Age of your earliest confirmed memory

[doubleohfive]

For years, I've had the vaguest recollection of falling down a staircase from the front stoop of a house. I vividly remember the stairs being that kind of concrete-with-baby-stones-inset type, and I remember it hurting a lot.

For most of my life I've wondered about it, and anytime I dared to ask about it, it was casually brushed off. (Granted, I brought it up, vaguely, only once or twice.

Then, last summer, my mother, brother and sister were visiting. We were in Long Beach at the condo my parents own there, and my mom indicated that a property nearby was for sale. Turns out, she'd visited it 26 years ago when we came to California on vacation.

"You should remember it, doubleoh," she said. "This is the place were you had that nasty fall. The one that gave you the scar under your chin."

To which I replied, "What scar?" As it turned out, I'd never noticed it before and certainly not then (I regularly wear a beard) but it was kind of nice to have that vague memory confirmed after all this time.

 

[Kira's Mom]

I remember tumbling down the stairs when I was 2 and a half. It was a nasty fall, but there was no lasting damage.

I wish I could remember my first airplane flight- I was not quite a year old. I just know the airline was Eastern, because Mom wrote it in my baby book! I remember a lot of flights from ages 3-5, though. We flew a lot. Always Eastern or TWA. I do remember saying at age three that I wanted to be an Eastern stewardess!

 

[backstept]

I have some very vague memories from around the time my brother was born.
I was about a year old then.

 

[Kirby]

It was right around my 3rd birthday. We had just moved to Denver from Minneapolis, I remember my parents taking me and my two brothers to our house that was mostly complete, but there was no carpet or paint yet.Specifically I remember going up the stairs and being told to watch out for nails that might be sticking out.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I remember distinctly my older brother pushing me off the ladders of a water slide which caused me to fall, have a concussion and spend a day in hospital when I was about 3 I think. However my parents developed this elaborate cover up and insist I was clumsy and fell off myself.

Anyway, that's my earliest clear memory.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to extraordinary claims on the internet

I don't. I think most of them from before people were at least 3 are mostly artificially re-created memories. I might give people a pass about the birth of a sibling or a hurtful accident, but that's it.

 

[thestrangequark]

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to extraordinary claims on the internet

I don't. I think most of them from before people were at least 3 are mostly artificially re-created memories. I might give people a pass about the birth of a sibling or a hurtful accident, but that's it.

Well, by "benefit of the doubt" I mean that I try to not call people out too often when they're obviously lying through their teeth (or self-deluded, as may be the case here). I don't mean to imply that I believe their claims might actually be true.

I totally agree with you re artificially re-created memories; it's amazing just how bad our memories actually are. People seem to think our memories are like film tapes or photographs, when in fact they're nothing at all like that accurate. They are imperfect re-creations of incomplete data provided by imperfect senses, with hefty chunks filled in for us by our brains. Even for major events of the "everybody remembers where they were when..." ilk, only about 50% of people have truly accurate memories.

I recently learned of a phenomenon dubbed "stealing" memories. This was specifically documented in twins. It was found that twins could adopt their sibling's memory into their own and would genuinely believe that the memory belonged to them. For example, both twins would remember an incident in which one fell and cut her knee, but both would remember it as being her own fall, when it only happened to one of them. The study of these twins struck me, because I "stole" one of my sister's memories (not a twin): I remember very vividly being in my dad's house with my sister on an extremely hot day, while our dad was out. A bottle of liquor in one of his kitchen cupboards exploded with a loud bang of shattering glass. We ran into the kitchen to find it stinking of alcohol, with rum dripping down the walls. I know I was there -- the memory is as real as any other I have, and I even argued with sister about it, but I wasn't there. I was out with my dad. My sister told me the story and I incorporated it into my own memory. I was confronted with so much evidence that I was not actually present at the time that I had to concede as much, and even though I already knew the inaccuracy of memory, the truth was really driven home.

 

[doubleohfive]

^Isn't that also known as 'inception' ?

 

[thestrangequark]

^ Maybe my sister planted the memory intentionally and then argued against it years later just to mess with my head. That is totally the kind of thing she would do to get back at me for making her eat a slug.

 

[Kestra]

I can't pinpoint exact ages of anything, and I don't know if most of them are true memories or not. I'd say that I have a handful of memories before the age of 3.5/4, because we moved houses when I was around that age and I have memories in the old house. Most of these are probably things I've seen in photos or have heard stories of, so I only trust a few of them. Mostly because I remember experiencing an emotion or something that no one would incorporate into stories told later. Also emotions that I would never think of now, as an adult.

Similarly, I have two distinct memories from Pre-school. One was of this area they had above the coat closet where I could sit and read books. Another was at the end of the year (I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew there was some sort of transition). The teachers were talking about maps and I was suddenly terrified that I would be in trouble because I hadn't traced a single map, unlike the other children. I don't know why I was scared or what happened, but I do remember that particular worry.

I don't think I've ever told anyone the map thing before.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I have a ton of memories from preschool, maybe because I loved it so much. I remember making "monster toast" (painting faces on pieces of toast with food coloring), I remember a boy throwing a tantrum over a truck and my best friend and I dodging the flying toys that resulted, etc. I also have a lot of memories from a small house we lived in when I was aged 3-5.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My earliest very clear memory was when I was 4 years old. I was playing with my sisters at a park near the beach. My sisters and I were chasing each other. I got tired and sat down. A few seconds later I felt terrible pain. I had sat down on a bullants nest and the ants were swarming up my trousers. I jumped up and started to run. In my panic I ran away from the beach where my father was. My sisters thought I was still playing chasing and ran after me.

A woman passing by realised what was happening. She grabbed me by the arm and pulled my trousers off of me. She asked my sisters if I was their sister. They said yes and the woman said "She has been bitten by ants, where is your Mummy". My sisters said that Daddy was on the beach and ran off to get him. The lady, who I remember had black hair and was wearing a red dress, rocked me in her arms to comfort me.

My dad arrived and took me from the lady thanking her. He asked the lady if she was alright. I didn't realise until many years later that the ants probably bit the lady as well.

Dad took my to my Auntie Carmel's (not a real aunt, her husband was Dad's good friend). Auntie Carmel got a "blue bag" and dabbed it onto the stings. Blue bags were used in the washing machine to make clothes white but they were also used on allieviate the pain of stings. I was bitten about 40 times. Bull ant bites are painful (about twice as bad as a bee sting).

I do have some memories of my brother being a baby but none of them are very specific. He was born 9 days before I turned 3.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Something similar happened to me at summer camp when I was five. We were playing hide and go seek in the woods. I was partnered with a little boy and we found the perfect hiding place: a bush with thick foliage that was hollow inside and had grown over a little stump, just the right size for two five year old children to sit on back to back. Unfortunately, there was a bee's nest inside the stump. I remember the boy saying "Ouch!" and asking him what was wrong, then instantly feeling the first sting. We took off out of the woods chased by the swarm of bees. When we got to the clearing the counselors had to strip off all our clothes, which were full of bees. Perhaps because I was wearing a sundress that didn't trap as many bees as the boys shirt and trousers, I somehow managed to escape with only 5 stings. The boy was stung dozens of times and was hospitalized.

 

[doubleohfive]

^Something similar happened to me at summer camp when I was five. We were playing hide and go seek in the woods. I was partnered with a little boy and we found the perfect hiding place: a bush with thick foliage that was hollow inside and had grown over a little stump, just the right size for two five year old children to sit on back to back. Unfortunately, there was a bee's nest inside the stump. I remember the boy saying "Ouch!" and asking him what was wrong, then instantly feeling the first sting. We took off out of the woods chased by the swarm of bees. When we got to the clearing the counselors had to strip off all our clothes, which were full of bees. Perhaps because I was wearing a sundress that didn't trap as many bees as the boys shirt and trousers, I somehow managed to escape with only 5 stings. The boy was stung dozens of times and was hospitalized.

Didn't that happen in My Girl?

I jest of course. I had very much a similar experience when I was 10 or 11. To this day, I'm deathly afraid of bees.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Something similar happened to me at summer camp when I was five. We were playing hide and go seek in the woods. I was partnered with a little boy and we found the perfect hiding place: a bush with thick foliage that was hollow inside and had grown over a little stump, just the right size for two five year old children to sit on back to back. Unfortunately, there was a bee's nest inside the stump. I remember the boy saying "Ouch!" and asking him what was wrong, then instantly feeling the first sting. We took off out of the woods chased by the swarm of bees. When we got to the clearing the counselors had to strip off all our clothes, which were full of bees. Perhaps because I was wearing a sundress that didn't trap as many bees as the boys shirt and trousers, I somehow managed to escape with only 5 stings. The boy was stung dozens of times and was hospitalized.

Didn't that happen in My Girl?

I jest of course. I had very much a similar experience when I was 10 or 11. To this day, I'm deathly afraid of bees.

Oh god! Maybe every memory I have is actually a scene from a movie!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Oh god! Maybe every memory I have is actually a scene from a movie!

I've long suspected as such.

I mean, how else could someone be so interesting?

 

[thestrangequark]

^I don't know whether I should feel complimented or insulted...



ETA: Hey, and I have memories of when a documentary film crew followed my family around for a month for an HBO produced documentary. The circular nature of my reality is blowing my mind!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Insulted of course. I'm one of those people who picks on those I like.

 

[Tiberius]

I think I'm gonna win.

I have a very clear recollection of my dad changing my nappy (diaper for you Yanks), and me piddling in his face. I recall him making a comment about how he'd already had a shower.

When I told my mum about this, she said I was about six weeks old at the time. I also remember thinking it was very funny and I kept trying to do it all the other times anyone changed my nappy, but I never had a full bladder again at the appropriate time.

I rather doubt you can understand English at 6 weeks. There's no way you'd know what he said.

Mr Awe

Yeah...claiming to have any memory from this age is extremely suspect as it is, but claiming to comprend any language (metaphorical language, no less), and claiming to have the ability to plan in this way at 6 weeks is just ridiculous. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to extraordinary claims on the internet, but even a basic understanding of brain development shows that these claims are false. If Tiberius indeed has these memories they are certainly artificial.

All I can do is tell you what I know. I have a very clear memory of peeing on my dad, I remember him saying that he'd already had a shower that day, and I understood perfectly. I also remember clearly that I kept trying to do it again. When I told my mother about it (which was fairly recently in comparison, within the last few years), she said I was about six weeks old at the time. That's what I'm going on. It may be that she is wrong about my age, but that's what she told me.

 

[captcalhoun]

i have a vague memory i don't guarentee the veracity of of sitting in my high chair at a young age with my elder sister trying to get me to eat my cereal and me trying to eat my toast instead.

i definitely remember running along the wall of a playing field near my home, wearing my reins and my mum walking beside me. that one's from around 2 years of age.