General Discussions

I've only recently realised how fascinating I find this. Here are a few things to think about:

1) What's your general opinion on them? Are they beneficial during childhood or a hindrance to your development?

2) Have you ever had/still got any?

3) At what age does having an imaginary friend cease being 'normal' and 'acceptable'? Or in other words, at what age does it start being 'weird'?

Dont get me started on Mike he stole my Atari!

1) To some extent yes, so long as you don't choose them over real life friends.

2) No, and I don't plan on it in the future.

3) I'm not sure about age, but it depends on the influence you let this imaginary friend have on your 'normal' life. When it starts interfering with every day life you should be worried.

personally i've never had an imaginary friend but i've read some stuff about it.

1. my opinion...i think its harmless and not at all out of the ordinary. some say its actually quite beneficial for introverted kids as it helps them cope with what they might regard as a hostile environment.

2. have i had any..nope.

3. at what age it might start to get weird...i'd say 15ish.

1) What's your general opinion on them? Are they beneficial during childhood or a hindrance to your development?

I think there are good and bad points. It would help a child develop their imagination and creativity, both which will be useful in the future for solving problems and stuff like that.
But at the same time, the imagination can get carried away, resulting in those 'monsters', and if the imaginary friend is the centre of their life, then they might have trouble socialising with other kids later on. Might. Not always.

2) Have you ever had/still got any?

I wasn't really the type to HAVE imaginary friends. I usually just imagined myself to be more awesome, or that my toys were people and have little play tea parties, or wars, or whatever struck my fancy at the time.
There was a point though, where I kinda imagined an alternative me for an imaginary friend sort of thing, and she would provide me with a different perspective on things, or help sort out my thoughts. Basically, just the simple act of talking through things outloud to 'myself' helped me see things in a different light. Except that she was often negative. But after a while, I kinda absorbed her and now I just mutter outloud to myself XD

3) At what age does having an imaginary friend cease being 'normal' and 'acceptable'? Or in other words, at what age does it start being 'weird'?

I think, personally, maybe between 5-8 it might get a bit worrying. It's often the age where kids are starting school and finished kindergarten and stuff, and as a result, met other children their own age, bonded with them and became friends with some of them.
The idea that they still have an imaginary friend might suggest that they don't really have a lot of real friends, which wouldn't be very good.

Imaginary friends can be charming if you're ten or something, after that it's just kind of weird. Personally I never had any imaginary friends, however I would construct elaborate fantasies when playing basketball or wiffle ball when I was a kid

I'm not gonna lie, I had quite an in depth imaginary world I lived in up until I was 13. I don't know why, or how it got to be so huge, but I had an entire world built up in my mind. It really doesn't matter what it was about, but it still worried me for some time that it lasted that long. Now, I'm just grateful it's gone.

Myself was my only imaginary friend, and still is.