|
Imaginary
Friend
Anita sat outside her house and talked
with Rita. Rita was a 7-year-old girl that Anita played, ate and
read with. However, Rita was not an ordinary girl, she was an imaginary
friend that Anita created. One morning Anita's mom saw Anita talking
to herself and her mom asked Anita whom she was talking to.
Anita introduced her mom to Rita and her mom became very worried.
Why do children
have imaginary friends?
At the age of three, your child's
imagination will become very active and you should not be surprised if
he has an imaginary friend. Your child may have an imaginary friend
because he might be lonely, since he may not have started school and is
looking for companionship. Having imaginary friends is his way of
getting over the loneliness. Your child might also want control and
this is one way with which your child will have full control. He
might also have an imaginary friend because he knows that his imaginary
friend will accept his thoughts and ideas. Kids have a hard time
expressing themselves because they do not know how people will react to
them, but their imaginary friends will always react in a positive manner.
However, if your child prefers to play with his imaginary friend when he
has the option to play with other real friends, you should definitely look
into the matter.
Imaginary friends
will help your child
Imaginary friends will help your
child practice all the manners he has learnt. He will practice sharing
and practice talking in an appropriate manner. These are important
skills that your child needs to practice. According to your child,
his imaginary friend is also helping him to build his self-confidence,
since his imaginary friend will listen to everything he has to say.
Your child's imaginary friend allows your child to display his emotions
and see his feelings. For example, if your child is afraid of cats,
he might claim that his imaginary friend is afraid of cats. This
is a way that your child will demonstrate to himself how he feels and thinks.
You may be surprised, but there are many positive effects that imaginary
friends will have on your child.
What you can do
as a parent to help?
As a parent you should not ask about
your child's imaginary friend if he does not mention it to you. If
your child does tell you about his imaginary friend, you should be supportive
of it. Do not include his imaginary friend in activities unless your
child says to. Also remember that if your child asks you to play
with him and his imaginary friend, you should play, but let your child
direct the way of playing. However, you should not allow your child
to blame his imaginary friend for the things your child does himself.
For example if he has not put away his toys and blames his imaginary friend
for that; you should try to put a stop to it. Until about the age of five,
the line between fantasy and reality is not clear and some children still
have imaginary friends at the age of 10. Most of all as a parent
you should not encourage imaginary friends, but should accept them.
Imaginary friends are something that
many children have. The idea of having imaginary friends is part
of a child's healthy development. Your child has a very vivid imagination
and he enjoys playing with imaginary people. Thus, you should allow
him to play with his imaginary friends and help him through one of the
many phases he will go through as a child.
To read and exchange comments about this article click here -
6 comment(s)
Back to Previous Page
More on Raising Children Index
Email this Article to a Friend
|
