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I don't mind them. I think it's part of their developing imagination. I didn't have any imaginary friends but I did talk to myself a lot. I still do sometimes. So much so that sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it and people think I'm crazy. This is way before cell phones so I was definitely not on a phone.

I was reading the other day about LO's zodiac sign (I don't fully believe in astrology, but it's fun to imagine LO when he's older). It said he might develop imaginary friends because he'll be so social that he'll want a friend to talk to all the time. I am dying for him to actually have one - I think it's a very creative/neat thing for a kid.
Also I loved Drop Dead Fred!

I'm not sure how I feel about it. DS has an imaginary friend named Joey. He popped up right after DS turned three. DS only had one friend and then he moved away a year ago, none of my friends or family have children his age so he didn't socialize a lot until preschool I did take him to the library for story time and to the park but he didn't really know how to play with other children for awhile. So I think his imaginary friend is a result of being lonely.

His friend was okay with me until he started blaming everything bad he did on "Joey" haha

Well, seeing as there is this local radio station that does Thriller Thursdays in October and there a TON of people who called about how their kids would have imaginary Friends and how they would talk to them. Then they would start telling them scary stuff that their 'friend' wanted them to do or they would tell them that their friend was a dead family member. Totally freaked me out.

@Mrs. Pen: it completely freaked me out. It would be more than one story from so many different people! I think some kids do have made up friends, but I think some kids do see ghosts and that's their made up friend. Fwiw, my sisters and I never had any. Of course, we had guaranteed friends with each other.

Eek the ghost thing just totally wigged me out!

I think generally it's normal but there are instances where it might not be, if it interferes with normal functioning!

@cyndistar3: and @Mrs. Pen: yes! It completely freaked me out. I mean, in some of these stories people were sharing, the kids never knew the family members because maybe they had passed away before they were even born or something. It was completely scary to me.

@Arden: the stories I'm talking about involve family members that were not even alive before the kids that were talking about them were born. They didn't grow the grieving process because they didn't even know them. These were stories people would call in with. I heard more than one about 'imaginary friends' and they totally scared me.

I agree with you even tho I never had one growing up. Being an only girl I pretend played and all that but never the same person. But on the other hand I find it a little creepy too! Bc kids are supposed to see the supernatural so it would make me wonder if it's really a imaginary friend or something else....

I really hope he doesn't....but if so, I want him to understand that the friend is imaginary. We won't be playing into it like its the real deal. I'm not pretending to see him or anything!
My SO would think its time to have LO #2!

@ladyfingers: same here!

I had one, but I don't remember pretending he was real. I just talked about him.

I don't see any problem with them and neither does DH. I think it just means your LO has a very strong and healthy imagination! I had a huge imagination when I was little--I'd pretend to be characters from my favorite movies (most often Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Wendy from Peter Pan, haha) and had imaginary friends. I turned out totally normal, I promise! But I do work in a creative field now, so I wonder if having such a big imagination as a child could have helped lead to that? Who knows!

There's nothing creepy or strange about imaginary friends. I'm sure it's fairly common.