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When is it no longer normal to have imaginary friends?

Sharon - posted on 09/14/2010 ( 3 moms have responded )

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My daughter will be five in a couple of weeks. She is very bright and also imaginative. She makes up her own stories. She has an imaginary sister and lots of other people she talks to. She does know the difference between reality and imaginary and acknowledges that she is telling a story or not talking about a real person. She has no real siblings. She has been doing this for a while. I have even thought of having her record the stories she tells. It's just that now, with her almost school age, should I discourage her from speaking about the imaginary friends, or just expect her to grow out of it when she gets to school with all the real friends?

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Heather - posted on 10/04/2010

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i would agree maybe she is going through a hard time. i would talk to her about it, after five is when i would talk my son out of it if he gets one

Samantha - posted on 10/03/2010

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I had an imaginary friend when i was young up until the age of 8 or 9 i think and i remember mum and dad just acted like they knew them and didnt treat it like there was any problem and one night i had a dream that they had to go and that was it. all over. weird things do happen but i wasn't you're average kid lol i was pretty extreme with my imagination, always having crazy dreams and they got crazier with age. good luck

Kim - posted on 09/15/2010

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I had an imaginary friend when I was little, until I went to school. It may be because she's lonely, or just because she's an imaginative child. but it is normal and she will grow out of it...eventually. probably when she does go to school and make "real" friends of her own. I got over my "friend" when I made friends at school but don't worry if she doesn't. embrace it. you have a imaginative child and make sure she holds on to that because she could do great things. or become a great writer. encourage her imagination, not the imaginary friends. I myself would write down the stories she comes up with, or ask her to draw them? hope I helped :) x

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