Is it all just make-believe, or is it lying?

[pdxmomazon]

My daughter is 4 and attends preschool two days a week. She is very popular and well-loved at her school. Apparently she doesn't give her teacher the same attitude she gives me ;-) Anyways, she often says things like "i made this for you" when it's an object she didn't make, and talks about her make-believe family (including mom Wonder Woman, dad Batman, and an ever changing assortment of sisters) in detail, including where they live, what their houses are like, what they all do together, etc. Last week a classmate brought one of her chickens for show-and-tell. According to her teacher, my daughter went on at length about *her* chickens. We don't have chickens. When I brought it up, she told me that she had chickens at her "other" house. I love love love her active imagination, but I'm not sure when or even if it's a problem. With some creative stories I've gotten her to admit that it's only pretend. Should I insist on that distinction, or just let her run wild?

[alegna]

My dd did that at that age she had a whole host of imaginary siblings, including a little sister Molly who was nearly always around.

I let it run its course and she moved on to other things.

-Angela

[pbjmama]

Sorry, that was the wrong thread!

Anyway, I would just go with it. I even play into it a bit sometimes!

[One_Girl]

My dd insisted that she had a sister for a long time. Imagination and having a hard time diferentiating between truth, wishes, and imagination are hard things at that age. I started telling my dd that I loved her imagination stories when she was this age so she could start diferentiating between imagination and truth. At first she was resistant, but I pointed out the different things that were imaginary in a jokey way and told her I loved that she has such a good imagination. If something was more like a lie than imagination then I would ask her if she wished that was the way something had happened and she would typically tell me yes. She still has an imagination and makes up a ton of stories so this didn't ruin that, it just helped her to know what her imagination was.

[mlh]

My 3 year old does the same thing. She insists that she has this other family and all kinds of friends that give her things and play with her. She will completely make up these crazy stories and I just laugh at how she goes on and on. I assume it will pass at some point...but if she is still doing it at 5 or 6, then I would start to question it.

[SomethingAnonymous]

My daughter is 3.5 and also seems to be struggling with differentiating between a lie, kidding around and being silly, or playing make believe. I assume it's just a difficult concept for the age, and I am going to just keep trying to work on it- by trying to explain what a lie is.

[attached2ethan]

My 4yo has a very active imagination also, and is always creating made-up stories about anything and everything he can conjure up. I love it- I think he has a beautiful mind and I have no problem with this.

However, he seems to be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality finally as he is closer to turning 5 (next month). He will make up his imaginary scenarios, but also switches to reality when needed. He had a breif time where he was literally LYING, and we put a stop to that quickly and now he seems to be doing well with the switch-off. I think with kids this age, it takes a while to make the distinction, and I wouldn't worry unless this went on for years or something.