Why fantasy friends are a good sign

Carola Felchner is a freelance writer in the medical department and a certified training and nutrition advisor. She worked for various specialist magazines and online portals before becoming a freelance journalist in 2015. Before starting her internship, she studied translation and interpreting in Kempten and Munich.

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Does your child have made up friends? No need to worry, say experts. Find out here why fictional playmates are not only harmless in Corona times.

The child is talking to other children - but isn't there anyone in the room? Many girls and boys make invisible friends. Parents are then often unsure: How should they deal with it? Researchers give the all-clear: Well thought-out playmates are not only a sign of a healthy psyche in children, but can also be helpful, according to the magazine "Baby und Familie" (edition 7/2020).

Fictional friend as "transition helper"

Because friends are often comforters, protectors, accomplices or even scapegoats. They often appear in so-called transitional situations: for example, when a sibling is born or parents separate. "Or when children feel lonely," explains British psychologist Paige Davis in the magazine. She assumes that a whole lot of new imaginary friends are being made right now, during the corona pandemic.

Scientific work has shown that an invisible friend is more of a sign of a creative child who tries to regulate and calm himself and his emotions. An imaginary friend can do that better than real friends.

Signs of social competence

In addition, children with imaginary friends are often better able to empathize with others. So these children have greater social skills.

That invented friends are viewed positively was not always the case in psychology: In the 1970s, it was still assumed that imaginary friends were a sign that children lacked something. Some even saw the friends as harbingers of a mental disorder.

According to Paige Davis, this could be because most of the studies back then were done with children who were already mentally ill. (caf / dpa)

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