Imaginary Friend

[lottysmum]

Not sure whether this is relevant to school board threads but could not see any other forum to post topic.

DD5 has had a difficult couple of weeks at school - friendship problems.

On Friday morning on the way to school (out of the blue) came an imaginary friend called Annie, who was going to school with her. My dd did actually refer to Annie has an imaginary friend but I was a bit miffed as to why Annie had suddenly arrived.

I know imaginary friends are common, but having read a couple of articles I now wonder whether Annie is a coping mechanism because of the girlfriend issues at school.

Socially she seems ok, she was out playing with her non school friends today and yesterday and has her best friend from school coming home for tea on Tuesday (boy)

Anyone else experienced this?

My ma and her sister SHARED an imaginary friend. If your daughter realise that Annie is imaginary then Annie might not hang around for long.

I had imaginary friends. They are a coping mechanism. But it's not a bad thing, it's normal. At least she has a coping mechanism.

Thank you for the replies...she did refer to Annie has an imaginiary friend ...

She's fairly open in talking about her feelings with the girl friendship issues at school so hopefully with lots of love & support Annie will fade away.

I had loads of imaginary friends - and not many real ones - so yes, I guess it was a coping mechanism of sorts but I wasn't aware of being unhappy and I grew out of it as I'm sure your daughter will.

I had an imagniary friend called Fred for a very brief period when I was your daughter's age. In no way did I believe he was real. I can clearly remember that I came across the idea in a book and thought I would try it out.

Fred was useful when there were things which as a shy child I did not want to deal with. I could talk to Fred instead of acknowledging that there was a situation I felt excluded from.

Fred only lasted about 6 months but I think he was useful and provided a kind of security blanket. Any coping mechanism is better than not being able to cope at all.

I wouldn't worry too much. I've always thought of imaginary friends as a sign of great intelligence and imagination (I had an imaginary friend for MANY years) .

I found her a great source of comfort and amusement. I was painfully shy but I also had many real friends and was always (I think) fairly popular.

Quite a few of my childhood friendships have stood the test of time and survived moving continents.

DS1 has/had two imaginary friends.
This thread reminded me that we haven't heard about them for ages.
I miss them!
He's 12 now, and stopped talking about them about four or five years ago.

Thank you...for your reassurances