How Many Invisible People Live at Your House?
Imaginary friends certainly aren't the exclusive province of gifted kids, but many gifted kids have them, and some have A LOT of them. I remember some mornings I set invisible dishes at the breakfast table for nearly 20 'guests.' Eldest had the most imaginary friends I'd ever heard of with one child-about 25 all told. Some were very detailed characters, like Chiminey who had a fuzzy yellow blanket and was her confidant, and Chuggy and Shro-shro who were ornery brothers. They got blamed for a lot of the misdeeds around our house for a number of years. Howdie lived in the toilet, and was sent with me to the hospital to have sister number 2. I'm glad we wrote down the names, descriptions and the funny stories. It's nice to have those details to share now that the 'child' is 21!!
The experts say that imaginary playmates are generally healthy and a sign of a fertile imagination. Young children gradually learn to tell real from make-believe and it's ok to play along when it's convenient or not causing problems. Here's a good article I found:
http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/character-development/imagi....
How many extra people do you have at your house? Does it change day to day? How do you respond? I hope you'll share your stories!
Sandy
Join us over at http://www.twittermoms.com/group/raisingareader! We're sharing book ideas and tips for reading out loud.
The experts say that imaginary playmates are generally healthy and a sign of a fertile imagination. Young children gradually learn to tell real from make-believe and it's ok to play along when it's convenient or not causing problems. Here's a good article I found:
http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/character-development/imagi....
How many extra people do you have at your house? Does it change day to day? How do you respond? I hope you'll share your stories!
Sandy
Join us over at http://www.twittermoms.com/group/raisingareader! We're sharing book ideas and tips for reading out loud.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by The Mother on
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My son (now 13) had an imaginary "lab assistant" named Ghostie. He did all the science projects, and was going to invent a teleporter and a flying car, for me!
Ghostie gradually disappeared. Too bad. I could have used that flying car.
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Permalink Reply by Sandy Fleming on -
Wow, a scientific Imaginary Friend! Isn't the mind a wonderful thing? Thanks for sharing!
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Permalink Reply by Peggy Alvarado on -
Oh this is so funny ... I had no idea that OTHER gifted kids had imaginary friends! When my youngest daughter was little, her 'best friend' was an imaginary Bill Cosby. She watched everything on tv that had him on it, even if he was just the voice of a cartoon character like 'Little Bill' (is that show even around anymore?). Then all of a sudden, he was in the car with us, went on walks with us, etc. Now that she is older, she hates it when I bring it up ... She now draws and creates characters for books that she is writing and on sites like NeoPets. Before we homeschooled, she was in the ps' gifted program.
Somehow I feel so relieved right now! My kid wasn't crazy ... lol! My oldest had an imaginary friend too but I didn't know anything about 'gifted' children back then.
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Permalink Reply by Sandy Fleming on
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Not crazy at all!! Just wonderfully creative. I always thought the imaginary friends were a lot of fun, because they often gave me clues about what was going on inside the little mind. I was tickled to death to see the popular cartoon Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends on cartoon network....what a concept!!
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Permalink Reply by JJ Blum on -
Our invisible "people" are usually animals! Both my children have created elaborate identities for several stuffed animals and have huge grand imaginary adventures with them.
My daughter's favorite is a cat named Eater Debbie Chester. Eater likes to eat everything except people and fish. Eater goes to kitty school and kitty library and often gets in trouble for eating the books.
My son has several. A bunny, just named Bunny has been his constant companion since birth. Bunny can be a spy one day and an astronaut the next. Bunny sends my son emails on a special email watch that only they can use for secret messages.
I just love how imaginative these companions have gotten. Both my children have real friends but you can tell that they feel like their imaginary friends understand them better..."get them."
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on -
Neither of my kids did. I have always enjoyed hearing these stories though.
My niece had one and his name was Jigger. He was around for a couple of years. One day I realized that I hadn't heard about Jigger in a while so I asked where he was and she said "Oh. Jigger died." and went on about her business. I can't even remember how old she was at the time. She wasn't particularly upset about it, just very matter of fact.
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