do your dc's have imaginary friends?

[lucykate]

dd had a whole gang of them when she was 3, then they went away. now she has a new gang, she's 5 now btw. i know its most probably normal, don't remember having any myself though, but jusy wanted to check with other mums.

apart from when we left the supermarket once and she went into meltdown because she said we'd left all her imaginary friends behind. i had to pretend, when we got home, that they were waiting outside and must have got the bus!.

I have only one real child, however, my daughter has 3 imaginary brothers - the nice one is called Keith, and two sisters who own their own houses, fly planes, and are still only in reception class at school! Clearly high flyers! They have been with us now since she turned 3 (she is now 4 and a half! To be honest, I'm getting fed up with them, but have been told it's quite normal for a child to have imaginary siblings? Please someone tell me they will go soon!

I am so glad someone mentioned this, my DS says there is a ghost in our room and only in our room. And sometiems out of the blue he will go into our room and say the ghost is waking up now.

He also talks about Michael all them time and we have never met a Michael. So not sure if the ghosts name is Micheal or if his is imaginary.

My Bro can see ghosts so when he next visits he said he will remove it. Not that it worries more or anything.

When my daughter was about 3 several imaginary friends appeared, Joely was older than her, was very naughty and had blue hair. J'pot (possibly Vulcan for those Trekkies amongst you?) was the same age as my daughter and was better behaved, although could be mischeivous at times. There were several others but these 2 were around most of the time. By the time she was 4 1/2 they had almost completely disappeared. However, since she turned 6, a few months ago, J'pot has returned complete with a baby sister and a dog called Jam. There is also someone called Sarah who appears occasionally. My daughter is very creative and I think this is just an extension of her over active mind. My son who is nearly 4 and far more literal and practical has never had an imaginary friend.

As a child I had 4 of them, according to my mother, the dreadfully named Humpy, Gibbidy & Goey, the 4th was Mozart, he lived in the dresser and never did what his mother told him to do.

Having imaginary friends is supposed to be a sign of intelligence. At least that's what I tell myself ... and my little friend

my 3 year old has imaginary mouse, and friends. the mouse wears a bathy or a tuxedo!!! i realy dont remember havin imaginary friend but i had brothers and sisters to play with. my toddler is an only child. Although i encourage her by adding to the conversation i get worried when she looks up and talks to a man who she says scares her. have i maybe got ghosts she can see??????

DD had Cardiff, a girl a little older than her with pierced ears and silver boots. She was joined by Spitty (shortly after a spitting phase), Steppy (after a day out where there were stepping stones), and Shitty (luckily he didn't last).
The funny thing was, when I asked her what Cardiff looked like, DD looked at me like I was stupid and said 'Mummy she is only my pretend friend'.

peter pan used to live with us for quite a while but he was a bit naughty sometimes

is it a sign of loneliness to have imaginary friend or reassurance or just creative????

i think very creative!

Lonewolf, I was reading an article about gifted children recently, and having imaginary friends is supposed to be a good thing; creative, inventive, etc. So NO ONE WORRY!! I have a imaginary friend, as it goes. He's an angel; great face, big wings, well hung .. you know the type.

I had one called Hungerford. He lived inside the painting of a house that hung on our bedroom wall as babies. We have the picture in our kitchen now - wonder if my twins will come up with any inhabitants for it?! wink

well psychology has proven that children get their intelligience from their mother so that explains the giftdness

I don't remember but my mum told me I had an imaginary friend when I was 2, about the time my brother was born. He was Rupert the Bear and we went everywhere together. I used to walk along holding his imaginary hand! He also had to be set a place at the table and strapped into the car or I'd get very upset. I have no memory of him so I must have grown out of it by the time I was about 3 or 4.

I had a friend called Shadowberry. My brother had a friend called Sam who lived in the Sprouts patch in our garden and had blue hair and a green face.

Mine was called Gin Gin, lived at the bottom of the garden apparently! Maybe thats why i am so fond of Bombay Sapphire now!

ds2 had 2 little men living in his little fingers. They were called Mr Bimble and Bernard. Never did work out where those names came from!

Mr Bimble lives in Fozzie's finger in Muppet Treasure Island.

My daughter has 'the girls' they vary in number, but they're just her imaginary play friends and she tells us that on a regular basis. Most funny is when 'the girls' are queuing for the loo, makes me giggle

Agnes

goblinqueen - didn't know that! What about Bernard?

This is a fantastic thread. I particularly like Agnes' story about her daughter's imaginary friends queuing for the loo - fab!!

There is a thread going on in the 'spirituality' section about ridding one's house of ghosts - people seeing spirits who usually seem to be 'naughty' children. Seems to be mostly the parents noticing though - for those who are worried!

DD1 used to have two imaginary friends, at the same age she used to make up her own 'original' words and use them in conversations. Unfortunately she decided to rename her 'friends' with two words that she'd just made up..they became...Mr Dorchar and Mr Bollocks

my son is 4 and has 2 imaginary friends Frank&johnny.They are very small they seem to be in his pocket alot.johnny is the naughty one, anything my son does that he knows will get him told off is always johnnys fault
i love listening to him playing with them it makes his imagination grow which is a good thing.

My niece has had several imaginary friends which caused all kinds of embarrassing moments for my sister. At one point my niece was shouting and bawling on the tram at some poor stranger after he had the audacity to sit on her favourite imaginary friend.

My twin DD's used to have an old lady and they often referred to their other mummy. Did wonder at the time if they had been reincarnated rather than imaginary friends. They have gone away now.

Sometimes they say they would like another mummy though!