Imaginary Friends - Dayton,OH

Nope! It's a very normal thing at her age -and especially since it's not a constant situation, she's just using her imagination! When I was 3, my imaginary friend was Mary Tyler Moore!

Having an imaginary friend is a sign of a highly creative and intelligent child. Not that children without imaginary friends aren't creative or intelligent. Nothing to be worried about at all. Play along and you might learn a little of the inner working of her mind. :-)

No need to be concerned. It is very normal and even good for kids this age to have imaginary friends. My daughter is 4 and she has an imaginary Mimi. Her Mimi doesn't show up at our house but my daughter talks about her all the time. At first I though she had renamed one of her grandmas Mimi but she didn't. When I asked her where her Mimi lives she told me that she lives in her house at Disney World. She's also told me that she has 10 dogs at her Mimi's house, her Mimi drives a pink truck, etc. Having imaginary friends encourages creativity in kids.

God no!
I'm an only child and had an imaginary friend up until about age 7 or so!
"Jane" was a good buddy! :)

No worries, this is a normal developmental stage.

If you can pick up an early childhood development textbook anywhere, even used, and read up on this age, you'll see this phase discussed in detail.

My kids had their imaginary friends too. One would insist on setting both the breakfast and dinner table for her friend. My boy had to buckle his up in the car and place in his carry along bag full of Thomas the Tank and other treasures. And I was too busy with number 3 to notice or properly remember.

Have fun with the horse too!! Maybe pretend to take it out for his oats and a ride?

My little sister had "the guy". He was a little man that lived in her palm. He had to be buckled in the car, carried around, etc. It was really cute and only lasted for a while. I wouldn't worry about it. She's now a perfectly normal 25 year old. Lol.

Not at all. Completely normal.
You can use this horse to your advantage! Have her draw pictures of the horse. Ask the horse questions, for opinions, etc. and ask her to translate what the horse said. Have fun with it! My son had "a man" for a period of time. I kind of miss him! lol

Nothing wrong with imaginary friends or pets. When my daughter was little, she had an imaginary dog named Copper that went everywhere she went. When we were grocery shopping, she would throw an invisible ball down the aisle of the store, and the imaginary dog would chase it, catch it, and fetch it back to her.

Very normal. Play along.

I had a imaginary friend named Billy. He needed to be served a plate with food at meals and kissed good night by my mom. We held hands when we were out and about. He did not go to nursery school with me. He stayed in my room.

My 4 year old daughter has a purple kitty named Charlotte who follows her just about everywhere. Last week Charlotte went to New York and my daughter insisted on sending her a letter. Generally, Charlotte just talks to and plays with my daughter. When I try to enter the game, Charlotte doesn't want to have anything to do with me. Anyway, this is very normal and a lot of fun. I love watching her immersed in her fantasy world.

My oldest had two-Lion and Tiger. Tiger was the one that took the blame for the naughty stuff my son did (breaking things etc) while Lion played with him. My youngest has a friend he calls baby. Baby has been around since my son could speak clearly so a pretty long time. My son is four and still plays with baby. The other day he wanted me to play with him but I was cooking so I told him to ask baby to which he replied, "mom, baby isn't real!" Kids imaginations are fabulous!

aww how cut is that?! I had imaginary friends for a long time when I was little. I had real friends too. I am a fully functioning mother of 3. Don't be worried just enjoy her imagination!

Aw so cute. My cousin had one called Harry when we were kids. It was just the norm for us. It was kind of a pain though when we went to the park and we had to wait till Harry had his turn on the swing. :-) He just disappeared over time.

no reason for concern, my son had an imaginary friend "Brandon" he did all the bad things, he would actually tattle on Brandon. He seemed to fade away around 5 yrs.

Its completely normal. My 3 1/2 yr old son recently had an imaginary friend show up. At first he was freaking me out cause he'd just be sitting up in his room all by him self and start talking to someone.

my three year old has an imaginary friend named "ganaga" who lives in a gopher hole in our front yard. He "showed up" right after we moved. But I think this is very normal and I'm not worried.

How sweet. I'm a horse lover too (c:
This is normal behavior. Just think of all the stories you have told her so far. Now she's formulating. Child developement is certainly amazing!

My daughter had/still has an imaginary friend "buzz"- as in Buzz Lightyear. He is her main one that she has had for the longest. He would ride with us wherever we went and she would buckle him in and one time when we were on our way to church, she asked me to roll down the window so he could go to his church and he would meet us on our way back. One day I noticed Buzz hadn't been around so I asked her where her invisible friend was, she told me very sternly that he was imaginary, not invisible and there was a difference! She's also had imaginary friends, LarryBoy, Wood and Steve. Buzz went to school with her for a while but she said he was getting in trouble so he had to quit going and he stayed with me at work or home.

I think its Cute ~ I never hand an imaginary friend..... and now I kinda feel I've "missed out" on something .... lol

No need to worry unless your little girl begins to act differently. If she's happy and as reasonably well behaved as before, then no harm. Imaginary friends are pretty common, it's a part of the imagination play. Pretending to be a doctor or playing with a play kitchen, same thing and all healthy. Just keep and eye on how she behaves when she's with her new pal, if she begins to blame her naughty behavior on him or if she begins to tell you that he's telling her to be naughty, then it might be time to tell her that she has to tell him to go home. This is up to you of course, depends on the level of naughtiness and your limit.

I had a friend when I was little, my parents told me that she was allowed to play with me as long as she was a good girl and if she started to be naughty or tried to make me be naughty then she had to go away. I wasn't allowed to play with naughty and mean people. One day she told me to do something I knew that was wrong and I told her to go away because she was being naughty. Funny how I remember her like she was a real person.

I suppose I out grew her on my own. I don't recall any other friends after the first, I was mostly into pretending I was something else after that. Your little girl will out grow her horse too in time. Enjoy, be gentle and supportive.

PS: My 4 year old daughter doesn't have a friend, but she does "animate" her plushies. She insists I treat them like people. It's a different one every few days. This is a fun age.

DS just turned 5. He shares an imaginary friend with 3 kids in his preschool. The friend's name is 'Imaginary Bob'. I wouldn't worry.

We took tarzan, and a full size brontosaurus with us everywhere we went, lol. It will pass, in the meantime enjoy her imagination.