Imaginary Companions

Imaginary companions are invisible, pretend friends of children. Children talk to them, play with them, and sometimes ask others to talk to them. Children may have imaginary companions at any age but pretend friends are especially common among preschool kids. Although different studies report different statistics, at least 20–25% of preschoolers have imaginary companions. Those friends show up mostly between the ages of 3 and 6 years, and for most of the kids, they continue to exist throughout their school years. Although they might be confused with each other, imaginative play and imaginary companions are two different things. With imaginary companions, there is not any objective basis for the reality of those friends. On the other hand, in imaginative play, an existing object is personified ...