My 3 and a half year old boy developed an imaginary friend a year or so back. Before experiencing fatherhood, one of the fears I had was 'imaginary friends' in my children. Not sure why, but the whole idea of it really bothered me. The fear probably came from media scare stories of schizophrenia and stories of parents having to cook a whole plate of food for 'Fred' to satisfy the crazed desires of their once beloved 14 year old.
But we were introduced to 'Mr Boogie' a good while back. I didn't get it at first, but after a while, I learned that yes, my child had an imaginary friend. I was worried - I really was. Thankfully, Mr Boogie needed attention every month or so (with some attention to his needs). Give or take. It didn't go to the extremes that some parents have to endure, but Mr Boogie, for a while, was a guest in our house.
We didn't get to hear from Mr Boogie for a while, but the names 'Tack and Teak' started to crop up. Tack and Teak this, tack and teak that. And I was curious to learn about Mr Boogie. I never 'challenged' him about imaginary friends at all - just let him get on with it, but I asked him last week, 'so where's Mr Boogie?'
My son can really put on a face. When I asked this... he paused. He looked up at me, squinted his eyes, started to nod at me gently as if he was divulging something profound and said... 'We'll Dad... unfortunately, Mr Boogie died.'
