DD has an imaginary friend

[RedRobyn2021]

My DD is 2y9 and has an imaginary friend called Eda

FTM is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this?

I don't remember ever having an imaginary friend as a child

My little sister had five, all with highly developed personalities and dress sense, not all of them human, from what I remember. One of them was a pony who wore a ballet tutu.

DS had an elaborate cohort, like something out of Alice in Wonderland, including one called ‘Sir DS’s Own Name’, who was a sort of courtly alter ego, spoke fake medieval language and was always clanking around in armour.

I had two imaginary friends, one was naughty, one wasn’t.
I had an imaginary horse who lived in the shed. I used to get the grass cuttings out the bin and put them in the shed for her, much to my mums annoyance as they rotted.
I had an imaginary family of crocodiles under the bed who protected me from monsters, I used to feed them the occasion bogey to keep them on my side but also keep them hungry for the monsters.

Do you not remember the imaginary friend in Inside Out? So sad 😢

My DS had one that was very much part of our lives for a couple of years - and then he wasn’t!

My daughter had 1 at first then a second came along a year or so later. She described every detail of them, would say Millie's (one of her friends) birthday was the same as her younger brothers. Lots of other stories. We eventually had to get a psychic round as there was a few "bumps in the night" toy mobiles turning on etc she told me there was two little girls that were in my daughter's room. Described them, ages etc and one who was younger then my daughter but looked the image of her was likely a child I had lost. My son was a twin until I lost one in pregnancy. Every detail she gave was how my daughter had described her friends. When she turned 7 they just went! She has vague memories of them when I ask her, she's 12 now.
Depends what you believe but it's all good for them! They helped her through some big changes.

My dd 3 had an imaginary friend who she used to scream at down the phone. She's now the most sociable adult I know.

Totally normal

Dd now 6 had boy/girl when she was about 2/3

They came with her to do everything. Sometimes I was told I sat on them on the sofa and I would have to move 😂

They would sit at the table and eat with her , have a bath , go the parks , in the car etx

Was lovely to hear and see and using her imagination

Either my partner has some explaining to do or my daughter has an imaginary sister, brother, dog and her own house. Sister and brother share the same first name 🤨

Ah cute, I still miss Lisa my DDs imaginary friend. It was non stop birthday parties and babies with her.

I had an imaginary friend called Louise (dates me to a 90s childhood) who lived in the garage. I liked her way better than my siblings! I think I forgot about her when I started primary school full time.

Skara, Kyka and Els were DD’s age 3

Mine were Kirby, Gobby and Pooley. Pooley was female🤷🏼‍♀️

Sounds less scary than "Birdy friend".

Lovely old Rik Mayall film, Drop Dead Fred.

That's right. My girl had such a friend and he had sit next to her at the table and have his own plate. At bedtime she would confide that he didn't like the story I had chosen and wanted another. Then one day she called me say Mummy when I put out an extra plate for him. And that was the last we ever heard of her imaginary friend.
I think his appearance coincided with her big sister starting school. She was lonely without her sister.

[edited as realised it’s an old thread]

There is actually a film out now (not wayched it) called "IF"(comedy for kids about imaginary friends) about finding new friends for forgotten imaginary friends.

Totally normal and just such a shame children don't generally remember their childhood imaginary friends (IFs).

After discovering she can see everyone's imaginary friends, a girl embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids.

Sorry edited to make link work 😅

I had two. I’m the youngest by a big gap, and I loved the company when my siblings were at school. It’s a sign of a rich and fertile inner life (I tell myself.)

I was chatting to my DD(19) today about her imaginary friend and how badly behaved he was. She had him for about a year with she was 4.
Very normal.

DD1 has Karesa (I’m saying has instead of “had” to avoid tempting fate) who is nothing but trouble… as soon as Karesa gets mentioned I know to keep a close eye out. I think she must have turned up around age 3. DD1 is now 8 and the last couple of years I’ve not heard so much about her. Karesa has a car that drives quite close to ours but one day she wanted to come into our car, so DD1 managed to open the door of the moving car to let her in…. that’s a real example, but the kind of thing that we came to expect (I think DD1 read the cat in the hat at school just before Karesa turned up the first time, so I think she’s modelled off Thing 1 and Thing 2).

DD2 has “little ghost” who gets the blame for anything DD2 has done wrong, but doesn’t appear to actively cause trouble in the same way.

Mine had a song made up about him which Dad used to sing all the time, and although I remember him being helpful (he’d ride an imaginary horse along side the car on long journeys to keep me amused for example) I rather suspect that he caused trouble because my parents made him sleep under the stairs rather than in my bedroom!

I’d be more worried about a child that didn’t have one.

Absolutely normal. Some kids do this.

I had one. He went everywhere with us, even on holiday. My parents even had to make sure that they had put him in the car if we were going out. They'd have to turn back and collect him if I decided we had forgotten him. 🤣

He disappeared the day my younger sister was born and never was mentioned again.

It's young children's developing imaginations.

I had several including Nicky, Lumbjaw and Auntie Mully.
I also had night terrors and I went sleepwalking.

I had an imaginary horse named Cassandra. Still remember cantering along on Cassandra and collecting grass to feed her.

Perfectly normal. My advice- don't pay too much attention to the imaginary friend. Be as close involved as the child wants you to be but don't be proactive because you don my want the child to becomes self conscious about her or she might feel she has to give her up, and that would be a shame. So "Yes of course I'll set Eda a place at the table" not "I've set Eda a place..." IYSWIM.

When I was in primary school I had 4- I was an only child for ages so I think that’s why I created so many 😂 mine were called Jenny, Jodie, Joanna and Nicola. When my much younger sister was about 3 to 8 years old she had one called Holly.

My DD, at about 3, had an imaginary mother, who was called 'Mother' (not Mum or Mummy, like me). It was a little disturbing! Generally 'mother' was a mum who let DD do exactly as she wanted ('mother' said I can wear my pink party dress to school). I think the idea was a combination of Disney's 'Rapunzel', which she'd seen a few times, and her desire to have control (she was the most strong willed of my 3 children, biggest tantrums).

Suffice to say that my DD is 15 now, and the most lovely teenager with great mental health, bar the odd hormonal mood. We are very, very close!

DS had an imaginary dog called Black. I always had to check where Black was before I closed a door in case I shut him out. Black had a lead which lived on DS bed when he went to nursery.
DS has never wanted his own real dog.