Let me tell you about Gerbie. Oh, and Konnick. And don’t forget their older sister Melty. Now, I know you are scratching your head on this one, but these three characters are members of our family. Really. They are part of my daughter’s imagination and they have been around for three years now. They have been on vacation with us, family outings, daily errands and you really never know when they will pop in. Oh, and never sit on one of them - you will be scolded!!!

These three are not the only imaginary family to live with us. When my son was the same age we had Little Pretend Boy (LPB) living with us. That was his name - and he liked trains and cars, just like my son did. He and his Little Pretend Dad would often follow us in the car.

I have read that having an imaginary friend (or three) is a sign of a creative, gifted mind. When my son first introduced us to LPB, we weren’t sure what to make of it. Afterall, he is our first and we were new to this parenting thing. Little did we know that LPB was just one of many indicators, and that looking back on it all now, we were dealing with a gifted child. He spoke in full concepts/sentences by 18 months, was basically self taught at reading by 5, has since cleaned out the school library, and is very easily bored by repetitive teaching techniques. This highly refined mind had it challenges too - meltdowns over seemingly insignificant things would occur regardless of where we were.

Now that Miss N is 5, her imaginary friends still stop in from time to time, but she has made the distinction. She wanted me to play a game the other day and I just wasn’t in the mood. I asked her to have Gerbie play it with her. She immediately declared that Gerbie was not real and at this moment only a real person would do. While her mind works in a more abstract way than her brother, she exhibits so many of the same personality traits.

My middle child doesn’t have a mind that works that way, so no imaginary friends for her, but she has always been compassionate and understanding of the other two and their wild imaginations. Being an average, bright, athletic, well-rounded child has worked well for her so far.

Does your child have (or had) any imaginary friends? What are they called and are they welcomed into your family, too?

This post was inspired by Michelle’s post Odd Names for Toys - I think her kids would get along just fine with mine!

Tags: imaginary friends, gifted child, family, parenting, education