Has Your Child Ever Encountered an Enity? If So, What Did You Do?

It's funny you mention this tonight. My brother died in August, and he lived out of state. We saw him once a month but he wasn't part of my kids' day-to-day life. Just tonight, I was home alone with my 2 yo. We were in her room changing her clothes when she pointed to her open bedroom door and said, just as plain as day, "There's Uncle Dale." I couldn't believe what I heard, so I asked her to repeat it, and she said it again. It wasn't scary or anything, but it did make my stomach drop. I didn't say anything else, and she just went to playing with her doll. I don't know. It was just odd, and I felt like I had to share it with someone. My husband would think I was just hearing things (but I know what she said).

Very healthy and often a sign of intelligence. Don't ignore it. Go with it and play along. Ask him questions, follow his lead. Very good sign!

Little kids have imaginary friends and often imagine them so vividly that they seem real to the child.
My daughter had an imaginary dog named Copper, and she could describe that dog in every detail down to his fleas.
That's all this is.

You mean an imaginary friend. MOST kids have them, and it's totally normal.
Or, do you mean he thinks he is seeing something scary like a ghost? I ask, because it's hard to answer with it being so vague.

ETA: For the record, I had many imaginary friends. I grew up to be a totally normal person. You might just have a creative thinker on your hands.

Call a priest!
Just kidding, I'm sure it's just an imaginary friend, which is both common and normal at that age.

It's called an imaginary friend and it's perfectly healthy. Ghosts aren't real and encouraging a child to seek attention by "seeing" ghosts is the opposite from healthy.

Some kids have imaginary friends. Mine didn't but they are harmless.

My oldest had an imaginary friend for a few months at age 3. I heard all kinds of stories about this guy. If my son had a popsicle, his imaginary friend needed an imaginary popsicle. His friend didn't like certain foods, or went on adventures, or like to play cars, etc.

I would assume that with a 3 year old, it's just an imaginary friend and not something more. If it continues when he's older, then you might have to explore other possibilities but I bet this will just go away on its own.

ETA: his friend's name was Mr. Hinkle. I didn't know at the time that Caillou's neighbor was named Mr. Hinkle.

Children often invent "invisible friends". There's no entity. It's just an invisible friend. (Or as Bug puts it, an imaginary friend. That's a better term - thanks Bug!)

Call your pediatrician and ask how best to handle this with your child.

Dawn

G.:

Ask him to describe the friend to you and what the friend has told him about himself. Is he old? Is he young?

My boys didn't have imaginary friends, but my daughter did. From age 3 to 7 as she wanted a sibling VERY badly. So she had a sister to share her toys with...and play with. I didn't tell her she was crazy. i did at times, set a plate for her sister at the table. My ex didn't like it, but oh well.

I hope ReverenedRuby answers this question for you!!

Do YOU think it's a ghost or something? What is YOUR feeling on it?

Good luck!

Encourage and protect the best you can.

Personally, either imaginary or something more, the rule should be "As long as they behave and aren't naughty, they can stay. If they are naughty they must go away."

So long as your little one isn't afraid and not acting out and blaming "friend", then all is good.

I had a "friend", one day she was naughty and I told her to go "home". She did. :)

Enjoy.

I would say your child has an imaginary friend.

That's not to say that kids don't perceive spirits, some kids do. We had a spirit in our house for a while. My cat was acting weird for a few days, trying to chase something that wasn't there. We thought maybe it was a fly or something. Then my daughter said she thought there was someone in her room at night. She was genuinely scared. We thought she had a nightmare. Then one night I woke up and totally felt a "presence" in our room. I woke my husband up and said "I think there's a spirit in our room!" He sat up in bed and I waited for a few moments and he said "Over there" and pointed to the spot where I felt the same thing! We forcefully told the spirit to go pick up a body, and it left. We never felt anything after that.

It was a totally different experience than what you are having, so I'm going to go with your little one has an imaginary friend :)

An entity? No.
Imaginary friend? Yes.

Two out of my three had imaginary friends, if that's what you mean. We just played along. Both magically disappeared at the start of nursery school.

:)

My son used to claim he could see his imaginary friend walking down the street next to the car. When the friend went places with us, he insisted that he needed to buckle the friend into the back seat of the car next to him. Totally normal, and doesn't mean that he's seeing ghosts.

Imaginary friends come up for a multitude of reasons. What is he saying......that he sees someone in your home or that he has a friend in this "friend". Is he afraid and watches this someone doing something in a particular part of the home or are they playing together, sleeping and talking together? There may be an entity in your home, as children are alot more perceptive to that or he may have experienced something that requires him to cling to an imaginary friend. Inquire about this "friend" and see what it's all about.

have you seen the movie parental guidance....pretty funny with an imaginary friend that the little boy had!!!

I had an imaginary friend name "George Henry Monster". We played a lot, and then he moved to Hawaii. :) My parents still joke about it to this day...and I'm now a successful, well-adjusted, 30 year old, wife and mom of two. Just acknowledge the friend, but don't play it up too much. Don't shame your child, but don't necessarily encourage it to an extreme either! S/he will grow beyond the friend.

Many kids have imaginary friends. Any basic book on child development will cover this, and I'm sure you can google it too, if you want more information, it's totally normal.

It freaked me a little when my oldest developed an imaginary friend. She just had so many darn details I didn't know she was capable of coming up with! She continued on with it for two years. We played along.

My son went through this when he was very young. Most kids go through and "imaginary friend " phase, however, sometimes they aren't so imaginary. If your child seems happy, balanced, and not afraid, then their really isn't anything wrong with it.

I have always "talked" to his imaginary friends and made sure they were only their to play nice. I also told them that if they started upsetting my child, and making him afraid that I would ask them to leave, and not come back.

I am not a skeptic, however, this is something anyone can do while their children are in this phase. For some though, it isn't a phase. Just be present, supportive, and let your child discuss his friends without judgement.

my daughter still plays with imaginary friends at 6 years old.
The only time we ever though it was odd was when she was little under 2 until 3 years old and she would sit in the kitchen and talk to the lady with pink hair. It wasnt like her imaginary friends. It was difernet in that it wasnt a kid, and the conversations seemed odd. her conversations with imaginary friends were very childish, this was more of conversations an adult would have with a child.
My ex had an aunt who died right before we got married and he was very close to her. i knew her very well too. She had redish pink hair...
anyway who knows if it was real but people chose to think it was her

OHHHH WAIT I forgot the most important one
Emmy was 3 and in the car. We always sat her in the middle of the back seat in her car seat and she ALWAYS begged to sit near the window. We only allowed her when friends with carseats were in the car because of space reasons. anyway her cousin had J. slept over a few days prior and we hadnt switched the seat back to the middle and she was LOVING it, until we were on the road and she says mommy i think the middle seat is safer can you pull over right now and switch M.. she was quite upset, but i J. chaled it up to herbeing silly and kept driving with her upset about the fact she wasnt safe and we should stop. 2 minutes later a drunk driver plowed through our car. after i threw her the broken window because i was stuck and traffic was coming she cried for about 5 minutes, calmed down and said I told you it wasnt safe mommy.
it was very odd

My son insisted he could see his invisible friend as well. You can always call your Ped and ask what you should do about it.

Myself, all 4 kids and DIL and all 4 grandkids and ex-husband are psychic/mediums. My kids can see them, I only know they are there. My house has 3 resident ghosts. My daughters saw the Lady in White in the house, I see bits of her but not the whole person. She looks like she is wearing a big wedding dress. My younger son has seen the other two but only parts of them. One is a young blonde woman, my son only saw her head and shoulders, the other is a man and my son has only seen him from the waist down. My DIL saw him hanging in the basement. We are not sure if he was murdered or committed suicide. I feel them all and knew they were here before we bought the house. We also have shadow people all over the yard. I can see them running up and down the driveway and in the yard all the time.

PM me if you need to. You can look for a paranormal group, try meetup.com and ask if they will come and do an investagation. The only thing is is you can have stuff going on and a group comes in and nothing happens. As far as an entity goes and long as they are not bothering you or hiding your stuff you can just leave them alone. You can ask them to not bother the kids or to leave. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

I do work with a paranormal group. I think it's fun.

Very common in preschoolers. My son always said, "my pretend friend". Now my little grandson age 3 1/2 is going through a lot of pretend stuff now and has his little friend "charley".
Just play along, they will eventually disappear.

My daughter who's 5 came and told us about "sarah" one morning on the way to school. I played along and i think my husband freak out thinking its something else. She went on about how "sarah" had pink hair and a yellow dress on? My other daughter blurted out kinda like the tooth fairy? "Yes,like the tooth fairy." My daughter has a big imaginary so i didn't see nothing wrong with it. Needless to say this happened one day or so and after that we never heard of "sarah" again. Imaginary friend is what i guessing. :)

i taught my kids psychic shielding pretty young (that's not necessarily woo-woo, many good drama classes do similar things.) both of mine have had encounters, and neither of 'em were freaked out.
they both envisioned whatever sort of protection appealed at the time (circling dragons, armor, louvered fish scales, moat full of sharks, peaceful egg of white light etc) and put energy into it several times a day until it became habitual. the shields can be tweaked to let in all good energy, but bristle or slam shut or turn on or whatever if something they didn't want near them started sniffing around. it sounds as if your little guy's friend is positive so should be allowed in. but invitations can always be revoked.
there's always an adjustment period with littles who really want this protection to be visible and literal (who doesn't?) but once they get the concept, it works remarkably well. even with bullies!
good luck.
khairete
S.

It all depends on how he see's them weather it be an entity or an imaginary friend.. they are 2 different things.. It also is all in how you believe. with him being 3 I really wouldn't worry unless he starts becoming harmful to himself or other's.. It actually is normal for children to entities when adults can't like I said before I personally don't feel there is harm there unless he is showing sign's. I personally would not try to get rid of them at this point they just might be a guardian angel looking out for your son and not harmful in anyway.. My now 18 year old still says she feels presents of family members that has passed and I would never try to discourage her from what she feels. some people might believe and some people might not but to tell your child he is wrong in what he feels or is seeing would just make that child feel like he can't come to you at a later time.. Good Luck

I believe that young children are simply more sensitive to the spiritual world. When my oldest was 2, we started trying to conceive our second child. Every time I was pregnant (we lost several pregnancies) my oldest told me I was pregnant before I even knew. There was something there that she sensed. And she was right every time. It was kind of spooky but very cool at the same time. I also think that both my girls have been visited by their departed grandmother. She passed right before my oldest was born. Even before we really started pointing to pictures of Grandma Michelle (to teach her who she was) there were signs that she already knew her. Whether your son just has an imaginary friend or if it's someone who's visiting him, I don't think you have anything to worry about unless this potential entity suddenly become violet or scares your son.