My five-year-old spent the night at a friend’s house last night. In her absence, my two-year-old daughter clung to the security of her imaginary friend, John. She asked me set up a sleeping bag for him on the floor, so that she wouldn’t have to sleep by herself. He also joined us for dinner, a ride in the car, and breakfast this morning, but apparently he likes to sleep late because he almost slept past breakfast.
Sometimes she talks about two separate imaginary friends — Little John (who is two-years-old) and Big John (who is five). Usually though, it’s just “John.”
This is my first experience with an imaginary friend. Although I was convinced when I was a kid that faeries, trolls, gnomes, ghosts, witches, and other supernatural creatures existed in the shadows of the world all around me, I never had a specific invisible friend who was human.
Has anyone else had experience with imaginary friends? What are your thoughts on the subject?
Damian Daily 
I love that his name is “John.” Just some regular guy… “That’s my buddy John over there, chillin’ on the couch.”
…Unless of course, your house is built upon the unmarked grave of two brothers named John….
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ah, imaginary friends….
i had many from the variety you mentioned to a specific one named Judy Moon. she stayed around til i was about 10. she looked a lot like a girl i knew at my first elementary school who was very shy. her name was judy, too. i moved to a new school when i was in 1st grade. Judy Moon moved with me.
my eldest’s imaginary friend’s name was corey. he stuck around for quite a long time, too. there were others, but corey was the main stay. he ate diner with us, rode in the car, with seat belt, etc.
s’s imaginary friends are godzilla monsters and dinosaurs. still. and calvin and hobbes.
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i bet big john shows her how to do big kid things without the conflicts that can arise with her sister.
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All I have to say is ….How adorable!!! ….and I heard that my brother had an imaginary friend when he was 4 or 5…I am guessing he would not want me to post this on the internet..but there it is…
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I had a vivid imagination, but I never had an imaginary friend. I was usually pretending to be a superhero or an archaeologist. In fact, the book I wrote is based on the games I used to play as a child.
I don’t remember anyone I grew up with haveing an imaginary friend either. But it’s discussed often enough, I know there have to be others with similar experiences.
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I didn’t have a specific imaginary friend. I’d pretend to teach school to imaginary students, and stuff like that, but I didn’t have a true imaginary friend.
My husband, on the other hand, did. The friend’s name was “Gupion.” Where he got that, I have no idea!
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I had an imaginary friend named Mikey (maybe after the life cereal boy?) My daughter said she saw a ghost all the time and his name was kingdom. Later she said he was her best friend (when I told her I would take him upstairs with me since he was bothering her at the time). I think imaginary friends are great. I wonder where Mikey is now?
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I was always a bit in awe of people with imaginary friends – such strength of imagination! I never could persuade myself to let go so completely and always kept myself in the adult-sanctioned “real” world. Escaping quite well, now, however! 😉
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