Imaginary Friends

[Cimarron]

I've never had an imaginary friend. When I was younger, I would play games of "pretend" with my friends or family, where I would have conversations with mythological figures, or act like a dinosaur or shark, but I did not imagine a person who didn't physically exist. The thought never even really occurred to me.

 

[Kasper]

Possible early conclusions on poll:

1. Sensors like to screw with the voting by voting as iNtuitives
2. Sensors ignore threads that have "imaginary" and/or "friends" in the title
3. Sensors have a fear of polls so will not vote

Quite telling, dontcha think

 

[Valuable_Money]

I had an imaginary freind.

But then the mean doctors gave me evil pills that made them go away

 

[Phantonym]

I didn't have imaginary friends when growing up. Don't have any at the moment either.

I named some of my stuffed animals and imagined that they had personalities but I could always keep the line between myself and the inanimate objects so that they remained inanimate. They just were, no talking, no action, they were there with the sole purpose of providing comfort by being so nice and fluffy, nothing else.

I had an imaginary enemy when I was about 5, though. Much like the evil monkey in the closet in Family Guy. There was no talking either but I often had a recurring vision of a threatening-looking black cat, not a real one but like out of a badly drawn cartoon, and it scared me when I tried to get to sleep. Haha. It's like a Boogeyman under the bed.

Nevertheless, I voted no in the poll.

 

[EcK]

I used to enter into wild dialogues with my teddy bear. Only when other people were present though. It wasn't an imaginary friend, more like, me being a comedian.

I saw a lady that knew me as a super young child, under age 2 methink. I apparently used baguettes to mime playing the violin and stuff like that and was 'so full of energy and joy'.

*grins*
Then I found out about preschool ! *thunder* *doom!*

 

[Thalassa]

I had an imaginary freind.

But then the mean doctors gave me evil pills that made them go away

This makes me feel sad. I used to love that show - I watched it with my nephew.

 

[BlueSprout]

I didn't have imaginary friends when growing up. Don't have any at the moment either.

I named some of my stuffed animals and imagined that they had personalities but I could always keep the line between myself and the inanimate objects so that they remained inanimate. They just were, no talking, no action, they were there with the sole purpose of providing comfort by being so nice and fluffy, nothing else.

I did this. But I had lacy Victorian dolls, porcelain figurines and an antique harlequin doll instead of stuffed animals. I entertained the idea that they might possess consciousness and come alive when I wasn't around. I could never be certain that this wasn't the case, so I had to be very careful with them. They had to be comfortably arranged so they wouldn't get sore or have their view of the room obscured. I always had to be very polite to them and treat them all with equal care and respect, in case one suspected that it was unloved and became heartbroken. Or possibly organized a secret plot against me. Treating the harlequin doll appropriately was especially difficult for me because it had a creepy, malformed face that made it difficult to love. I had to be careful not to wince when I looked at it.

All of this is freaking true. What a little nutjob I was. Does it count, though?

 

[PuddleRiver]

Fair point, but if if you were that old then you are just talking with your inner voice, which is perfectly normal. Have you read the Northern Lights books by Philip Pulman? They all ahve daemons which are basically guaridan angel type things....

The little inner voice was my experience. It was my friend. I never lived a day of my life without it until I was in my early thirties. (a faith crisis). It's still there when I need it but not like before. I miss it very much and I never felt alone as long as it was guiding me. Like I said, it's still there but feels farther away and I'm guessing that would be my doing. i.e. guilt about the crisis and so forth. As long as you're making so much noise either in the heart or the head; it's hard to hear.

This probably makes no sense but it's very hard to explain; even to myself.

 

[demimondaine]

i played in my imagination a lot, but there was little continuity of character. i do remember having ben franklin and other historical figures over after school and trying to explain technological advances to them in kiddy-layman's terms. and i still sort of.. rehearse (word choice?) conversations in my head with people who actually exist.
awwwwww so sweet!

i'm not a small child. i'm not super concerned about it, though..

 

[Snuggletron]

I had an imaginary freind.

But then the mean doctors gave me evil pills that made them go away

I've seen this picture before. I like when people do these kinds of things...just like the explanation behind ed, edd, and eddy. The theory was that all of the kids are dead from separate decades living within the same culdesac in a timeless world. This explained why it was always summer, why there were no parents, why eddy could never get the elusive jawbreaker. Nothing was real.

anywayyy...I will run theoretical conversations/scenarios in my head with real/fictitious people. Not sure if that counts as imaginary friends, though. I figure most people do that. Although it gets a bit consuming when I am far off somewhere with these scenarios and drift out of reality.

yeah, I'm only saying that because I'm N.

 

[EJCC]

I had an imaginary friend once. Then I got bored with the idea.

The only times I ever enjoyed playing pretend games was when I played them with other kids. I was never one to run around and have epic battles on my own.

 

[Chloe]

i was extremely extraverted child and had no imaginary friends.

 

[Tamske]

I've invented lots of imaginary characters, but they were never my "friends". They were just backdrops for my imaginary self to interact. I've lived lots of imaginary adventures in imaginary worlds. Growing up, I retreated from the imaginary worlds I created, first living my adventures through a character representing myself, then abandoning the self-character. Now I'm only the creator of my imaginary worlds, not a citizen of them.

But an 'imaginary friend' like described in psychology? Never.

 

[LucrativeSid]

Nope. I don't know why. I wasn't even aware of the possibility until I found out my older brother had one when he was little. I think it was just pure chance that I didn't. Or maybe it was because I had an older brother when I was prime imaginary friend age and my brother didn't. He was already 4 and 1/2 when I, his only other sibling, was born.

 

[demimondaine]

Nope. I don't know why. I wasn't even aware of the possibility until I found out my older brother had one when he was little. I think it was just pure chance that I didn't. Or maybe it was because I had an older brother when I was prime imaginary friend age and my brother didn't. He was already 4 and 1/2 when I, his only other sibling, was born.

possible. forgot to mention that i'm the only child of older parents. some neighborhood kids around, but not many in my age group. maybe this drove me to invent friends? haha

 

[BlueSprout]

i played in my imagination a lot, but there was little continuity of character. i do remember having ben franklin and other historical figures over after school and trying to explain technological advances to them in kiddy-layman's terms.

That is too adorable. Did Ben and co. actually help you process information, or was it just for the fun/company?

and i still sort of.. rehearse (word choice?) conversations in my head with people who actually exist.
awwwwww so sweet!

i'm not a small child. i'm not super concerned about it, though..

Don't worry, I still rehearse conversations with people to gather my thoughts too.

 

[GirlFromMars]

Yes, I had imaginary friends. I was very good at making my own entertainment and lived in my head a lot, the same as now. My mum always says how easily entertained I was, I could have no toys, or something really simple and be amused for hours. That included having imaginary friends, and also thinking that my stuffed toys would come to life when I was asleep/not looking.

My niece (coming upto 3-years-old) has imginary friends big time. We'll hear her in bed talking to them. It's the most adorable thing. Like the last time I stayed over at my sisters, my niece had woken up in the middle of the night, and I could hear her asking her imaginary friend/s if they wanted to do painting with her. And she was like, "OK, darling, just put your apron on" (there was no paint) and things like that. And she'll just lay there singing nursery rhymes when she can't sleep. It's soo cute. She's very easily entertained too, and seems to be more fantasy-like than my other nephews and nieces. I wonder what her type is. I'm thinking verry likely an NF...

ETA: I still do the rehearsing coversation thing too.

 

[Thalassa]

Nope. I don't know why. I wasn't even aware of the possibility until I found out my older brother had one when he was little. I think it was just pure chance that I didn't. Or maybe it was because I had an older brother when I was prime imaginary friend age and my brother didn't. He was already 4 and 1/2 when I, his only other sibling, was born.

It's probably because you had an older brother within a five year age range. I am the oldest of my mother's children, and my memories of imaginary friends are in the earliest years of my life, before kindergarten.

 

[Jon Snow]

I had a friend called Mario, apparently i threw a tantrum everytime someone sit on him...


Edit: That makes sense since i dont really remember having an imaginary friend, mostly people reminding me, my older sister is 11 years older then me but my younger sister isn't that far apart and she never had one.

 

[LucrativeSid]

I was just reading a bit about this, and most of the sites I've been to say that ANY child can have an imaginary friend for any reason. I figured as much, but none of them will actually say if only children are more likely to or not.

However, here's an interesting thought that may have been what happened with my brother for all I know.

In fact, Taylor points out that parents may recognize the presence of imaginary friends after the birth of a second child, generally a period in which the first or other children in the family receive less parental time. Take George. He "arrived" shortly after I did.

Imaginary Friends: Any in Your House? | Psychology Today