Help Your Child Deal With Imaginary Friends
My daughter May, 6, once said, “Mum, my Prince told me that he loves chocolate”. “For the longest time, I never paid attention to this because I thought Prince must be her kindergarten playmate”, says Sandra, 33. “It’s only later that I realized, Prince was her imaginary, invisible friend.” Well friends, this is not a new phenomenon. If something similar has happened to you, don’t freak out. You simply need to be armed with the right methods of dealing with imaginary friends of your children.
“May’s pediatrician told me that many children can end up having imaginary friends until 7 years of age”, clarified Sandra. “She advised me to try out playing along with May’s imaginary friend, if it wasn’t causing too much bother. She also told me to try prodding more about the imaginary friend.” Was it a unicorn? Was it a royal prince? Or was it a talking croc?
Imaginary friends can be a great in helping our kids cope with growing up. Especially for a single child. You should use the imaginary friend to your advantage. “May, your Prince told me that he wants to water the plants today. How about all three of us do it this evening?” Similarly, if you want your child to steer clear from any bad habits, play the same card. “May, Prince falls sick if he eats too many candies.” But darlings, make sure this doesn’t become an easy habit.
Rachel and Sam, parents of young Stephie, 5, have seen the flip side of nursing their daughter’s imaginary friends. “Our daughter found a nice little way of working her way around Poppy, her imaginary polar bear friend!”, Sam exclaimed. If anything went wrong, she conveniently blamed Poppy for it. “Don’t let your child do this. If you see traces of this behavior in your child, start addressing that situation immediately. Otherwise it’ll become a menace later”, Rachel and Sam reminisced about their terrible experience with Stephie and Poppy.
