Early Childhood Memories

[Dargos]

How far back can you remember things?

My earliest memory is climbing out of my crib in my mother and fathers bedroom early one morning (I know it was morning because mom and dad were still in bed, and sunlight was shining through the shades) and stealing the honey jar they had on their nightstand next to their bed, I then crawled under their bed to consume my stolen golden treasure. I don’t know exactly how old I was. My mother used to say it was impossible that I remembered that because I was too young, but I can see my actions in my minds eye with crystal clarity.

Other memories I have of when I was young include setting fire to the bathroom throw rug with matches. Me being the smart young boy, immediately stopped up the bathroom sink and turned the water on thinking it would overflow and put the fire out, then running into the living room and sitting on the couch as if nothing was wrong. My mother then walking around the house sniffing and muttering, “Something’s burning,” then opening the bathroom door to a bathroom in flames. She grabbed me and we left the house.

I remember our next door neighbor running out of her house to behead a snake with a shovel, after my screaming mother found it front of our house. It was a blacksnake and the poor thing was just trying to eat a frog. The frog hopped out of its mouth and got away.

I remember running away from my mother, when she became angry with me for playing with something I wasn’t supposed to be playing with (I think it was a power outlet). I wasn’t looking where I was going and ran straight into a wall. I had to be taken to a dentist and have my upper front baby teeth pulled.

I remember running back home in panic and jumping into the bathtub, after spilling gasoline on myself while horsing around on our neighbor’s patio. I thought the sun would set me on fire if I didn’t get into the tub in time.

I remember being sexually abused by my babysitter, and then afterwards by my father. (When I finally confronted my father and mother about this in 1988 my mother, in tears, said I was misremembering…but my father and I know the truth in the matter).

I was born in 1971 and these events happened between then and 1974 and happened on Maxwell AFB, Montgomery Alabama. In 1974 my father was transferred to Germany.

I have many more memories, too many to list here. I was just wondering if anyone else had clear memories from back when they were a youngster.

[Kanastrous]

I try to remember as little as possible about life before 18.

[Singular Intellect]

Earliest memories I can recall are around age 6-7, somewhere around kindergarden age.

[CaptainZoidberg]

I can recall trying to horde my milk at home while I was at kindergarten, and just staring at the teacher with a puzzled look when she said that it would spoil if I just kept it in a big pile.

[Twoyboy]

My earliest memory is climbing out of my crib in my mother and fathers bedroom early one morning (I know it was morning because mom and dad were still in bed, and sunlight was shining through the shades) and stealing the honey jar they had on their nightstand next to their bed, I then crawled under their bed to consume my stolen golden treasure. I don’t know exactly how old I was. My mother used to say it was impossible that I remembered that because I was too young, but I can see my actions in my minds eye with crystal clarity.

You don't necessarily remember that. Being a good story you may have heard your parents tell it and your mind did the rest, constructing a memory from what they said. I'm not saying that's what happened, just that it's a possibility. The human mind is a funny thing.


My first memory is... complicated. In primary school a teacher asked this question, and I remember saying it was of my brother teaching me to swing on a rope when I was about 4 or 5. I've since lost that memory, but I still remember answering that question in primary school. So I'm not sure if that counts or not.

[Kodiak]

I remember standing up in my crib during a nap-time. I remember that when i stood up and looked out (I wasn't big enough to climb out yet) my mom yelled at me to lie back down. I'm guessing I was about 2 years old at the time. I also have some memories about preschool when I was 3-4 years old.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I recall being carted away from my parents for surgery when I was about 2 years old, maybe a little younger. And I remember a lot of stuff from after the surgery, like lying on the hospital bed surrounded by curtains and begging for juice to drink. I also remember the children's recovery room, which was soft and warm and full of stuffed animals and wooden blocks, and located high enough up the building that I spent most of my time looking out the window.

I also remember the Star Wars toys I was playing with before my surgery, while laying on the bed (before I was carted away). They were tiny and metal and I never saw them again as far as I can recall.

[General Zod]

I remember getting stung by a bee when I was somewhere between 2-4. Don't remember the exact age range but I've hated the fuckers ever since.

[Morilore]

Earliest memory is getting my thumb stuck between the bars of my crib. Then maybe playing with crayons in the living room of our old house. The televesion set seemed so large and the VCR so high up back then.

[Zac Naloen]

I need to try and work out the ages but this is quite literally the oldest memory I have, it's typically vague but at the same time parts are very vivid.


At the doctors surgery getting one of my jabs. Both my sisters are there and my eldest sister (who is 6 years older than me) is pitching a massive fit about the injection and they have to give her the injection in her backside. I'm being held in my mothers arms when my sister is pitching her fit, but I can walk as I remember walking around the surgery reception before hand. I am younger than three, I know that for certain as I have a very clear memory being chased by a dog in Spain at that age and this is before that.

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[Alferd Packer]

My earliest memory is, apparently, from when I was about six weeks old. I recall lying in my crib, looking out at my parents' bedroom. When I described the layout of the room to my parents many years later, they confirmed that it was accurate, and placed me at around six weeks old, as I was moved to my own bedroom after that.

The next memory I have is when I was two and tried to eat an entire granola bar in one bite. Choking tends to sear a memory into your brain.

[DarthShady]

Everybody seems to have such nice early memories. Mine are not quite that nice.

The earliest memory i have is me standing in my parents living room and hearing a large boom. It was my fathers shed blowing up and sending large(and small) chunks of wood, and other stuff, flying. The windows shattered and my mother screamed. She then dragged me and my sister into the basement.

I later found out that it was Serbian artillery that cost my father his shed. Luckily it didn't cost him his children.

[ArmorPierce]

I remember when I was about 2. I remember reaching over my crib to my parents bed and pulling the cover into my crib thinking that I was using that to climb out of the crib and into my parent's bed (when in actuality it had no part). I got down from the bed was walking around the bed and stopped when my father muttered "Thank you." I paused for a few moments until I saw that he was still asleep and continued out. I don't remember walking out but I remember seeing the closet door outside the bedroom. I walked around and looked at the living room and say my mother pushing my brother who was then a baby on a baby swing. My mother snarled at me with a nasty look to go back to sleep. I don't remember anything outside that but my mother said when I asked her if she remembers that I ran back to bed.

[Guardsman Bass]

My earliest memory is from when I was two, close to three (a little under two months away). It was at my brother's first birthday party (meaning he was turning a year-old), in which my extended family set up a little fake carnival and had cake and the like out on the large patio of my grandmother's house. I remember they had a little Lemonade stand facade, and I distinctly remember running behind it and looking out through the open part representing the "counter" while my uncle walked by. The whole memory lasted maybe 6-7 seconds.

The next earliest is a toss-up; all I know is that I was probably four years old. I remember sitting with my dad in church (he and my mom divorced when I was about five years old, and he never went to church again), and I have a different memory of being in a part-time preschool, getting up, and walking away, then turning around seeing my best friend (who is still my best friend; we've probably known each other since before we can remember, since I think I was his friend at the point of this memory) sit down at the little table.

To be honest, though, I really don't have a lot of long-term memories from before I was six or so.

[ArmorPierce]

I find it hard to believe that someone has a memory much before 2 since the human brain forming pretty much precludes it from occurring.

[Hawkwings]

My earliest memory is of walking around in a baby walker when my teeth were first coming in, and I walked over to the drawer full of towels, opened it up, grabbed a handful of them, and started chewing on them.

[Rahvin]

I remember going to the hospital shortly after my brother was born to visit him and my mother. I had just turned 3. It's also the only memory I have of my grandmother, who died shortly afterwards.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I remember breaking my foot when I was one, and the weeks after that.

[Starglider]

I vaguely recall being in a vast room filled with people, and being endless fascinated with pouring sand and water from one jug into another. This is from a toddler group I was taken to when I was about to turn three. It's genuine but really a memory of a memory (possibly several times removed). My actual memories start from about age 6.

[TheFeniX]

My earliest memory is, apparently, from when I was about six weeks old.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at 6 weeks of age, a child's brain isn't even attempting to create memories and is primarily focused on working out the use of all the parts the body has (arms, mouth, eyes, etc) and also isn't capable of making sense of anything the eyes send that way except the basic shape of an object, like the silhouette of the mother and possible her breast/bottle. Your eyes are getting all the information, but your brain has no idea how to interpret it or only knows how to interpret small bits.

Also, now this I'm real sketchy on and I'm pretty sure the research is too, the brain doesn't store information like a camcorder. Since you would be at an age where you wouldn't even be able to make the most basic assumptions on what an object is, you couldn't later go back and access the "picture" your brain took and realize what something was after the fact. This is different than seeing something when your brain is "trained" to record what an object looks like, then someone explaining to you after the fact what it is.

One way I heard it explained: a memory isn't like watching a recorded video. It's like watching a demo recorded in a game (demos aren't video, they are just locations and texture names. Your PC has to render that info to play it back). When you access the memory, your brain just takes the information provided and "renders" it into a picture you can understand. Sometimes it fills in dead spots with bad info.

Like I said, take this with a grain of salt. I can't remember where I read/watched it, and it could all be bullshit.

Anyways, most of the reading I've done suggests (like Twoyboy says) many of these memories involve the brain rationalizing a story told to them from another person.

For instance, my mother always tells me the story of when I was about 2 and my sister was tormenting me by stealing my hot wheels. So I tossed one at her head, causing her forehead to split open and bleed. I think about that and seem to remember it, but every time I get a visual, our old Sony Hardwood TV is "in the picture." So, the memory must be fake because we didn't buy that TV (or even a TV that looks like it) until I was around 5 years old. The only other option is that my brain is filling in the "dead space" with something I know we owned and had in the room where the incident happened.

My earliest memory I explicitly remember in detail would have to be around the age of 3-4, most likely 4. I cleaned up the front room of all my toys without being asked by my mother. I also picked up a bunch of stuff (can't remember what, I think it might have been electronics for the stereo) off the floor my dad had been working on and set it in a neat pile. The reward my mother gave me was a $1 bill. I remember looking at it and having no concept of what it was. I remember being angry at not getting a hug from my mom, just some worthless piece of paper. I tore it in half, set it on the counter, and walked off.

[Rye]

I think I remember my first steps. I definitely remember crawling everywhere (and being terrified of the vacuum cleaner) and I remember the first attempts at proper walking being really difficult.

I also remember a few snippets from before I could speak. I have a pretty clear memory of myself being in a pram outside my auntie's house and some old woman that my mum knew came over to have a look at me and spoke, but I couldn't understand what she or anyone else was saying. The closest thing I could link it to would be when you hear someone speaking urdu near you. That's what all conversation was like. I remember though, I started being able to pick out the odd word I could understand and shortly after that I started talking.

I also have a really clear, almost photographic memory of my first nightmare.

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

My earliest memories are from when I was about five, and involve my family going to see Bill Clinton when he was in our town and getting a cat. There are some other bits and pieces I remember, but those are the only two events I can put a date on.

[Stark]

I have memories of events that I later learned occured when I was very young; 2 or younger. They're probably post-facto constructions, though.

The amount of stuff I remember from before I started school seems far to much to fill the first 4 years of my life when compared to the fragmentary and uninteresting memories I have of the next ten years.

[Ryushikaze]

My first memories are of meeting my cat when he was brought home, when I was very nearly 2, of somewhere in Colorado, around aspen, and the snow everywhere on the hills and mountains. I could be either 2 or 3 with that one. My first really vivid memories are of our living room (including that my bro was playing Donkey Kong Jr.), and of the day I split my forehead open and needed 20 stitches. I was 3 for the former, and newly 4 for the latter.

[tim31]

I have two iconic memories of my early childhood(~18 months). One is pulling a bedside table over on myself, the other is being out in a backyard. I have remembered these images since I was small, both of them are presented in a kind of overexposed fashion, too much white light.