Imaginary friend

Friends of ours are both hard-boiled scientists and so it came as rather a surprise to them when their son had an imaginary friend. It became even more of a shock when he announced that it was his brother with his "other mummy" and chatted on about his other life, in great detail. Yes, perhaps reincarnation - it was about a life in India, which he had no experience of (nor could have got from books, films, etc) but his Mum wrote it all down and they intend to visit the paritcular city in India one day. Who knows ??

Also my eldest son had a "friend" called Bobby, not sure if he was imaginary though, Son was only a toddler at the time, probably about 13 months old and would natter in baby talk to him and often would point up the stairs and say "Bobby up there"

I used to have an imaginary mouse who lived in the skirting board which had an invisible entrance but I knew where it was, but ironic really as I'm scared of mice ?

Children 'see' things we don't. I agree not all are imaginary. Most of us lose the ability to see these things as we get older. Wish I could still see them, I certainly 'hear' them

vampirequeen, great name!
Your story reminded me of when my son was little and he had an imaginary friend called 'green man'.
According to my son, the man would come and talk to him when he was in bed and tell him stories etc, this went on for quite some time from when my son was 3/4 to about 6 years old.
Anyway, one day I took him to a local museum and we visited the transport section. Inside was a WW2 Fire engine...the minute my son saw this he became really excited and started to tell me about his friend 'the green man' and that he had one of them, he also started to talk about the bombs and the big ship that his friend had seen.
Spooky.....my grandfather (who I idolised) had been a fireman in the war and during the blitz in Liverpool had been present when the SS Malakand was hit.
To the best of my knowledge, nobody had talked about it to him and he didn't really know. My grandfather died when I was in my early teens.
I can't explain it and my son's memories of it all are very vague.

One daughter had an imaginary friend called Kevin till she started school. He required a place setting and room on the sofa. He came with us everywhere and even the GPs accepted him. He seemed very real to her and his description never varied. My MiL used him to get her to try food-“Kevin likes green beans. Do you want a few?” Or “Kevin looks sleepy. It must be bedtime.” It worked for her, but I never risked it.

My daughter had an imaginary dog called Sausage for a while .

My son had an imaginary friend called Red Spot...yes it too had a place at the dining table and we would be asked to move things that got to close to him. He apparently lived on a hill opposite the house with a secret passage to it. We found out years later when the floorboards had to come up for some reason rather a lot of small items including cutlery had been posted through a hole in the wood for Red Spot. He was never encountered out of the house but was no longer mentioned when replaced by a plush red dod he then called Red Spot. At the time there was a TV programme with Spot the dog and he already had a stuffed Spot. At 37 he still claims he could really see Red Spot...we blamed him being an only child as my sister and I did not have imaginary friends. But other threads show I am wrong.

My DD had an imaginary friend and he was called Jeel (I’m not sure where she got that name) when she was about 4 years old. I had to set a place for him at the table and my DH had to kiss him goodbye before he went to work. I think this lasted until she went to full time school so about 9 months. He was involved in our day to day lives and my daughter still remembers this. She said to her Jeel was very real.

Our daughter desperately wanted a pet dog. When she was not given one she got her imaginary one which she named after my brother’s dog Dale. Dale went everywhere with us and then she had 7 puppies. Most vivid memory of them is standing in Princes Street in Edinburgh lifting each one of the 8 imaginary dogs down off the high steps around the Art Gallery

This brings back memories, I had an imaginary friend called Dudgie, no idea where the name came from! He had to have a place set at the table and my Mum used to push an empty swing in the park for him. I remember how he looked and I used to talk to him. As I got older he just faded away. I have read that children in their innocence are accepting of the spirit world and that is what these imaginary friends are, interesting thought whether you believe or not! Have to say though that my favourite has to be in the film Drop Dead Fred, he's so naughty and Rik Mayall is fantastic as Fred.

I didn’t .... 6 brothers and sisters were enough...especially me being the youngest!

My son did from about 4-5, and 'he' came in useful when my son needed to blame someone for any wrong choices he'd made as he'd no siblings...when he realised this didn't work, his friend was no longer mentioned, and he just went away...the wiles of small children eh?

My eldest son had a lovely (well, I think she was lovely) imaginary friend called Dear. I wondered if it was because he was an only child for 4 years. Dear came everywhere with us, shared our food etc and had to have her own way all the time. I sort of missed her when she left.

My granddaughter has had two, Lily and Tom. One time in the car she started crying, saying Tom was hitting her. When they eventually went away I asked why she didn't see them any more. She said as she was starting school she would be too busy to see them. As the names were old fashioned I found it a bit spooky.

DS had one called Robin. He used to point out Robin's House, Robin's Field, Robin's Stream.....His 2 older siblings made fun of it all which could lead to Robin's Defence!! One day when we out walking DS shouted "There's Robin!" and pointed to some ducks in flight. That must have been Robin's Exit, because we never heard any more about him

My younger son had an imaginary friend called Linky who lived in a house down the road. It didn’t last long

My sister had an imaginary friend called George who also had to have a place set at the table for him. Strangely enough our Grandad, George, had passed away not long before!

My sister’s imaginary friend was called Jennifer Congle.
Apparently she had a metal head!

My DS had his 'Man' who sat with him on the stairs, also waved to him while swimming in the sea. DS eventually picked up a photo from some we were sorting out & said that was his Man. It was my lovely DF who had passed away a couple of years before DS was born.

My daughter (an only child!) had several imaginary friends. They used to eat dinner with us and she would ‘play’ with them when she was on her own. When she had real live friends round to play they never came out. Mollie and Alice were two of their names. She grew out of them eventually, but we occasionally reminisce about them even now.

Jane10 you were still living your previous life. Some children remember them in great detail. Jane you should read Yesterday's Children by Jenny Cockell. Imaginary children are often thought to be spirits. The open minds of children can see them and as mentioned describe them in great detail.

I had 2 - Mrs Mung, and her daughter Dizzy Mung - where the heck they came from I have no idea?? Strange thing was, there was never a Mr Mung, so have no idea where he was, and at the time I didn't know of any family where there had been a divorce - very odd!

Not sure if I talked to them now or if they had to come with or eat with us - will ask my Mum!

Not my own son, but apparently my uncle had an imaginary friend called Joe that had to have a place set at table etc. My gran apparently even had to put out a set of "best" clothes for him - even though it was actually my uncle that wore them, rather than the ones that had actually been put out for him!
This lasted for about 2 years between 4 and 6, though Joe never went out with the family and only went for a walk round the block with my uncle and when they went to church, Joe waited outside!
He disappeared just after my uncle's sixth birthday and when he was asked where he was, my uncle said he had "just gone"! It would be nice to discover why this happens - can the child actually see someone or is it purely imagination ?

My daughter had to tell my grandaughter that "Gary" was no longer allowed around because he got in the way of everything they were doing. At the time I thought it was very funny that my DGD took it all so seriously but I'm not sure I would have banned him from the house. I'm afraid my daughter just does not have the capacity to play pretend long term even though she used to have the capacity to do it for herself as a child. She nearly drove me mad when she started talking in a northern accent for about 3 months!