Princess R has always had a big imagination and likes to pretend play. She has many different people she likes to pretend to talk to and to turn into. She has a very active imagination and it is really neat to watch her develop her creativity.
Lately though she has been talking about her “little brother Triton“.
& it is kind of freaking me out.
She goes into big detail about what he looks like and how he goes to school with her. What he likes to do and what he is not good at. She will have conversations with him like he is right there.
I don’t know what to make of it. I really don’t.
I am not a religious person so I can’t really believe that he is ‘here with us‘ and that she can really see him. I can’t buy into that.
She was too young to know what happened with him – so I don’t think this is a manifestation of grief or anything – that wouldn’t make sense.
Am I just reading too much into this & she just picked the name Triton for her ‘little brother’ imagination because she knows the name?
I am in what i call a ‘trigger zone‘ right now. Since removing my birth control this trigger happens monthly again and leave me in kind of a black hole for a few days. That combined with Princess R’s new “playmate” has me a bit freaked out.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: emikatj
September 23, 2011 at 11:36 am
Maybe she just uses his name because she’s heard you say it and feels the emotional weight attached to it.
I rarely hear about kids with imaginary friends these days. I had three, a boy and a girl and a cat
I’m sending you hugs! <3 Our bodies can do amazing things, but sometimes it feels like they're working against us. Birth control is so complicated and annoying.
Twitter: MommyMoments
September 23, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I agree Emily, she probably just likes the name – but like every behaviour with your children you need to monitor that which you’re not certain of and ask for advice when needed.
I’m more worried about you – so many triggers in your life! You certainly didn’t need another one.
I have absolutely no advice I can give you but I’m sending you hugs!!!
Twitter: itsdilovely
September 23, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Wow, Devan. No wonder you’re freaked out. Do you talk about Triton with your kids? Do they know they have an “angel brother”? I’ve been reading that oftentimes these things do develop after the fact, if a child is aware of a lost sibling – they didn’t understand it when it happened, but once they have figured out what it means to have siblings, they do experience a measure of grief at not being able to play with the one that is gone. If that could be the case, this actually sounds like a really healthy thing for her to do – a way to soothe herself using a very typical childhood technique (imaginary friend). If she doesn’t know that Triton is your lost baby’s name… then that is bordering on telepathic! Children are so amazing.
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Twitter: daddyrunsalot
September 25, 2011 at 8:35 pm
She knows the name and, obviously, has an incredibly active imagination. Heck, I can still tell you what my imaginary friends looked like.
I’d be freaked out, too, though. Eeek.
But, Princess R is demonstrating entirely normal kid behavior.
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