It is quite common for children of about three or four years to have an imaginary friend. This may be another child, a magical person or an animal. Sometimes the imaginary friends change as the child grows older.

Often children who have an imaginary friend are the only child in the family or the oldest one. Having an imaginary friend does not mean that your child is lonely. They are usually creative, imaginative children.

As the child grows up the real world takes over and by the time the child is going to school the imaginary friend usually just quietly disappears.

Imaginary friends are a part of normal development and rather than being a problem they can help children to deal with some of stressing situations in their lives.
Sometimes an imaginary friend can help parents to see where a problem is.

• For example if the imaginary friend is afraid of the dark it is likely that the child is afraid of the dark and learning to manage her fears through the friend. 
• If the friend is always misbehaving and getting into trouble it may be that the child is having too may rules or punishments.

Sometimes children can use their imaginary friends to avoid doing something they don't want to.
If get on well wit others and also enjoys doing things with you and other children there is not likely to be any problem. If the child continues to choose the friend very often rather than doing things in the real world it is helpful to have a look at what is going on in his life and think about ways to help him enjoy doing real things as well.

Fifty years ago children of dual nationality parents tended to learn only the language of the country they were living it. Bilingualism was not encouraged as many felt that kearning two languages would slow down the language development of the children. However, research discredited these ideas.

It is now acknowledged that bilingualism is a valuable asset in the development of a child. Apart from the obvious benefits of being able to communicate easily with people of different nationalities, the bilingual child is acquainted with two cultures and thus is better at understanding the viewpoints of other people. This means that having more than one cultural identity heightens your ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

So, while the particular usefulness of the language the child speaks depends on how widely spoken they are internationality, in terms of a broader, more abstract value, learning language in advantageous.  

Also, research has found that bilingual children do better at school than those who speak only one language. This has been put up to the fact that bilingual chlidren have more subtle use of language, can analyse and develop better communication skills.

But is it not easy raising these children. Is it better to start teaching a child a second language from birth with the father speaking to the child in one language and the mother in the other. But young children are often embarrased if one parents speaks to them in foreign language whem they are with their friends. They feel it sets them apart from their peers at an age when they want to conform. Also, some children rebel against the mionority language which makes the parent who speaks it feel rejected and it can upset family relationship.

Yet the benefits outweight the disadvantages.

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