<story><title>Why Kids Invent Imaginary Friends</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/07/why-do-kids-have-imaginary-friends/594919/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fouc</author><text>What about kids that fake having an imaginary friend because they heard about imaginary friends?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thecrash</author><text>Some people believe that creating imaginary friends is a deliberate process, and can be done by anyone who comes across the idea:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;You’ll create a tulpa by imagining a person in your head, and treating them as a person. The exact mechanism is unknown, but as you give a tulpa attention, and believe it can be a sentient person, it will grow into one, and act independently of you.&amp;quot;
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.tulpa.info&amp;#x2F;what-is-a-tulpa&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.tulpa.info&amp;#x2F;what-is-a-tulpa&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Why Kids Invent Imaginary Friends</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/07/why-do-kids-have-imaginary-friends/594919/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fouc</author><text>What about kids that fake having an imaginary friend because they heard about imaginary friends?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>juped</author><text>This could be more common than having an imaginary friend, although the line between having an imaginary friend and pretending to have one is blurry.</text></comment>