The child`s fantasy – a normal event or a reason to be worried

The little kids are inclined to make up various imaginary things and this owes except to their rich fantasy, also to their desire to be always a center of the attention. The psychologists share the opinion that the little ones, till they are in the pre-school age, are gifted with the most active imagination and this is explained by their more condensed and in-deep way of life. The escape from reality is not exactly an escape from the real world, but more a transmission to their own world, which stimulates their fantasy even more. The parents of the kids, that are more closed and less communicative, need to be aware and cautious because, even though it happens rarely, sometimes some of them can develop autism – a psychological disease which is characterized by a full isolation from the outside environment and the man lives in his world. According to the diagnostic classification of the psychic diseases the symptoms of the autism need to appear before the third year of the child, but the early diagnostics is very hard, because the symptoms in the first 2 years are not specific.

The imaginative friends and the unreal events are a part of most children games and generally they should not be a reason to worry. But if the kid continues to fantasize for a longer time, the parents start worrying and seeking for a professional help. According to the psychologists it is absolutely wrong to punish the little kid, since he is making up some stuff. The most important thing is to observe the child and to try to find out the reason for the problem. In most cases behind the children games are the imagination and the outside events and not some bad intentions.

When the kid starts to separate fantasy from reality? This is a question with a very high difficulty because the ability to split the imaginative from the real is developed at different times in every kid. Most often this happens when the kid starts going to school. The imaginative images and the sense are equally a product of both, the brain and the conscious. The children take themselves from the reality to the invented by themselves world of strange creatures, animation and fairy tale characters like Batman, Superman and Barbie who make their world more colorful and interesting. Sometimes the fantasy has also psychotherapeutic functions. This, which is unattainable for the little one in the reality, becomes possible in his fantasy world and it becomes even more attractive and great. Let`s let our children have fun and enjoy!

November 2008