Does/Did your child have an imaginary friend?

[Bomper]

Dd2 had recently acquired 2 imaginary friends, Patrick and Barney!! Although she is my 3rd child, it is my first experience of this. She gets me to ask them questions, for instance, when I ask what she wants for lunch she asks me to ask them too, which I do. Am I doing the right thing? Is it common for children to have imaginary friends? How long does it usually last for? TIA

DD1 got an imaginary friend called Ellie aged 2. She used to tell us what they have been upto during the day. She is now 3 and still mentions her but not as often. I dont see anything in it Ive been told by others its a sign of a fertile imagination so I play along with it.

DS2 had (has?) an imaginary little brother. He never came here, I never had to consult him, I just had to discuss him sometimes.

We have hordes of them. 3 are "brothers" - Sam, Ellis and Tom. They are often at school (apparently) and they have (so I'm told) a different mummy and daddy to my dds (!) so I don't worry myself about their welfare too much.

On really hectic days in the Lollipop household dd1 (4) runs an entire nursery class. Around 10 of them (sadly I couldn't see them clearly ) were queueing all the way up the stairs for the loo! dh was told in no uncertain terms to wait his turn and stop treading on them.

I find it very amusing. I am sure that my dd knows they are "pretend only" so I don't worry about it too much.

DS2 used to have Virgil. Virgil used to have a very exciting life with many adventures but never actually made it to our house, as far as I can remember. DS2 also had an imaginary country which was permanently in a state of war - constant battling, but free ice-cream as well . ALso a very complicated voting system that I never really understood. I sort of miss it now - I guess they both disappeared when he was around 5.

Ds has one imaginary friend since he was about 3 (he is 4 and a half now) the imaginary friend is called Dada, and there is also Dada's mummy, and baby Dada, dont know where Dada's daddy is, he isnt mentioned to often now, but is occasionally blamed for wanting things that DS has been told he can't have... also he has a few stuffed animals that he talks to....i used to imagine that all our pets talked... possibly why I used to dress them up in dolls clothes

I think I will miss them as well when they all leave. I think (in our case) that dd1 developed this little group partly due to being an only child for quite a while. (3.7 year age gap).

My dd3, just 4, has one. Wellaboot. A boy who lives, variously, in her head and in her best friend's head. And is occasionally loaned out into my head.

She's the first of mine to have one so explicitly, though my 8yo quite likely does but doesn't talk about it - she daydreams obsessively.

dd(nearly 4) has imaginary children i'm not too worried about them, i'm more worried about the names she's choosen for them. She has quite a few but 2 that are always there. Worryingly some of them just leave even though they are babies When we go out they are often left with their nanny. Oh and their dad is called John

Thanks for your replies!! Are you ever asked to get things for them? Food, drinks etc? Dd2 wants me to lay places for them at the table, and get really cross when we are all in the car as there is no room for her 'friends'!!!

Come on Eddas, don't leave us in suspence, what names has she given them?!

DS (4.5) has an imaginary friend called Brickson. Occasionally I have asked things about him, and DS sometimes has to remind me that he isn't real

My dd who is 4 has 2 imaginary friends called Gimber and Gind.

She hasnt mentioned them for a while though.

Lilac does all the naughty stuff in our house

she died a while back, quite a violent death iirc. but she's back now

sorry bomper dd gets quite cross if I put something down where they're sitting i haven't been asked to give them food or anything but I think I would if dd asked.

Disclaimer: the names aren't too bad, just not sure how dd picked them up IYSWIM, they are, Chelsea and Yester the others are preschool friends names, Luke, Jamie i'm sure she has other children, can't think of their names atm. I'll ask her when she comes home from preschool

the other day dh noticed our toothpaste on the utility room roof and asked how it got there. Apparently Yester was being naughty and was on the roof and she was trying to get him in. With toothpaste was pmsl so couldn't tell her off

We have Baby Jack - who often goes to nursery with ds (now 3.2) - although he is mentioned a lot less now. Have been rigidly ignoring Baby Fergus (he has a good friend called Fergus, so don't want added confusion) and he also has 2 friendly monsters called Freddie and Jessie (I must confess that I helped to create Freddie when Ds was having 'the monsters are coming' panic attacks, but Jessie turned up at the same time). Freddie and Jessie are often to be found sitting in the car next to ds, although they don't wear their seatbelts.

DD1 had Elfie for a while, who was a little boy that I had to be careful not to sit on. He didn't last long, but we get stories about what happens at her 'aeroplane house', where she looks after 2 boys (named after her cousins) and has an aeroplane dad. We have no idea why it's an aeroplane house. We just let her get on with it - I think she uses the stories to try and put things into context for herslef. For example, when dh was taken into hospital for an emergency operation, one of her aeroplane cousins was too.

Until this am DD4 had 2 imaginary dogs - smowy and barker. THis morning she also had pinky - who apparently doesn't bark as much as barker and doesn't like boy dogs so wee wees on them.....

She has also taken to shouting at me at night for squashing Joseph who sleeps beside her.

poledra interesting- my dd uses her imaginary play to take things on board or come to terms with things too!
She always makes her cuddly toys act it out, rather than an imaginary friend, but she's still only 2.3 and she has done this for 6 months plus.

My DD does. Currently called Soren Lorenson! It isn't a big deal as she doesn't mention him/her all the time. I think it is quite sweet.

dd, then about 12m, was always visited in her cot by the Blue People - a Blue Lady and a Blue Man. They were friendly and kind (unlike the Old Lady who would sit in the corner of our bedroom, who was frightening and nasty). The Old Lady left first. DD lost the Blue People when she was about 2.5; recently (she's now 8) she has acquired a ghost who can be a bit of a nuisance to her, but I'm not expected to acknowledge him or anything. He keeps her company and plays tricks on her, occasionally I tell him to behave but only if she asks me to - keeps her amused.

dd1 used to have 2 imaginary friends ,Lissa and Norma(Norma was a boy though)

we had peter pan living with us for quite a while when ds1 was small.then ds1 became peter pan and wouldnt answer to anything else-his nursery teacher hated it.