[dilgra]

Is it normal for a toddler to have them, and spend so much time "playing" with them? Tati's "best friend" used to be her bug bug, (her lovey). She brought it with her from Guatemala and she still plays with it all the time (and sleeps with it, takes it everywhere). But, now she has several "invisible friends" that she plays with and talks about all day and I am wondering if other little ones do this.

Now, she does not have any other little ones to play with so she spends her days with me. I do spend as much time playing and reading with her as I can and other than that, she is following me around while I do chores, etc. Her freinds are all characters from books, and her one TV show that she watches (Little Miss Spider) she seems to think that she lives in sunny patch with squirt, shimmer, dragon......you get the idea. For the last week or so, she has one or more of them "with her" most of the time. She sits on the edge of her chair at the table to make room for them. She insists that they have a plate of food most of the time and this morning when I went to her closet to get her clothes, she picked out an outfit for "snowdrop" and then wanted me to dress her. I went along with it but then she said I needed to pull the shirt down over snowdrops head so she could see her eyes! I guess I don't know how to dress invisible creatures! Oh, and I have to be careful not to step on them and to watch out for the flying ones too

So I guess I am wondering, do I play along with it? Will she be taking these friends to school with her some day? Anyone else have "invisible/imaginary friends" staying with them?

[DeeVee]

My children don't have imaginary friends (there are enough kids in the house to keep each other occupied, I guess LOL). But, I remember my parents telling me I had an imaginary friend when I was little. And I even opened the car door for her, while it was moving, because she had to get out and go somewhere (this was before the days of carseats!) Fortunately I survived that little escapade, but kept up the imaginary friend thing for quite a while. No, I never took her to school, so I must have given her up before I turned 4, and I'm basically normal now (as normal as anyone with four kids under the age of 6 can be )

I think it is a pretty common thing; wouldn't worry about it.

[cbmstephanie]

Mine don't have any yet either, but I think it's normal. My mom laughs and tells about my imaginary friend Mrs. Gee Gee. She says I used to go outside, knock on the door, my mom would answer and I would tell her that Mrs. Gee Gee and I would like to come in for tea.

[GuatMommy2Be]

Madeline does not have one yet. But she does talk to herself ALL day long.

I had one when I was little except mine would get violently injured and/or die. I have no idea what was wrong with me.

[mommytoEli]

i had a gaggle of baby chicks until i was about 4...they came EVERYWHERE with me....my mom says i even took them out to dinner, so they had to get a booth big enough for my 2 parents, me, and a dozen baby chicks. lol! i turned out just "fine."

[SKL]

My kid brother had several. They had unique names and personalities and he'd tell me what they had done. He'd sit alone in his crib at night and talk to Rembrose about what amazed him that day. "Rembrose, did you see Grandma S's white hair?" He took some to pre-school and brought a few new ones home, too. Funny thing is, he was the 5th of 6 children, and was the darling of the neighborhood, so it's not like he had nobody else to talk to. They lived with him from about age 2-3 and then packed their bags and left without even saying goodbye.

[pamcita]

I work as a psychiatrist and have taught child development: not only are imaginary friends totally normal, but some evidence suggests they're associated with creativity in later life.

They are also a wonderful window into a child's inner world: all the imaginary friends represent different parts of your daughter's developing self, so by engaging in the play, you may learn more about her questions, fears, hopes, fantasies, etc.

So... consider yourself lucky to have a creative kid and enjoy all your new housemates!

ps - interesting that she went from a lovey called "bug bug" to imaginary bug friends... maybe a future entomologist?

[adoptnky]

I also had imaginary friends growing up. My mom said they went EVERYWHERE with us. She did like it though because I would take them with us out to eat/on vacation and they were very cheap to have along.

Alex has done pretend play with "Dora" and his "LaLa" (Disney Princesses - don't ask) and I love playing along with him.

Kim

[lisam00]

Ava has friends. We are now taking Wall E and EVE with us allll the time. Earlier today she wanted me to buckle them in the van. How the heck do you buckle in imaginary robots?

She also plays with Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba a lot. For example, just tonight he was having dinner with us and he spilled his juice all over the floor. I pretended to wipe it up and she seemed happy.

Lisa

[allgodsgrace]

I had an imaginary friend too while growing up.

Her name was Nanny-Nanny. How I gave that to her I have no clue!
Funny story I have been told lots of times. I was about three at the time......
She annoyed my parents terribly. I relayed things she was saying or needing or doing, never bad just constant dialog about her-- once while driving from South Carolina to Florida my dad threw her out the window! I was finally quiet for a few minutes then I announced that Nanny-Nanny was running beside the car and needed to get in! They quit trying to "outwit" the imaginary friend after that!

I think she just went away around the time school started (age 4)

[Ms.Judi]

What a wonderful imagination Tati has!!!

[giovanni7460]

My 24 almost 25 year old had several. The main guy was Charlie. He did everything with us. We had to set a place for him and he even potty trained. My son who is 22 now did try to step on him many times and yes he even tried to throw him out the car window. One time when I was exhausted with this Charlie thing I asked him to please go away cause he was started to annoy me. My daughter then about 4 started laughing and said he cant hear you he is over there. He stayed for quite a while then like another poster said he just packed his backs one day and left.
I missed the guy when he was gone.
Patty

[hbrown22]

I think it is perfectly normal or if it is not then my daughter is abnormal! She pretty much went through her whole 3rd year with her imaginary dog, Scooby Doo plus the rest of the gang....Freddie, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy. Seriously, they were always in the car with us, sitting in the shopping cart with Emmi, etc. She was/is obsessed with Scooby Doo. I play into it usually but it can get annoying at times especially when I have to buckle them all into seat belts.

[MamaS]

A little girl in my son's Kindergarten class brought Tinkerbelle (the fairy) to school with her every day. It really annoyed my son (who liked the little girl and wanted her to play with HIM instead of the fairy). So one day he got in the car after school and said: "Mom, I keep telling Ayesha and telling Ayesha that Tinkerbelle is not really there because you told me so. But she won't LISTEN to me. SO ---- I grabbed her and stuck her in my bookbag and zipped it up fast and she's in there now. I'm going to take her home and put her in my closet so Ayesha will play with ME tomorrow!"

[wynnekj9967]

Anthony has an imaginary friend who happens to be a real friend. He is constantly playing with "Michelle", even when he hasn't seen the real Michelle for the day. "Michelle" is always making messes and having to go to time out. I will catch him walking with "Michelle", he'll be walking with his arm out like he's holding her hand. It's all normal and really cute.