Does Your Child Have An Imaginary Friend?

A study conducted by the University of Washington and the University of Oregon Psychologists found that almost 65 percent of children by the age of seven have had an imaginary friend at some point of their lives.

But do these imaginary friends have some effects on the minds of the children? Themedguru.com finds out…

Almost two third of children have some form of imaginary friends. For some children, it might only be a soft toy they talk to, for others it might be a friend who is completely invisible to everyone else. The child may actually ask for bucking up their friend in the car or a chair at the dining table.

Why do children have imaginary friends?

There are many reasons why children come up with these imaginary friends. They are actually very real to the child even though they are completely invisible to you. Some children have more than one imaginary friend, while others have just one. Again, some might have these friends for a long time while others may have them for only a few months or years.

The children may create these friends for numerous reasons:

1. Feeling sad, lonely or bored: The child may feel left out and lonely. On the other hand, he/she may want to share his/her feelings with someone. They imagine a friend to fill the void that occurs in their lives due to lack of a real friend.

2. They need to talk to someone: Sometimes a child might just feel the need to share their thoughts and emotions with someone. May be their ideas do not receive a very positive response from those around, so they simply create a person who would listen and understand them.

3. Someone they aspire to be: An imaginary friend could be someone who the child aspires to be at a later point of time. The friend would be named accordingly as well, maybe after someone familiar or something purely imaginative.

4. Someone whom they look up to: Someone who is not meek and does things, which they can’t or are forbidden to do.

5. Someone who is a weaker version: More often than not, the friend is someone who is the weaker version of themselves. Someone who can be scolded for not picking up the toys or can be bossed upon.

How does an Imaginary Friends Affects the Child?

It has been seen that children who have these imaginary friends are actually very creative and have much better verbal skills than other children. These friends can also come handy when the child is asked to be in their rooms and are being pretty difficult. The child might actually like to spend time alone in the room playing with their “friend”.

However, the problem that most parents face with the children having imaginary friend is that they put all the blames for their behavior on that friend. Though imaginary, the child finds them very real. This renders teaching the child to be more responsible, quite difficult. Parents should actually refrain from telling the child that the friend doesn’t exist. In fact, the child can be encouraged to seek help from their friend.

Parents' Role

As parents it is sometimes disconcerting and sometimes irritating to have an imaginary friend around their child. What we need to understand is that adults can monitor their thoughts. Anything that we feel is not true or possible, we simply don’t think about it any more. A child however is more imaginative and creative. In fact, instead of telling your child that their friend is non existent, you should respect their imagination.

Try to understand why your child has an imaginary friend. Address the need that has resulted in creating the “friend”. Ensure that there are “real” friends in the child’s life as well. Arrange play dates and outings. Talk to the child and show full support for the imaginary friend. Most of the times this is a just a phase and the child will grow out of it. So be supportive and stop worrying!