I was told that it is rare for kids like Dougy (literal-minded) to have imaginary friends. I thought "well that’s nice but we have FOUR alive and well friends at home living with us."
Let me introduce them.
Lightning boy
Dougy use to call himself Lightening boy “I’m not Dougy, I’m.....(dramatic pause) lighting boy” This became and issue so we made him stop (he did it ALL the time). I think this is when Lightning boy morphed from an alter ego to an imaginary friend. Dougy started playing with Lightning boy, sitting by him on the couch, saving a seat form him at tables ect.... I didn’t think too much because he was 4 years old.
Cowboy
Cowboy turned out to be the favorite, the "GO-TO" friend for Dougy. I later found out that Cowboy went everywhere and the others had to stay at home. Cowboy was "just a guy who wore boots and a hat." (Apparently he was cooler than the rest of them). Dougy liked to wear his cowboy hat so he could relate to Cowboy.
Speedor
Speedor "is a fast guy." He would come to school only at recess and then go home (remember only Cowboy got to go the whole day). Speedor was always messing with Cowboy, Dougy would have to break up their fights. I use to ask Dougy what they fought about, but after a couple of strange responses I stopped asking!
Hunter
Hunter was not around much. He only came to Dougy in “wooded areas” I believe Hunter arrived on our trip to the mountains one summer. Dougy wouldn't go into any detail about this guy, he was the "mysterious one."
Dougy use to talk about these guys but not where it was really a problem. I then found out from his 1st grade teacher that he wasn’t playing with kids at school and was always hiding under the slide at recess or swinging alone. I asked Dougy one day about this and he said “I have to hide under the slide to talk to Cowboy, Lightning Boy, and Speedor so no one else sees.”
Yep, my son was talking to himself....I mean his “friends” at recess.
I decided to get professional advice on how to handle this because he was now 6 years old. I was told that this was his way of coping with is social issues and it was fine. I totally understood that and it made me think “awww,” (after that I kind of wanted to hug Cowboy and Speedor, I didn’t like Lightning Boy though and Hunter was never around).
One day in 2nd grade I picked up Dougy from his biological dad (weekend visits, lived about an hour away). We were driving back listening to music or whatever and Dougy all of a sudden yells out “what do you think you are a doctor or something?” I hadn’t said anything and was confused at why he would yell this at me. I asked him why and THIS.....WAS....HIS....REsPONSE......
“Oh I wasn’t talking to you mom, Cowboy broke his arm at dad’s house and when we got in the car Speedor said he could fix it for him.”
Dougy was in fact yelling at Speedor (remember Speedor was the trouble maker)!
There were various other incidents of Dougy blatantly talking out loud to these guys, but I was told not to worry about it. I just told Dougy to not talk with them under the slide anymore.
When 2nd grade rolled around these guys (mainly Cowboy and Speedor) were still hanging out. One of his therapists wanted to try a “Say Goodbye to Our Friends” plan since he was getting older. Well while I was waiting for him, I heard a panicked scream bellow out down the hall and I ran to see what was up. He was in tears and started nervously saying (while slobbering and snotting) “I can’t say goodbye to them, the world will be a sad place without them” “Mom if you make me do this I am going to tell them to hide until my 8th birthday and then I’m asking them back”
Wow, what do you say to that???
I decided to defer this issue to the specialist. We met with her and she told Dougy that he can’t talk to them in front of other people but she has no problem with him having them. She said when he is 12 they would talk about it again.
So now Dougy has his friends but he doesn’t really talk about it anymore. If I ask him he will confirm their presence but becomes nervous, so I just drop it.
So I guess until Dougy is 12, I will have 4 creepy non-existent dudes living with me. I should include them in our family Christmas photo.
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