Page 29 - Waterfall City Issue 4 April 2024

DOES YOUR

CHILD HAVE AN

IMAGINARY FRIEND?

By Anel Annandale

Are you a little creeped-out when you hear

your child having a conversation with thin air?

E xperts once believed that that having imaginary friends is a certain percentage of children may

rather common phenomenon among
having an imaginary friend
keep their imaginary friendships
well into their primary school years
was a sign that something
young children, they also concluded
was wrong in a child’s life.
the link between having imaginary
They hypothesised that children that the original hypotheses about or even into adolescence. Girls are
slightly more likely to have imaginary
who dreamed up imaginary friends friends and being lonely and socially friends than boys are and, similarly,
were isolated, socially incompetent incompetent is generally false. Most first-born children are more likely to
or lonely. Yet, it seems that the children with imaginary friends are have imaginary friends than their
phenomenon of imaginary friends well-adjusted and socialise easily. younger siblings. This seems to happen
is not a new one – in ancient times, directly as a result of their ability to
people believed that spirits were The phenomenon of imaginary friends use elements of fantasy and pretend in
sent as companions (for adults and is most likely to appear in children their play.
children) to guide and inspire them. between the ages of 3 and 5 years
and disappear when the children I vividly remember trying to sneak
Recent research has not only revealed reach school-going age. However, a up on my toys in the dark as a

Waterfall City Issue 4 2024 27