstar · 23/05/2006 20:54

Ds has 4 imaginary friends: Boo and Chookalie are 3 and 4, and Boo has just got a mummy. He didnt have one last week but then he wanted one so he got one!
Joke and Trick ( aka Tricky) live in the same house, no.5, and sleep in bunk beds.
They are all coming on holiday with us in AugustShock

stoppinattwo · 23/05/2006 21:56

When DS was little (about 2.5), the "scarey farmer" lived on his top bunk. [worried]
Didnt like that very much, asked DS why the farmer was scarey, and i was told ,because he does.
Asked why Scarey farmer was on the top bunk, DS told me because he slept on the bottom bunk [DUH].
Now bearing in mind that this was around the time that sixth sense was first out and I am the biggest wuss around and DH works nights I wasnt very impressed.
Just about managed to stop myself getting the priest in!!! I evicted scarey farmer myself Grin. Told DS he had to go back to his farm and he had left DS a little goodbye gift, and he never came back.
We did move house as well. (god I am a wuss)
Sorry didnt mean to spook the thread Blush

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