RJA #9c- Presentation Plan

Many psychologists have ran numerous attempts to retract that bad rap that imaginary friends have had over the course of years. With unique ongoing studies, these psychologists have established a better outcome to older studies. The media may have helped damaging the benefits of having imaginary friends by making movies that represent them as bad influences. My main agenda is to encourage you that imaginary friends are important to a child's development. I will present evidence obtained from psychological studies that will reassure you that imagination is vital to children. I will also present to you ways to deal with this type of situation and how not to go about it. I am merely reaffirming that having an imaginary companion affects your child more positively than negatively.

RJA #9b- Argument

Imagination is a vital part of a child's development. Imaginary Friends can help mold a child's interaction with others. They become skilled in problem solving and social skills.

Reasons:

Children need to be able to express themselves. They sometimes create games to play with their companions, this allows them to learn how to play with others.

Social skills are developed. They are able to use this type of education to help them through school. Passing time with pretend play, they gain confidence in the ability to make friends with children of their own age.

The learning experience for parents is far more interesting. Some children display their own thoughts or beliefs through their companions. With that said, parents are able to become more educated about their children's lives. They may not know their child dislikes grape jelly because the child does not tell them. The child may tell their parents that they don't want to eat a grape jelly sandwich, they want apple jelly instead because their buddy really likes it.

Major or minor events that affect a child are sometimes displayed in their pretend play with their friend. They mimic events that may have occurred or that are reoccurring; this helps them cope with their feelings. This is a problem solving effect that benefits the child and the adult. With the ability to act out their emotions, the child develops critical thinking skills. The parent learns from this how their child reacts to certain conditions and are able to pinpoint the problem in order to construct a solution.

Objections/Counterarguments

Behavioral problems are a main aspect of why imaginary friends have been outlawed. The imaginary friend is blamed for the child's conduct; this often occurs due to the child's craving for attention. It upsets the parent because they want their child to learn how to take responsibility for their own actions. This type of complication should not affect a child's psyche because children without imaginary friends use the same type of blame on others.

The distinction between reality and make believe comes as an instant claim of why children should not acquaint their selves with imaginary friends. Rather a child has an imaginary companion or not, they are always going to obtain an imagination. Reality sinks in as a child grows older and they no longer believe in a lot of things such as Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, or even the tooth fairy. Why should we allow a child to believe that one of these figures exist but their own creativity can not be absorbed?

Imaginary friends promote immature thinking. Most kids can be described as immature especially the common culprits of imaginary friends (ages two to four). Imaginary friends provide companionship. The child is able to communicate and interact with their pal when there is no one else around.

RJA #9a- Thesis Statement

Research Question

How do imaginary friends affect children?

Precise Claim

Imaginary friends are part of the cognitive development.

Reasons

Children develop social skills that help them interact with others.

Children learn how to cope with emotional stress.

Creativity is formed to help them express theirselves.

RJA #8b: Evaluation Check

http://brittanymartin3.blogspot.com/2010/03/rja-7.html#comment-form

http://lukas8371.blogspot.com/2010/03/rja-7-evaluation-of-sources.html#comment-form

RJA #8a: Quotation, Paraphrase, and Summary

"It is generally a fact that your child will create at least one imaginary friend in her lifetime. As annoying as they are for some parents, they are quite common. Kids normally come up with these friends in times of need or when they are feeling lonely, sad or bored. Some children may have a whole host of these friends for a very long time, while others may have only one or two for short periods of time. If you see that your child has an imaginary friend, you should know that there are pros and cons.'

From Suite101: Children's Imaginary Friends: Learning the Pros and Cons of Your Child's Unseen Companion http://earlychildhood.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_about_imaginary_friends#ixzz0ikw8WSS1

A child will at once experience an imaginary friend. Parents at times, become frustrated not realizing how normal the situation is. When children experience different changes in their life, they sometimes create these beings to help cope with their feelings. There are good things and bad things that result in having an imaginary friend.

Parents should not be discouraged if they see their child talking to their self. in any event, a child may have developed an imaginary friend to help them through rough times. A lot of times, children create imaginary friends just to cure boredom. There are going to be many things that will annoy a parent when their child dreams up their friends; however there are many advantages to having close relationships to their invisible friend. In light of the situation, children will learn how to grow through this experience, even if it doesn't last long.

RJA # 7a- Evaluation of Sources

Reference:
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=122&id=1979

This guide offers details on imaginary friends and what parents can do. It explains how children benefit from having these companions. It also offers more information on what imaginary friends do to help a child's growth and development. This website is an online health guide for parents and offers solutions to any concerns on a child's health. I think it will be very useful for me when i draw an outline of the subtopics in my research.



Book: Taylor, Marjorie. Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2001. Print

I chose this book for my research because it involves a lot of valuable information for my research. The author is a psychologist at the university of Oregon, who specializes in child development. She mentions all of the debatable topics regarding imaginary friends and creates new insight on why it is a normal part of development in children. She explains why children are not mentally challenged because of the companion. The book also displays helpful information to parents who are dealing with the situation. It also answers frequently asked questions regarding children and their distinction between fantasy and reality. There is more information about her book located on this website:imaginarycompanions.com.


Website: http://earlychildhood.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_about_imaginary_friends
"Children's Imaginary Friends: Learning the Pros and Cons of Your Child's Unseen Companion." Early Childhood.

This website will help me understand more about what an imaginary friend is. Most of the content on this site explains the pros and cons of having an imaginary friend. This site may not feature pages of info, but it's very useful on explaining the benefits and downs of the children with imaginary friends. It also links to my reference source that provides more in-depth details about my topic.


Periodical Article

USATODAY.com - 'Pretend' friends, real benefits.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-12-19-real-play-usat_x.htm

The article cites Marjorie Taylor and her input on child development. It explains how children who create imaginary friends are just as normal as kids without them. I think this article is useful in playing a part of creating a better reputation for imaginary friends. Imaginary friends have had negative press throughout years and i believe this article is helping to better explain why it is not a bad thing. By using this article i can confidently argue why i believe imaginary friends are an excellent learning experience. This article has already challenged me to use other sources such as the online journal: Developmental psychology. This is one of the very first sources i found when we started conducting research and has helped me find better keywords to use in my searches for sources on this topic.

RJA # 7b- Field Research suggestions

http://melindaatmetro.blogspot.com/2010/02/rja-6c-field-research-options.html#comment-form

http://carolpilk.blogspot.com/2010/02/rja-6c.html#comment-form

My Zatka Guide

http://zakta.com/zakta/view_1_1129_3057_Imaginary_Friends#guide_publish_form_anchor

RJA #6c- Field Research Options

Interview:

Allexperts.com has a lot of questions I needed the answers to and offers to allow you to answer more questions. I would also like to take the time and interview parents.

Survey:

The book had an excellent idea about initiating online surveys at surveymonkey.com but i would also like to use facebook and see how much infromation i could gather there.

Online Data:

I will primarily research the data using the electronic journal for Developmental Psychology and debatable topics from Helium.com.

RJA #6b- Social Media and Multimedia

Source: Technorati
keyword: Imaginary Friends
search strategy: Imaginary friends
hits: 16
Relevance: 1
date searched ; march 8, 2010

Source: Social Mention
keyword: imaginary friends
search strategy: imaginary friends
date searched: march 8, 2010
Relevance: 2

Multimedia
source: VideoSurf
keyword: imaginary friends
search strategy: imaginary friends
date searched: March 08, 2010
relevance: 2

RJA #6a: Websites–

Meta Search Engine: Carrot2 clustering engine
Keywords: Imaginary Friends, children
search strategy: children+imaginary friends
date searched: February 26, 2010
# of hits: 31100
Relevance: 5

Keywords: growth development
strategy: children+imaginary friends+growth
date searched: Feb 26, 2010
# of hits: 25100
Relevance: 4

Search Engine: Google
keyword: imaginary friends
search strategy: imaginary friends in children
date searched: March 02, 2010
hits: 66900
relevance: 5

Keyword: Imaginary friends
strategy: imaginary friends+ growth
# of hits: 23900
relevance: 5

Directory: IPL2
keyword: imaginary friends
search strategy: imaginary friends
Hits: 263
Relevance: 2