Parenting Big Kids (5-8) Support Group

YES...my daughter is 6 and she does. I am told that it is a phase but, it hasn't gone away yet.

Oh yes. Both of my kids do. They are 7 and 6. Sometimes, their imaginary friends talk to each others' imaginary friends. Also, they love to put them into writing or drawing. I thought it is a wonderful way to express themselves. Enjoy because they are only kids once:).

My daughter is 6 also... and yes, she has imaginary friends. At least I think they are imaginary... The one she speaks of most, Ricky, had us a little concerned when she was about 4... She used to call cemetaries 'rock gardens' because they were full of rocks (headstones) and flowers.... well... I never told her what they were (at that point, no need) and one day we were driving by one, and she told me... "Mommy, thats the rock garden where ricky lives" Apparently he told her that.

Careful not to react with alarm, I just opened the discussion... My daughter is an avid lover of Jesus, and always wants to know if her friends know Jesus, too... SO I just asked her if ricky knows Jesus, and told her that she could invite him to come to church with us. She informed me that he already goes to church with us... which gave me a great sigh of relief.

Hi... I'm reposting from a similar discussion last year.

REPOST:
In all honesty, I've been avoiding this post because I wasn't sure how to respond. I have 3 children and thus far, none of them, have had imaginary friends (that I know of). They have, on occasion, blamed something on a stuffed animal or doll... but I have not dealt with full-blown invisible friends.

However, I did a bit of research and here is what I can report (from a variety of sources): Imaginary friends are more common than most people think. The percentages were varied from study to study... but anywhere from 30-60% of children ages 3-7 will have imaginary friends (I.F.'s).

Often times children make up I.F.'s in order to deal with emotional events in their lives and to practice conflict resolution. often times, the relationships and personalities of the I.F.'s may be revealing something about themselves. So pay attention to their conversations and situations.

Again, according to a lot of the research, experts suggest that you do not over react to their I.F.'s and make them feel bad about them. On the other-hand, don't over encourage them either.

It's believed that most children with I.F.'s are very creative and intelligent children. And you'll be happy to know that most children do grow out of their I.F.'s by age 7.

After reading HelloChrissy's posting, I realized that I need to clarify my post. My kids have imaginary friends, but not on daily basis. If we ride in the car and they have nothing to do, they will make up some imaginary friends. Then they will use imaginary friends to make up stories or make them play together. But if they have other toys to play with, or have other friends around, they don't even think about the imaginary friends. Their imaginary friends do not emerge often. Often when they are bored, they sometime say those to each other:"let's each make up a friend, and they play game together."

Im 26 and would love one for myself, Im pretty sure my kids think I have one. :) I think its great, it shows alot of imagination and I think helps develop social skills in kids who are a little nervouse with others.

My daughter had an imaginary friend for years. He started going away for longer periods til he didn't come back after she started first grade. My son has his "brother". I love(d) the stories they have come up with about them.

As long as you see that he has normal interactioon with kids, I don't see a problem. now if there are kids around and he is off in a corner playing with the imaginary friend, there may be a bigger issue at hand.