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Imaginary Friends
Can Leave With The Wind

JOAN CARY

Special to The Jewish News

111

ore than 20 years have
passed, but Aimee
Hojnacki and her family
still have fond memories
of Chuckie Forest, her sweet child-
hood friend.
"Everybody in our large extended
family knew Chuckie. When family
members came over, they would
always ask Aimee what Chuckie had
been up to," recalls Aimee's mother,

friend. He stayed with Aimee from the
time Aimee was about 2 1/2 until she
was almost 4, when Aimee's sister was
born and Aimee started preschool.
Gradually then, Chuckle just faded
away.
Are imaginary friends a cause for
parental alarm? Hardly.
"At a young age, the difference
between imagination and reality is not
so firm in a child," says Dr. Robert
Musikantow, a psychologist at Linden
Oaks Hospital in Naperville, Ill. "It's
always a sign of an imaginative child.

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Assistaffice for your
Lowed one at home

Judy Hojnacki, the director of a child-
care center in Illinois.
. What Aimee liked, Chuckie liked.
When Aimee had a concern, Chuckie
did too.•
"When Aimee's dog died, Chuckie's
ran away too. Aimee would report to
us what Chuckie said. And Chuckle
was sad too, but not too much because
he always wanted a bigger dog, and
Aimee did too," recalls Judy.
Chuckie lived and the dry sink in
the Hojnacki's house in Indiana and
that's why the door to the dry sink was
always open — so Chuckle would be
free to come and go as he pleased.
Chuckle was Aimee's imaginary

Joan Cary writes for Copley News

Service.

It's not anything to be alarmed at. A
lot of kids do it. It's the ability to
imagine, to pretend."
Aimee and Chuckle's views and
feelings were always parallel, says Judy.
"It all seemed so clear. She always
knew he was imaginary and there was
always a clear parallel between what
Chuckle was doing and what she had
heard or done herself. He never had
an emotion that didn't parallel hers
and so I never worried about it. As
long as what she reported on Chuckle
were reflections of normal thoughts
and feelings, it never concerned me."
Only once, was Mom concerned.
Aimee said Chuckle had a bullet in his
head that came from a burglar in his
room. But he didn't bleed. He didn't

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2/6
1998

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