How to Embrace an Imaginary Friend

What is your child talking about? Who is he whispering to? Where did he meet this new friend with the odd name he’s talking about nonstop? Why did he demand you set an extra place at the dinner table? Light dawns. You realize your child has found an imaginary friend. It’s normal, if sometimes annoying, but there’s no getting rid of your child’s new constant companion, until your kid is ready to let him go. Learn below how to embrace an imaginary friend.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Ask about your child’s imaginary friend. Get a name, country of origin, home planet, physical details, dietary restrictions, emotional landscape, astrological sign—anything that will continue to fire up your child’s active imagination.
2. Act along with your child. Include your child’s imaginary friend in conversations. Mention him in plans, although this may feel awkward if the imaginary friend is named Jo-Jo Super Monkey Candyland. Express acceptance of his participation in daily life.
3. Give your child graceful ways to sidestep reality. If Sydney Fish-Mouth doesn’t show up at the table, suggest that perhaps he is visiting a relative, or off buying milk.
4. Read to your child, sharing pictures with him and Kitty Coyote Cutie too.
5. Clue in your social posse to your child's invisible pal. They will likely play along.
6. Ignore the gradual disappearance of Jango Dingo Dooty-Ball as your child’s interest fades. Don’t bring him up unless your child does.
7. Repeat with the next awkwardly-named imaginary friend.

Tips & Warnings

• Expect excessive details involving bad words. Imaginary friends are ideal opportunities to use words that are verboten—after all, Doo-doo Butt said it, not your child.
• Imaginary friends come and go for no apparent reason. While you may have been fond of Sophie Seal and her seven pups, if your child has let them go, you must too.
• Don’t alter your plans or physical space to include the imaginary friend. Imaginary friends must be flexible. Adding an extra car seat in the minivan, putting a second bed in your child’s room or hanging another stocking on Christmas Eve is opening up a can of worms you really don’t want to open.
• Don’t require proof from your child about the reality of his or her imaginary friend. Not only will it squash his fun, it will burst his imaginary bubble and end any aspirations of a career in the arts.
• Make sure your child doesn't engage in unsafe behavior with his or her imaginary friend. Sometimes children will assume an imaginary friend can replace an adult to escort them across the street, help them cook or give them a bath. Listen closely and supervise well.
• Never try to coerce the imaginary play to your own purpose. Kids are manipulated into compliance every day of their little lives. Let their imaginations be free of manipulation.