‘Best Friends’

My toddler, Little M, aged two has a best friend called Charlie. He talks about Charlie all day long. Charlie is two years old as well and he has blonde hair like Little M. Charlie’s mum has straight red hair and is lucky to be taller than me and he has two sisters and two brothers. This lucky little boy has two dogs with red fur and he also has two kittens.

Charlie is bigger than Little M and some days he is lucky enough to be sixteen…..get the picture? Charlie goes everywhere that we go but he doesn’t live with us he lives in a forest. Little M always knows when Charlie is asleep or awake and always knows what he is doing. Charlie has so much fun, life for him is so exciting. He even goes to school somedays. Little M says that Charlie eats worms but is scared of foxes.

Whenever a visitor comes to the house Little M tells them what Charlie is doing, it gets quite confusing and he sounds so convincing that they believe that Charlie is upstairs asleep or having a bath etc…..and they ask who Charlie is. Little M even packs his rucksack with his pyjamas because he is going to have a sleepover at Charlie’s house.

I find the way that Little M talks about Charlie astonishing, he talks about him with such conviction and sometimes I wonder for a few seconds where Charlie is and join in and ask questions about him. I can’t help but want to know more, being sucked into the fantastical mind of a two year old. He even has his older siblings drawn into the compelling world of Charlie. Apparently having an imaginary friend is a normal extension of pretend play showing creativity and imagination. Studies have shown that children that have imaginary friends tend to be ‘bright’- “chip off the old block then!” ;0)

I love toddlers! Their innocence is sooo enchanting. And….they are soooo much fun!

Tagged as: children, imaginary friend, imagination, story telling, Toddlers