Invisible Friend

My son is speaking to ghosts. That was my first thought when my 5 year-old came tattle-telling to me that his “friend” had pushed him and called him a baby. There was no one in the house but me, my son, and my 9 month-old daughter who certainly could not push him let alone verbally insult him. I calmly asked Connor, “What friend are you talking about?” fearing that he would respond with, “I see dead people.” However, when my son told me that he had a friend named “Froop” I knew immediately that this was an imaginary friend we were dealing with. Only in the fertile mind of my son could a name like Froop exist. This friend has suddenly materialized and become a constant companion in the span of a week. Connor has even taken Froop to school. His teacher laughingly told me that Connor had been searching high and low for a toy and wouldn’t leave until he found it. When the teacher asked what a Froop was, he told her impatiently, “It’s a boy!”
Apparently Froop is a bit of a thug because he tells Connor to take toys from his sister, grab the dog’s tail and watch her squirm, and not eat his supper. After putting Connor in time-out for an offense he blamed on Froop, I said, “Well Froop’s going to time-out too!” to which Connor responded, “Froop said that’s not going to work for him.”
I’m assuming Froop is a derivative of Connor’s favorite cereal (Fruit Loops) and that my son has invented an imaginary playmate for extra attention and to have someone to play with. I hear that imaginary friends are fairly typical for kids this age and that it indicates that the child has a creative imagination. I’m still unsettled by this whole thing. When I hear my son talking to his friend, I wonder if he’s got some kind of early-onset psychosis. And even though I’m leery about the possibility of ghosts, I get the willies sometimes. I guess I’ll just have to let this phase run it’s course, or if it gets out of hand, Froop may have to be relocated to another home!