We have a few new people in our house lately. They are kind and loving and always play nice. The only downfall is that I can’t see them.
Apple calls them Niglese (say: Nig Leaze), Mergess and Nicolas. Niglese and Mergess are three, just like Apple. And they love to have tea parties an talk on the phone. Sometimes they help Apple get dressed and sometimes they sit and watch a movies together.
Niglese has golden hair just like Apple and Mergess has dark hair, like Daddy (well when Daddy had hair). Their favorite foods are noodle soup and cream of mushroom soup, just like Apple.
Nicolas has blonde hair like J and is seven just like him. J doesn’t agree that he can see or interact with Nicolas but he makes jokes about him being close by just to keep his Sister happy.
Hubby and I have started asking questions about Niglese, Nicolas and Mergess, who doesn’t come over as often as Niglese and Nicolas. We are trying to figure out how she decided to have an imaginary friend. We find it interesting since neither of us had imaginary friends and neither did A or J. This is completely new to us. But Apple talks about them as if she has known them forever.
We think she mixes in some of her friends she plays with and her cousins to come up with the perfect playmates. And when we can’t have a playtime with a real person, out comes her friends.
I know other children have imaginary friends, and I think it is completely normal, but somehow I just don’t know what to do with it. Do I play along or do I encourage her in a different direction? Please feel free to share your imaginary friend experiences with me so I know that I am not alone and what to expect when something doesn’t go right with them.
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I never had imaginary friends, and neither did my brother, so far as I know. Nor has Annalie had any consistent ones. I think I personally would not bring them up, but if Apple did I’d talk to her about them. What an imagination that girl has! 🙂
The girl had mousies she talked about on and off for about a year. She didn’t so much play with them as talk about them. But they were often around.
No real advice. I think it was part of the girl learning that she could create a world out of nothing. And then she just stopped talking about them. I figured she grew out of it.
We love imaginary friends. I don’t want them to leave and I do encourage it to a rediculous level. L has “Vava”, a girl her age who gets into mischief. O has “Fuje” who likes sports, just like O but he is growing out of it now. There are many others. I like that the friends are so portable and don’t cause too much mess. They can lighten the mood when meltdowns are around and even teach them how to be friendly to others.
Nate had imaginary friends, but they weren’t human. He had pet dragons, snakes, giraffes, lions, sharks…you name it. The dragons lasted the longest. And we encouraged it. He would tell us tons of stories all the time, and we figured with his very active imagination, we would play along. Now that he’s almost 8, they don’t come out often. I kind of miss them sometimes.
He seriously convinced his daycare teacher that we had pet snakes, and that they did not live in cages. Seriously lady? You really think I would let snakes just roam my house? I wouldn’t let them in with cages, let alone without.
I’ll be watching the responses on this! I personally think imaginary friends etc. are weird and can’t see myself encouraging them at all. Hubby and I have NO imagination whatsoever so to me and I just want to say huh?? when kids talk, making stories up! However, I know kids have great imaginations so I’m sure I’ll play along with C and B when the time comes, but it won’t be easy!
I had imaginary friends as a child, and don’t recall that my parents made much note of them – they knew that I had them, and didn’t discourage or encourage. We did talk about them, though if I brought them up. I recall them being prevalent the year that I was home alone, before I followed my brother and sister to school. They went away on their own.
My son (3) has imaginary play with real friends (ie he pretends that his best friend is here playing when he is not). I just let it happen, and see where it goes. Right now it seems pretty harmless, just expressing that he misses his friend.