Imaginary friend?

[Antheia]

Has anyone had experience with their child having an imaginary friend?

I think DD may have one. But not sure. Lately she has been talking to herself a lot as if she is talking to someone next to her. Usually when she thinks no one is listening (like in her room or when she is playing quietly by herself). Does it sound like she does? Should i encourage it, ignore it, ask her about it?

[ll80]

Could be.
My DD1 has a very active imagination. She has had an imaginary friend for a while but she seems to have disappeared recently.
For a while there she used to go and play with her friend Ebony in the back yard as well. Ebony was the mop lol
At the moment she is going around the house with her new pet cat, I forget its name. The cat being some pieces of toilet paper sticky taped to come cut up bits of plastic and cardboard. I had to give the bloody thing a kiss and a cuddle last night before they went to bed. It slept on her pillow as she patted it to sleep.

I think it's really wonderful that she has such an active imagination and can keep herself amused pretty much most of the time. I foster it as much as possible, but even I sometimes think she is a little nuts.
So no, I wouldn't be worried about it at all.

[Rivlas]

My youngest DD had a imaginary friend for years. Sometimes she had two but Anna was always around and Kate came to visit.
She named them so ask your DD if her friend has a name
We even had to do grocery shopping for her, as she had to eat, pack her bags when we went away etc.
It never hurt her so don't worry.

[ss_storm]

I wouldn't be worried about it! My little brother had an "imaginary zebra" as his imaginary friend. He used to talk about his zebra friend all the time. If it is an imaginary friend, she'll grow out of it soon enough. I think it's cute, and I wouldn't discourage it, if she wants to talk about her friend to you then let her go!

[HotI]

Imaginary friends can be fun, but can also help kids work stuff out if they are worried about something, because they can talk it through with their 'friend', or let you know their 'friend' is worried about something.

A friend's little girl has a number of imaginary friends, 'big sister', sheep, husband. 'Big sister' came along when her mum was pregnant and she was working out all the things that big sisters have to do for their siblings.

We live in fire affected area, and they were evacuated whilst the little girls dad is a firefighter. A couple weeks later (when they were back home and everything ok), her imaginary husband (who has same name as her Dad) was burnt to death in the fires. Even though she hadn't seemed worried about the fires, her role play showed that she was obviously aware of it, she knew that people had died in the fires and it was playing on her mind. I don't think it was freaking her out, this was just her way of working out all the thoughts in her head.

I don't know if i have reassured you or not. Sometimes her imaginary friend is just for play, but other times helps her make sense of the world.

[Curly]

I had an imaginary friend. Her name was Jenny. Drove Mum a bit mad sometimes because Jenny had to have a plate at the dinner table (she stopped short of serving Jenny actual food though), Jenny had to have a bath with me, Jenny shared my bed etc etc. But she went with it because I was an only child at the time and she felt it would be harmful to discourage it.

Jenny vanished the second day of preschool when I made friends with a little girl...named Jenny!

It's harmless and will pass. I would neither discourage nor encourage it IYKWIM...just let it be and not worry.