There was an article yesterday all about children and their imaginary friends. Apparently there has been surprisingly little research about this subject and they are looking for adults who remember having them as children.
I had LOADS. Not sure why. They used to drive my mother mad. I had several coloured rabbits – a blue one, a pink one. A few other things that I can’t quite remember and a White Lady who was terribly grand. They apparently had to come everywhere with me. Once, in the car, several hours into our journey off on holiday I sobbed that we’d forgotten them and had to go back home to collect them all. My father stopped the car, my mother got out, went running back down the road and said “here they all are, they’ve been running behind us all this time. Get in, get in”…..and off we went. I was happy. What strange behaviour. I don’t know what it all meant or why I had them. I don’t think I was bored, or lonely, or particularly strange. They went away at some point before – can’t remember when – certainly before I was 10 – which was a good thing – imagine going on your first date to the cinema and having to book three extra seats for all your invisible friends. I wouldn’t have held out much hope for a second date.
It is a relief to see in this latest research that there is now clear evidence that imaginary friends are a common feature in childhood development and often part of normal development. “Young children with imaginary friends are often described as sociable, imaginative children who love stories and pretend play. They enjoy playing with friends and at times when friends are not available, they call on their imaginary friends for entertainment. Children also use their imaginary friends when they feel upset about something that has happened or about what some one has said to them”.
At the bottom of the article it said “If you are a parent of a child with imaginary friends, or if you are an adult who can remember your imaginary friends, and would like to participate, please email me for a questionnaire at k.majors@ioe.ac.uk” – perhaps I ought to get in touch. None of my three children ever had see-through friends.
Anybody else have invisible friends?
I bet there is a link here between children with invisible friends and people who like to blog. Now I’ve got LOADS of invisible friends that I talk to all the time and my children think I’m weird. So nothing has really changed has it.
Nicola
January 14, 2011One of my sons had an imaginary friend called Bubble, who had to have a place set at the table for lunch, but not every day. Don’t remember him arriving for any other meals. I was rather fond of Bubble (though I couldn’t see him, obviously) and was sad when he stopped coming for lunch.
Family Affairs
January 14, 2011Good name for an invisible friend. Lx
Mud
January 14, 2011I had an imaginary frog. My mother once had to get back on a plane to collect him after we’d disembarked.
Family Affairs
January 15, 2011A frog??? I love it.. Trust you to have a bloody frog Lx
di foden
January 15, 2011My kids had a shared imaginary friend called Son and later produced another called Nutmeg. I wonder if there are many shared imaginary friends out there? It was about the only example of sibling co-operation they ever managed.
Family Affairs
January 15, 2011Cute x
Family Affairs
January 24, 2011Thanks to the person who recently left two comments – one all about her son’s pretend friends and the other about how she’d prefer me to delete the post. So I have. But just wanted to acknowledge it – otherwise they won’t know that I’ve read it! lx