[LeafStew]

Hey, I was wondering: Did you have imaginary friends as a kid?



My mother told me I had one though. I was wondering if it was a common thing among NTs...

[Grey]

I've heard of this before, but I never had an imaginary friend when I was a child. I saw other children my age doing it, but I found it quite boring - it just seemed like they were talking to themselves out loud. I preferred to keep my imagination more to myself, and express it through stories I would make up in my head and perhaps express in the world in a private way (when I was around seven, I would write in a diary I pretended was a particular character I had made up). I still do this to an extent today, though, so it might not qualify as you'd like.

[Proteus]

As a kid I was always living in my imagination and envisioned various people with me whenever I was out and about doing something. Sometimes the person was just an abstract construct but other times it was an actual person I knew but with alterations to their personality that were situation-appropriate. I never talked to any of these people out loud or made any outward signs I was envisioning them with me and communicating with them, it was just an invention to keep me company. Or perhaps I liked imagining them there so that I could bounce ideas and observations of them and imagine what they would say. Even now I sometimes imagine one person or another is along with me and how they would react when I'm off doing something alone. Oddly enough it's rare that I wish that person were there in the flesh with me.

[AirMarionette]

They didn't have names, I literally referred to one of them as "Nosequien" (No se quién = I dunno who). I'd make them have conversations with themselves in hypothetical situations as I mindlessly played around with whatever I had in hand, be it a pencil or a piece of wire. I remember the little voices I used to make, too. My mom would just come around and ask me if I was talking to myself, but I'd just shut up because I knew she'd think I'm crazy (or threaten to refer me to a psychologist, as usual).

I miss being a kid!

[Dear Sigmund]

I had one, his or its? name was audubon. I dont remember much else, or even how I came up with that name.

[nim]

I had one when I was about thirteen, but she was more of a joke than anything. She was an elf called Elwyn. She liked tire swings. I made her play with my cousins. They were amused.

[Wulfdot]

@Grey You're doing it wrong....

@OP I didn't have an imaginary friend. I had an army of them. I had some that would follow me around on the treetops everywhere I went, and a group of my own personal monster squad. I had ones that I created completely from scratch, and others that were based on classic movie monsters.

They allowed me to express my thoughts clearly and efficiently while I was talking by correcting my speech pattern. They were my walls and I came up with some of the coolest ideas when I had them around. We loved playing with legos and playdough.

I would talk to them all every night. They were my guardians and half the reason that I never had any fears as a child. Hell, I'd go so far to say I wish I still had my imaginary friends, because I created a group of individuals who were more entertaining than actual human beings.

I never had to talk to them out loud because they were psychic :D

[wealldie]

Nope. I never had any imaginary friends.

[oneoutside]

I had an imaginary life. I had come from another planet and was disguised in human skin. I had murdered my twin sister when we were 4 and stolen her identity. True story. I mean, that's what I told all my friends, who all believed me.

[RomanticRealist]

I never had an imaginary friend. When I first heard on the tv or from popular culture that kids would have imaginary friends, I couldn't believe it and I thought it was all a joke. I just couldn't fathom how a healthy person can conjure up something make belief and believe it to be real.

I never bought into stories of santa claus or easter bunny or god as a kid either.

With that said, I did however IMAGINE myself as an alien who took up the role of a superhero. I would fly through space, land on different planets and I would blast out beams from my hand and kill bad guys. I also drew lots and lots of pictures of it including me fighting against dinosaurs, dragons, tigers and such. However, I always acknowledged it as mere fantasy and not real.