Please come and talk to me about imaginary friends

[dilemma456]

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Yes nothing to worry about at all.

My dd has a gang of imaginaries and talks about them all the time. I've had good reassurance from Mn before about it.

Oh yes, it can be quite weird I think, and you do want to say 'look you know this isn't real, right? You do know that?' because it can be freaky. But don't worry, it's not really freaky and I think quite normal.

I had an imaginary friend called Bib. I still remember what he looked like.

ds2 had two, one of them was vile and rude and wasn't allowed out a lot and met a dreadful death in a place where 'he shouldn't have been in the first place', the other one just grew up and left.

DD had a whole world of babies and it was v. complicated kingdom with different coloured rooms and a Queen who ordered them to do jobs, and when they'd done them they could re-paint their rooms, and there was a taxation system, and it was all very weird and v. CONSTANT.

DD1 has a lovely friend called Drownarny. He is a boy with a long neck like a giraffe and pink hair. He used to spend a lot of time here, but these days he only really makes an appearance when dd hasn't played with her real friends for a while, when on holiday for example.

Yes, dd's friends were around constantly when we were on holiday recently.

Every so often dh has said things like "Ginny's [dd's main one] standing over here, dd" to which she's replied disparagingly, "it's only pretend, Daddy".

Squeaver

my dd1 had imaginary friend too, when she just started school and had no real friends

Aaaaw my dd had Jams and Jims and they had a pet crocodile. They were great fun.
Then ds had johnathan, a mysterious little fellow who was shy of me!
Perfectly normal and lovely (and a sign of intellect)

Ds has had an imaginery family for over two years now (he is nearly 5). Dadoo and Jimmy are the dad and mum, Tommy and Jackie are older children, there is a baby called Kid and a babysitter called Chippy. They make regular random appearances and they talk (ds does different voices). Sometimes ds is a builder called Ben and has to take his men to work in his van. Currently he employs 10 workmen.

They come on holiday with us (not the workmen) and sometimes Dadoo and Jimmy go with me to work on the train (so ds tells me).

Ds is very sociable so not sure it is anything to do with any lack of friends.

imaginary

Most of the imaginary friends my ds has had have come from films he has seen. Only Zurg from Toy Story has stuck around and he seems to be a pleasant sort so I don't mind. Sometimes he brings his baby for the day too! Jessie from Toy Story came to live with us for a while too but she was quite naughty (always on behalf of ds obviously!). Interestingly she disapeared never to return the day I bought him a Jessie Doll.

He has had a few that aren't characters he's seen, mainly one which seems to live on top of the toy kitchen in his room and is called wiggle though I haven't heard from that one in a while!

I did worry it was an only child thing but others had reassured me absolutely not. I don't mind as he enjoys making up stories for them and complicated family arrangements! I do make it clear however I know naughty behaviour comes from him not his 'friends' though. And it can be a pain waiting for half a dozen of them to use toilet and wash hands when you're out! I humour him if it's practical.

Oooh this is so interesting to read. My dd1 is 3.7 and fairly recently an imaginary friend called "Conker" arrived. He sounds like a fairly ordinary boy, lives under our dining table and disappears off on holiday every so often. I put it down to a few major changes in her life recently, insecurity etc - but nice to hear it can be a sign of intellect!

DD had 2 imaginary friends a few months ago, one called "Buster" and one called "Eddy"

She used to chat to them a lot, they had to come with us to the shop etc etc..rather odd, even the names I don't know where she got them!

But she's 3.2 now & the only thing she talks about is a 'nanny' (she doesnt have a nanny at all) ..

My DD has an imaginary baby giant as a friend. When she first started talking about this giant I would look up as though addressing, well, a giant. She then kindly informed me it was in fact a teeny tiney eenney weeney baby giant! Apparently its called Sheila.

Sheila often accompanies us to school, outings or where ever we are going and I have even been known to tuck sheila into bed at night.

Call the men in white coats pronto

ROFL at Jim and Jack, Barack Obama and Bustados and Joan! DD, now 5.10, has always had imaginary friends. Currently we have Abigail (imaginary sister), Oon and another sister whose name I forget but that pair are very badly behaved, and several imaginary ponies.

My favourite was 'Fighty the Boy'. She was about 3 when he appeared. We'd hear her having almighty rows with him. Apparently he was appallingly behaved. However he met a sad end when, 'someone accidentally sat on him and squashed him flat.' Poor dd was incosolable, 'as he had just become Good the Boy,' proving that only the good die young, I guess. She brought him back to life again by 'punking [pumping] him up', whereupon he moved to Australia and was never heard of again.

All of these friends can appear at will, but are pretty much guaranteed to appear when she is in the bathroom - to the extent that dh and I now wonder if there is a portal in there.

MIL thinks dd is deranged, but I support the 'sign of intelligence' theory. (Conclusively proved by MIL's counter-arguments, I feel. )

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This thread has cheered me up no end. Although it doesn't bother me my ds seems to be the only child I know in rl who does this. I have to explain 'Zurg' to everyone from shop assistants to hairdressers! I'm glad I'm not alone!

ds had two when at playschool - Mowtie was one, who lived in the mountains, and I forgot the other. He would chat away in bed for ages.
He then forgot about them as he turned into a cat himself for two years. The only way I could bring him out of (his many) temper tantrums was to miow at him and say 'come to mummy cat' whilst making grooming actions! .

DD's imaginery friends were Cotcha (male) who arrived before she was 2y, followed by Bella. They were around for quite a while. Cotcha finally left us a few months after DD started school - so she was around 4.5y-5y by that time.

We acknowledged they were about but DD was quite adament they weren't real anyway - when I once siggesed they were she told me I was silly!

At school in reception she had to draw a picture of a special person - she drew Cotcha, who apparently had either green or blue (can't remember which now) skin. Everyone else int he class had drawn parents, siblings r the odd real life friend, lol. Cothca's portrait did stand out a bit on the wall!

I miss our imaginery friends sometimes.

My dd2 had an imaginary friend 'Karen' (exciting name to think up there!!!). She was everywhere for about a year and had several accidents and ended up in hospital with broken limbs quite a lot. My dd use to use an old mobile phone and ring her up constantly, I would just walk in the room and she'd be pacing up and down talking about the ailment of the week. I loved finding out what Karen was up to at any given time (usally aquiring a new puppy or something similar) and I had to talk to her sometimes on the phone too. We had to ring her quite often on holidays to check she was OK while we were away.
Dd2 has just turned 6 and we only asked her the other day how Karen was and she just shrugged, I kinda miss Karen!!

feedthegoat - I've been wondering if I need to explain to people about DS1's (3.6) friend Nick who has appeared in the last few weeks. DS1's Godparents were over the other day and were rather bemused by 'Nick and me being gardeners' so I had to explain and my 11 year old nephew did ask me if Nick was DS1's imaginary friend!

I do think I better tell Playgroup!

I sort of encouraged DD's imaginary 'friend' ... she started running out of rooms in a bit of a panic (when in there on her own) shouting 'A monster's coming!!' I remember that feeling quite clearly from when I was a kid, and I knew telling her there are no monsters wasn't going to help. So I told her it was probably Fungus, and explained he was just a little boy monster, and nothing to worry about. I would go and shoo him up the chimney, to meet his parents or friends on the roof. I realise it could have gone quite badly, but it seemed to work! [phew.] DD started making up little scenarios for what he was doing. He seems to have wandered off recently, we haven't heard from him

I love hearing these stories, by the way!
The only child I've known with imaginary friends was at a Nursery - his were called Barger and Catford He talked about them a lot, but they never came to Nursery with him I don't think.

Ds is 6 and still maintains that the polar bear and two teddies who share his bed are his family, also has not one but two imaginary worlds with their own languages. He is married to polar bear who is in her 90s and the two bears are their children. He rescued Polar Bear from a zoo as they couldn't afford to feed her any more. It goes on and on, he even set up a website to tell people what they were up to.

My DD has a couple of invisible people living in her room, one is her granny "wot lived in the olden days" and the other is Emily, a little girl from Germany.

The only slightly spooky thing is that when she describes granny she sounds reeeely similar to my grandma who died when I was 12 and lived in this house for a bit.