Imaginary Friends?

[Destinye]

DD (2.5) has had an imaginary friend for a while, she is called Emily, and DD talks and plays with her a lot. I know its not unusual to have imaginary friends and we talk about her to DD. For a while she would use 'Emily" to tell us if she wanted to do something we did not want her to do, but that seems to have settled down!

DD has quite the imagination for her age. Last week she told the cat he looked like a shopping cart and Mummy looks like a clock! I really don't know if DD is or will be gifted though I am sure time will tell. She is definitely bright and very spirited though!

I know imaginary friends are not unusual in imaginative and bright children just curious about other peoples experiences

[rmzbm]

My oldest is the only one of mine who had one. His name was Jim & I found Jim HIGHLY annoying. : When I was a kid my friend Mandy & I had a joint imaginary friend...it was a horse. I wonder if we were gifted... :

[Destinye]

Originally Posted by rmzbm

My oldest is the only one of mine who had one. His name was Jim & I found Jim HIGHLY annoying. : When I was a kid my friend Mandy & I had a joint imaginary friend...it was a horse. I wonder if we were gifted... :

Hehe thats cute! I was horse crazy as a kid (probably why I told my parent at age 4 I wanted to be a vet and am) but never had an imaginary one! I should have been more clear that I don't think having an imaginary friend makes DD gifted but I noticed on several sites it was mentioned as a sign of giftedness, or possilbly more common in gifted kids, but I know a lot of kids do have imaginary friends normally around 3 or 4 years old. It doesn't really bother me except when she was insisting Emily needed to walk up the hill (when DD wanted to) but she seem to have dropped that lately.

[Rigama]

DS is 4 and has lots of imaginary friends. They first started showin up at about 2.25. And interestingly enough, he acts like they're real, plays with them, holds entire conversations with them when he thinks I can't hear, but when I ask a specific question like "Does Tiger walk on two legs like a human or 4 like a tiger?" He says "Neither, Silly! He's only IMAGINARY!":

I never had an imaginary horse, but I DID have an imaginary dog who was nothing more than a wire hanger than I had pulled apart and turned into a leash. Unfortunately, Spot decided that he'd jump out of the back of my dad's Blazer window as we were driving down the highway. I hope he's running around freely on an imaginary farm somewhere!

[eilonwy]

My kids don't have imaginary friends, but they're very close in age and have cousins to play with on a regular basis. I think they're too busy playing together to have imaginary kids involved.

[catgirl]

Originally Posted by Rigama

I never had an imaginary horse, but I DID have an imaginary dog who was nothing more than a wire hanger than I had pulled apart and turned into a leash. Unfortunately, Spot decided that he'd jump out of the back of my dad's Blazer window as we were driving down the highway. I hope he's running around freely on an imaginary farm somewhere!

Well, that was a pretty creative way to get rid of him!!

Ds had (at around age 3-4) several imaginary friends called William, who were 4,5,10 and 11, and a couple of Abbies, who were ( I think) 5 and 10. On any given day at least one of them was sick in bed.

On one occasion I was required to go through an entire 25 minute piano practice with one of the Williams - which was actually a great, pain-free way to double the value of the practice we'd just done IRL! I was hoping this might become a habit but it never happened again, unfortunately.

[Destinye]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

My kids don't have imaginary friends, but they're very close in age and have cousins to play with on a regular basis. I think they're too busy playing together to have imaginary kids involved.

Well she definitely is needing more kids to play with she is highly extrovert (and this was one of my concernes with the imaginary friends) I have to take her to places (DH and I are not extrovert) and is so happy when she get to play with other kids but we moved to the country and am still finding things for her to do. Currently she is having regular tea parties with the cat.

[Destinye]

Originally Posted by catgirl

On one occasion I was required to go through an entire 25 minute piano practice with one of the Williams - which was actually a great, pain-free way to double the value of the practice we'd just done IRL! I was hoping this might become a habit but it never happened again, unfortunately.

LOl thats so cute!

[Serenity]

at our house we have a LOT of imaginary friends. I mean hundreds--they consist of favorite characters from books and videos as well as made-up ones. DS who is 4 began with the imaginary chararacters a year ago, they used to just be part of our conversations, now he puts on shows with himself as the director. We believe he has Asperger's syndrome and/or gifted. I've been debating actually if i should try to curb this activity or not. He only does it at home and is doing well at preschool. It could be a precursor to a creative career as a novelist a la Tolkien or it could be a problem. not sure. Anyway, just wanted to share our experience with imaginary friends.

[Roar]

Originally Posted by Serenity

at our house we have a LOT of imaginary friends. I mean hundreds--they consist of favorite characters from books and videos as well as made-up ones. DS who is 4 began with the imaginary chararacters a year ago, they used to just be part of our conversations, now he puts on shows with himself as the director. We believe he has Asperger's syndrome and/or gifted. I've been debating actually if i should try to curb this activity or not. He only does it at home and is doing well at preschool. It could be a precursor to a creative career as a novelist a la Tolkien or it could be a problem. not sure. Anyway, just wanted to share our experience with imaginary friends.

A whole cast of characters here too.

I wouldn't totally shut it down. I think it is fine to set limits of your participation or to tell him one more comment and then it is time for only the family to talk or something like that. Use this as a way to learn more about turn taking in conversation. If you join in participating you can use the imaginary characters to help in his social development. They offer a way to talk about emotions and social experiences.

[embers]

Zion has a red arm-sized bean bag pillow that has a personality, preferences, and even gets into arguements with Zion at times. He is not obsessed with it (the pillow can be sat on, left at home, etc), but I think that it is adorable watching him in a room full of stuffed animals and toys with faces instead sitting and talking with the pillow. I don't put much consideration into it, I suppose, because I have imaginary friends growing up, and my two (MUCH YOUNGER) brothers that are tested highly gifted both had imaginary friends that were even more spirited than they were!!

[meemee]

ooooh i have a couple of stories i love sharing. my dd does not have just one specific imaginary friend. they appear as and when she needs them. when she wants something for herself she has a menagerie of wild animals whose job it is to convince me to do something i need to do that i was saying no to. like the urgent 'mom hurry, hurry pick me up or the sharks swimming here are going to get me.' my fav. was one lunch time we were sharing our lunch with i think 4 or 5 animals and i had to talk to them in different tones of voice. i have never been yelled at so much for getting the animal voices mixed up. thankfully i did not have to set places for them at the table - only imaginary ones.

she also has a brother, sister and a baby who makes an appearance once in a while which she plays with by herself - not so much needing my interaction except for a yell when i try to sit anywhere since her bro was already sitting there and i shouldnt crush him. my fav. memory was a tired child coming back in a car with my friends. now she has really loud set of lungs and we had a long drive back ahead of us and it really unnerves the others in the car - esp. those friends who were v. softspoken. she wanted to sit in the pretend car seat and have her baby sit in the car seat to be safe. it took me 20 minutes of even toned talking about how the police wont be able to see the baby and so give our friend a ticket for her not sitting on the car seat before she stopped her tired 'my whole world is collapsing' crying. after that i put in her infant carseat back in the car.

her animals friends were there when she was younger. her family arrived and still lives with us. but we had to work on her animal friends staying home after she was scaring children in the park with her growls.

ooooh yes.... how could i forget my fav. imaginary friends story that so served me well. she was allowed to have her pack of dogs accompany her shopping. many a times i have walked out of stores holding an imaginary leash on a crawling 'dog' child. i have had many strange looks and a few smiling ones too. some horrified ones too and i can see their 'germs' brain going.