Conference moira::parenting

    Hi
    
    No, 2.5 is not too early.  My daughter is 2.4 and has a friend that
    she calls "that man"  As far as I can tell he's a piece of dust on the
    floor.  
    
    She talked about him alot for about 2 weeks - Telling us that he was
    her friend and was very funny.  She hasn't really said much about him
    in the past week.  I'm not sure if he's gone or just on vacation!
    
    Kirsten
    

    
    Allison has had an invisible friend for at least since she was 2.6.
    The invisible friend helped with potty-training.
    Now we have multiple invisible friends.  Allison just turned
    four and the friends show up less and less lately.  Almost all
    of them were named Caffe-something.  (or Kathy?, we could never tell).
    
    	We have Caffe-Girl and Caffe-boy.  They are super human.  
    They come out particularly when she's mad at her dad or mom.
    Or in a crisis.  For instance, during one car ride, Allison suddenly needed
    to go to the bathroom and we were on a highway with no exit for
    about 10 minutes.  Allison wanted to go to Caffe-girl's house.
    "She lives right here!"   When she's mad at a parent, she
    "tells" Caffe-girl on us.  
    
    	Also, Caffe-Boy can fly without an airplane and can change the
    weather.  (stop the rain, make it spring time, make it snow).
    The Caffes are "bigger than a House".  Except of course caffe-baby.
    For a while, there was caffe-dog.

I think Evan had an invisible friend for a short while.  The friend 
apparently lived in Evan's room.  Evan only brought him up a handful of
times, and I remember Evan once brought him up after I had thought Evan
had forgotten about him.  I *think* Evan was about 4 when his friend appeared,
and 5 when he was last mentioned.  As I recall, the friend was a little boy,
like himself.

      Carol

    My niece was 2.5 when her invisible friends, Dondi and Sondi, appeared.
    One was a boy and one was a girl.  Dondi and Sondi were active little
    people in all of our lives for about 1 year.  They would get "sad" when
    Alyssa was angry or hurt, and would be happy when she was celebrating. 
    They also would be afraid when there was something scary going on.
    
    Seems to me, they were really her feelings at the time and an easier
    way for her to express them....Of course they both liked tea parties
    too !

    OK...do they talk to them ?
    
    My daughter (3 1/2) has walked into the bathroom and said:
    
    	"Why did you come in here"
    	"I'm going to do pee-pee"
    	"Well, ok"
    
    I asked "Who were you talking to" She said "my fiend"
    
    It seems the friend comes out in anger. I think it is the angry mom
    whom she can confront and control but maybe I'm oversensitive. 
    
    I can't remember hearing a child talk to herself in the second person.

Kristine started with her invisible friend when I was pregnant with
our second baby and she was about 3 year old.  Her invisible friend
is a older sister, about 9 years old that lives in California and
speaks English and Spanish.  Krisitine also speaks Portuguese but
not Spanish.  She calls her sister on her play phone, writes notes
for her, etc.  She is so convincing about her invisible sister that
the parents of some of her friends's are asking us if we have any
kids from previous marriages.   Now, since Matthew (10 1/2 months)
started walking, Kristine decided that Matthew has a older invisible
brother too, but the invisible boy is not her brother.  She seems to
imagine a complicated family.

  --Cida

    My nephew is 8 and he has a whole invisible family George (his brother
    and another Mum and Dad) is he too old for this my sister ignores it
    but his friends do give him strange looks when he goes on about his
    other mun and dad!
    T

    
    My daughter is 3 and has friends, Tina, Lucy and Michael...can you
    
    say Barney...