Many children have had or will have imaginary friends. Hopefully not like Drop Dead Fred--have you seen that movie? Funny, but at time somewhat inappropriate. But I digress...
But not my child. Nope. He doesn't have an imaginary friend. No way. That's way under-doing it. As is customary in our family, he has shot way beyond the mark. He has an imaginary army, which includes--as he calls them--"my guys and my men". As far as I've been able to tell, they consist of various knights and kung fu warriors (mostly of the panda variety), and at times imaginary chipmunk mercenaries (this is a rare occurance, so I assume they're only hired on as required, and paid in nuts, seeds and berries). The regulars spend most of the day protecting our home (or portions of the family in whatever activities they might be engaged in outside of the home, such as grocery shopping, church activities, yardwork) from bad guys. I have often been saved from sneak attacks by various mallevolent characters at the hand of his guys and men, who follow his every command. Though I haven't personally seen them, they seem to come in handy at sundry times.
As far as the "bad guys" are concerned, they include but not limited to bad knights, evil dragons, dinosaurs (mostly carniverous), lions, tiger and bears (obligatory "oh my!"), and Tailung from Kung Fu Panda (in addition to Tailung's general and armies, courtesy of kungfupandaworld.com, which is a good time for kids and dads alike). These bad guys at times try to attack unnoticed, while we're picking up toys, doing the dishes, shopping for food, folding clothes, doing yardwork, or while passing through the "rainforest" (under the neighbor's willow tree) while on walks. They are always foiled in their dasterdly attempts by some contingent of the army, much to our relief.
I know his army is generally outfitted with swords, but at various times they have been known to use guns, lasers, clubs, sticks (which are readily available in the rainforest), varying sports balls, and maybe bombs. They are also quite skilled in hand-to-hand combat. As far as strategy is concerned, I think overwhelming force is the usual approach. Subtlty, intrigue, ambush, etc. haven't quite made their appearance yet, though I doubt they're too far in the future. This will hopefully add to the family's safety, and will be appreciated all around.
Marjorie Taylor, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon and author of Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them found that 65 percent of all children have make-believe friends at some point in their young lives (from Singletons: The Words of Only Children blog by Susan Newman; PsychologyToday.com). Seems like having imaginary friends is an ordinary thing...which makes my child extraordinary.
