Imaginary Friends

[AllisonR]

Please tell about your DCs imaginary friend(s). Are they people, animals, creatures? What does your DC do with them? How long did they keep their imaginary friend(s)?

My DD has 3 imaginary dogs. One is named Hunnie. The other two change names, but are often Monnie, Minnie or something similar. She calls them her invisible dogs. She pets them, walks them on a leash, offers them her water.... and occasionally reprimands me or DS for sitting on one of them. She doesn't play with them that often, maybe 2-3 times a week, but has been doing so for about 6 months now; so I think her 3 dogs are here to stay. I am kind of curious how long this will last though. FWIW, we don't have any real dogs (or any other pets).

[GuildJenn]

We have had two: Mr. Bada and Kiki. Kind of like a pair of fussy houseguests that never like where they're seated as the sun is in their eyes and so on.

My son's almost 5 and they have been around on and off for a year or so.

[bandgeek]

Moe joined us when DS was 3. She's still hanging around 2 1/2 years later. Recently John Honson joined us as well. Moe is a grown-up lady and she lives in a spooky house. She had a lot of babies but had to give a lot of them away. She was in the Army for a while too. I don't know a whole lot about John yet, just that he's a ghost.

Me and my siblings never had imaginary friends so this is quite fun.

[SeekingSerenity]

My son is 7 and his best friend is a pre-teen girl named Twister. Sometimes she is a teenager, but she's usually stuck in the tween years. I have no idea what she looks like, just that she is taller than him and changes her hair color quite often. Also, her mother is rich and she has an iPad.

She comes with us everywhere and carries on conversations with both DS and DD, and is very good at playing Bejeweled. I have a feeling she'll be with us for awhile, which is okay, except when DS launches into a lengthy and detailed discussion involving her preferences or her past, at which point you can't interrupt him long enough to get two words in. It can get a tad bit tedious at times.

[lotusdebi]

My 3 year old has been talking about (and blaming things on) "Bodo" since he was 2. Bodo is the one he sees in the mirror - or any other reflection of him. Bodo is the one who made the mess or said something mean. It's always Bodo's fault.

My older son had an imaginary sister when he was 4. I think it was his way of getting used to the possibility of having a sister when I was pregnant. Then, when he got a brother instead (which is what he wanted), he decided that he'd rather have the sister he had created. That only lasted until his brother became interesting.

[Joyster]

We have Eeeggy (not Iggy!) the invisible boy. He's not a constant fixture, but usually makes his appearances in the car or at bed time. He's only been around for 6 months or so, my son will be 5 in October.

[zeldamomma]

When dd2 was 4 she had a HUGE imaginary menagerie, mostly big dogs. They would follow along behind us when we drove places, and sometimes they'd come inside and require attention, other times they would have adventures outside that dd would tell us about. It was always clearly just a way for my dd to entertain herself by making up fun stories, and I don't think they were "real" to her, KWIM?

Now she will bring them up occasionally when she's playing with her little brother. I think she's sharing a game she enjoyed when she was his age.

[JuniperBCN]

Tula and Bilga appeared on the scene when DS was 2 (now 4)and they're still around. They were originally just "men who work", but now travel a lot, live in different countries, have preferences and get into terrible scrapes. The funny thing is that DD (2) has always lived with them and so she calls them up on the Tula-phone (mini stapler) as well! DS has lately taken to reminding me that they aren't real when I ask questions about them. They're pretty fun except when they spill a lot of juice everywhere

[eepster]

We have an imaginary cat. According to DS it is actually my cat, and not his. DS just calls it "mommy's cat" or "your cat." DS brings him to me a lot. The cat sometimes goes places with us, like the other day DS put its 4 sandals on it and it road in the car with us to the beach. Other times it meets us places, like last Friday when it met us at the cafe we went to after we visited the museum with out it, it took a different bus.

DS also has an imaginary pet bunny, which is his. It isn't as active a part of our lives as my cat is though.

DS is 4 yo, and these animals are a fairly new part of our lives. I have no idea how long they will be around.

[meemee]

we have never had any long staying imaginary friends. dd started at around 18 months. she is almost 8.

i have found that when we dont socialise much - stay home more she brings out her imaginary friends.

its been a lot of fun as well as challenges having imaginary friends. it first started with animals. initially to make me pick her up (i was telling her i couldnt because she was getting heavy or i was doing something - how do you say no when we are standing in waist deep water and the crocodile is chasing her so i gotta help her). at 2 we had to make sure she left her imag friends at home because she was scaring other kids in the park (she had a pretty mean and loud roar when she brought tiger along). at 3 how she cried and cried and cried because we made her sit in her carseat instead of next to it so that her imaginary sister would be safe.

its been one of my favourite parenting tool. i have had a happy child dog crawl out of the grocery store on an imaginary leash because her imaginary dog was on the leash and she was keeping it company yeah i got dirty looks.

[kblackstone444]

From the time my son was two until he was about 8, he had Duh Duh. Duh Duh came at about the time his biological father left for good, and Duh Duh looked just like my son, but did all the "bad" things in the house- left the toys out, threw the toilet paper roll in the toilet, etc. About a year later, Di Di came, who also looked just like Duh Duh and my son. Di Di was the one who talked Duh Duh out of doing things he shouldn't, when Duh Duh wouldn't listen to my son. After about age 5 1/2, Duh Duh and Di Di mostly just hung around and played with my son- he was very shy and didn't have many friends.

My stepdaughter never really had imaginary friends, but she had imaginary babies. Sometimes they were in the form of a real doll, sometimes they were just invisible air in her arms, but from about 2-5, she had her imaginary babies.

I remember having hundreds of imaginary pets as a child. I was a shy child, didn't know how to interact with other children very well, but could walk up to any strange (and sometimes wild) animal and befriend it. Think Snow White and the animals around her cottage- that was me. Anyways, I mostly had imaginary dogs and imaginary horses, but I do remember having an imaginary kimono dragon that lived under my bed and protected me from whatever it was that lived in my closet, and being an avid tree climber, I do remember my imaginary family of monkeys who lived in the trees in my back yard and helped me climb the trees. My favorite, I think, was my pack of greyhounds, who would run beside my school bus window on the way too and from school every day and their baby greyhound puppy, who was too young to keep up yet, so she had to come in the bus and sit on the seat next to me...

[ecoteat]

DD has a bunch of sisters and brothers. There are two main sisters, Mara and Flowery. They live in England, but they come visit a lot and drive a red convertible. Sometimes when dd is doing something naughty, she says she's doing it because her sister told her to. My nephew did that too--his imaginary friend told him to misbehave, until my sister told him that the imaginary friend was not welcome in the their home and had to leave. She felt bad doing that, but it was getting out of control!

[NiteNicole]

We live with a whole cast of imaginary characters and have for such a long time. DD is often someone else as well. Since she was...gosh, just turning three or so? She has had mice hands. Her hands are mice. They talk to her, she talks to them, they talk to us, they get into all kinds of trouble. I don't know if I should tell her hey, other kids probably think this is weird...or just let her go on with it.

[williamislove]

My 4 yo DS has a "brother" named Julian who is 5, has red eyes and yellow hair. They hang out all the time!