What causes some children to create an imaginary friend? Is it strictly an exercise of an over active imagination or is there the possibility of something deeper? There are those who believe that children may often mistake a ghost as a 'friend' and subsequently be labeled as an imaginary friend by the adults.

Some children interact so much with their friends as to repeat stories or relate events to their parents from what their "friend" had told them. I have even heard of cases where a child had given the name of their "imaginary" friend and it was found later that a young child of that name had in fact died there years before. Where would a child get that information if not from the other side?

It's known that children are very sensitive and "innocent" when it comes to the abnormal world.

Do you really think that 1000's of children just create a "imaginary" friend with no purpose at all or is it indeed something else ?

id love to believe there's a supernatural element to it. children are always portrayed as being extrasensitive towards the paranormal and the supernatural in films and tv and it is said that they have a 6th sense sorta thing.

i dunno, personally i never had an imaginary friend growing up so its not like i can reflect back on my own experiences and describe how my imaginary friend looked or acted. i'd be interested to find out more about children who do talk to 'imaginary' people though and see if theres more to it. im sure people will have done research into this kind of thing already

I've read somewhere that a lot of children had imaginary friends but they tend to forget about him/her when they become teenagers.

I don't

Ghosts or demons are more likely to befriend little kids because they're innocent and aren't taited by prejudgment & moral standards

My mom once told me that she had a imaginary friend because she's always feeling so alone to play with her dolls.

I had one

I was a loner till about 8 (I had terrible Eczema and no one wanted to touch me/be near me ) and it was nice to actually pretend to play with someone. I could make up the stories and play exactly how I wanted to. It was kinda awkward and weird to be playing alone though. I remember playing with the water play area in Reception and biting another girls nose for stealing a boat my "friend" was playing with.

I never talked to her again

That makes me think of something else. I think a lot of children that are the only child tend to have imaginary friends, no ?

well if i did have an imaginary friend it was one my parents never knew about as they've never mentioned it since. my sister had many imaginary friends when she was little and we've talked about that on a few occasions

The creation of an imaginary friend is actually a common stage in a child's psychological development.

There are a lot of Freudian theories that talk about how imaginary friends reveal a child's inner thoughts/fears/goals...it's all really interesting.

I usually don't care for Wikipedia, but the article explains it well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_friend

In regards to "forgetting" imaginary friends, the bottom of this article/info-thingy is pretty interesting, too: http://www.susannewmanphd.com/wordpress/?p=70

It would break my heart if i had an imaginary friend and i forgot about him.

Absolutely yes. I think it's a way to compensate that 'alone status' in their minds.

Invisible alien friend!

I had one when I was younger who seemed very real to me. Her name was Ballerina and though I don't remember much from my childhood myself my mum said I would speak to her for hours. I do distinctly remember why she left though, she flew away because her parents wanted her back. So maybe it was a spirit whose parents wanted her back in heaven or something idk

My mum visited a 'psychic' of sorts recently who completely unprompted by mum, brought up Ballerina and said that apparently she has returned to help me and i just need to ask.

According to this woman I am also some sort of 'crystal child' as well but she didn't really explain and a lot of online explanations are a bit hard to understand

Children are very aware of the other side.

When I was younger, no lie, I saw ghosts but I'd feel them more often than I saw them. My grandparents were always quick to say nothing was in the house or in any of the houses we lived in, but I know something was in all of them but one.

To this day, I can still feel when ghosts around.

Most adults brush children's claims off as imagination the same way they'll brush off a dog's growl or barking, when that growl and/or bark could be a warning.

EDIT:
My brothers never mentioned anything about ghosts when we were younger. I think I was the only one who saw them.

I had an imaginary friend in my youth. Her name was Paulie. We played monopoly together.

OMG! I've seen documentaries about it!

Basically crystal children are like the next generation of humans, they have developed senses for what to us seem paranormal stuff and such, like having a superior kind of intelligence. I wish I was one, tbh

I have heard that children r sensitive to the other side, so if ghosts r real (not sure if i believe in them but i no i don't not believe) that explanation does make sense in some accounts.

But like it is a part of growin up and it's more common for children that tend to be alone alot, so it could just be a way for the child to deal with being alone. Idk.

I never had an imaginary friend when I was younger and felt weird because I didn't. I thought everyone did so I tried to make one up one day and it was just...awkward.