I was just noting that I don't have many memories from childhood and it got me to thinking if there were many others on here with the same problem? I don't have many memories until about age fourteen or fifteen.
Anyone else have very few memories of childhood?
- Thread starter Michael Chris
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I never understood this phenomenon. I have very vivid memories of my childhood. My earliest memory is from my second Christmas in my parents second apartment before we moved to our new home. I was a year and nine months. I might even have earlier ones, but that is the one I know the date because the house was decorated for Christmas.
Funny you should bring up this topic because I have pretended not remembering things so as not to be thought of as a freak by people I know. I can remember dates, people and places with just the slightest prompting. But I'll feign not knowing. I'll usually tell my wife afterwards, or she'll just know and mention it later, because she knows my memory is quite good.
But I do envy those who don't remember. Not all memories are good ones, and I'd give almost anything to forget some stuff.
Funny you should bring up this topic because I have pretended not remembering things so as not to be thought of as a freak by people I know. I can remember dates, people and places with just the slightest prompting. But I'll feign not knowing. I'll usually tell my wife afterwards, or she'll just know and mention it later, because she knows my memory is quite good.
But I do envy those who don't remember. Not all memories are good ones, and I'd give almost anything to forget some stuff.
I can recall snapshots from my early years. Most things don't have much context.
Sometimes I try to figure out context for an image, but I don't always get it right----I recently learned that a mental image from preschool which I thought was of a certain girl must have been someone else, since she wasn't in that preschool.
Sometimes I try to figure out context for an image, but I don't always get it right----I recently learned that a mental image from preschool which I thought was of a certain girl must have been someone else, since she wasn't in that preschool.
I have very clear memories of most of my childhood, beginning at age one. I begin losing chunks in my teenage years, and I've continued to have memory loss throughout college and up until about a year ago. It seems to be getting better though.
Overall the memory loss really upsets me, but I'm glad I can't remember some things -- it's probably for the best.
Overall the memory loss really upsets me, but I'm glad I can't remember some things -- it's probably for the best.
i remember bits and pieces. from play school-age, primary school age and early teens.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
I don't have a lot of memories partly because I seriously think I damaged part of my head. The other weird thing is, when I remember, I don't remember through my eyes but as a ghost. *sighs*
I have trouble remembering a lot of things; it's usually the sad memories that stick around. I think what happens though is that the negative emotion is a bit raw, and sticks out in my mind as something I can't forget. Happier memories tend to come back with some prompting!
I'm shit at remembering things anyway, I'm a supervisor at work and I have to really organise myself strictly with lists if I want to remember to get everything done.
I'm shit at remembering things anyway, I'm a supervisor at work and I have to really organise myself strictly with lists if I want to remember to get everything done.
L
Lord Garth
Guest
Like Lindley I can only remember snapshots out of context from early childhood, meaning 3-5. Starting from 6, I have actual memories of isolated incidents and they have context. Gradually more and more with 7. From about 8 on, I have as many memories as I would from any other age that's faded.
Same here. I have a few memories of earlier times, but in many cases they've become blurred with what other people have told me later and I can't exactly tell which is my own memory and what isn't.
One of the earliest I remember was when I was six and stole a bunch of toys from a neighbor's sand box upon the insistence of my cousin who I was playing with at the time. I remember feeling pretty bad about it for quite a while afterwards, thinking the police would come and get me.
I do remember what I would do in a general sense, ie when I started playing with electronics, but I don't clearly remember many events as such.
It's the same with my mother. Strangely enough, her sister has extensive memories of her childhood. Quite often, my mother is surprised by things her sister still remembers.
I'm exactly the opposite. I can remember specific meals that I ate as far back as three years old. I have very vivid childhood memories. I remember dreams I had when I was five. I remember going to see the Wrath of Khan in the theaters when I was in kindergarten. My dad smoked a pipe until I was 4. I remember the smell, and how much I liked it. I remember all the clothes I had, I remember the names of other students in my first grade class that I never saw again. I remember the dalmatian that died when I was 4. We used to all go for a bike ride, with me on a seat on the back of my mom's bike, with the dog running alongside my dad's bike on a leash. There are episodes of tv shows like the A-Team that I'll see now, for the first time since their original airing, and remember clearly. I remember the first time I ate a fruit roll-up, when I was five, and I ate the whole thing, plastic and all, only realizing that the plastic wrapper had melted onto it when I was almost finished. (I was watching Star Wars on HBO. Han was getting his medal when I realized this.) I remember going to south dakota for a month every year to visit my grandparents. I remember getting pantsed by bullies at the public swimming pool, I remember the kinds of pop they had in the vending machine there. To this day, I drink a squirt and it takes me right back to 1984.
I remember checking mtv all day long during christmas break, waiting for Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" video to come on, VCR fired up and ready to record. I have thousands of memories just like this. This is all probably due to my obsessive compulsive nature. I dwell on everything, overanalyzing things to death.
When it comes to my teenage years, I remember everything. Phone conversations with girls(I would write down stuff to say before I called, because I would freeze up and be speechless, ha ha), all the music I listened to,(I remember the first time I heard "Smells like teen spirit" on the radio, the first time I heard Metallica, the first time I heard Dr. Dre's "The Chronic,") feelings I was having at certain times, dreams, first kiss, EVERYTHING. I have journals I used to write in that I still have, from when I was fourteen. They're hilarious at times, tragic at others. Those take me right back whenever I get them out.
I remember checking mtv all day long during christmas break, waiting for Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" video to come on, VCR fired up and ready to record. I have thousands of memories just like this. This is all probably due to my obsessive compulsive nature. I dwell on everything, overanalyzing things to death.
When it comes to my teenage years, I remember everything. Phone conversations with girls(I would write down stuff to say before I called, because I would freeze up and be speechless, ha ha), all the music I listened to,(I remember the first time I heard "Smells like teen spirit" on the radio, the first time I heard Metallica, the first time I heard Dr. Dre's "The Chronic,") feelings I was having at certain times, dreams, first kiss, EVERYTHING. I have journals I used to write in that I still have, from when I was fourteen. They're hilarious at times, tragic at others. Those take me right back whenever I get them out.
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I remember a lot from childhood. The earliest memory occurred when I was 3, going on 4, and involved me throwing empty paint cans down the stairs on a weekend when my dad was painting the hallway walls. I unleashed one that, um, wasn't as empty as the others. Result: the whole carpeted stairway was covered in yellow paint. 
My next memory, in the same year, occurred on my way to nursery with my mum, and I recall seeing a red squirrel (ask your parents, kids) crossing the road, and getting summarily squished underneath a black London cab.
My next memory, in the same year, occurred on my way to nursery with my mum, and I recall seeing a red squirrel (ask your parents, kids) crossing the road, and getting summarily squished underneath a black London cab.
I do remember things from when I was around two, a bit younger. The earliest memories had little or no context, merely images of myself walking around, playing and drawing. I didn't understand the concept of time and year (that I can recall now) until 1984 (when I was five).
I remember bits and pieces. Somethings come back when people start talking about them, but I don't really remember as much as I feel like I should, and other things i remember that others don't. But names, faces, even friends from school I wouldn't have a clue if I was stood next to most of them.
My first memory is when I was a toddler still, and being in the back of the car, watching the light from the lampposts flash past the window, being driven to hospital. My brother and I had been fighting over who got to lay on the couch, he pushed me, I stumbled and hit my head on the brick fireplace in our living room, and cut my head open, and that's why I was going to hospital.
My first memory is when I was a toddler still, and being in the back of the car, watching the light from the lampposts flash past the window, being driven to hospital. My brother and I had been fighting over who got to lay on the couch, he pushed me, I stumbled and hit my head on the brick fireplace in our living room, and cut my head open, and that's why I was going to hospital.
I can generally recall a fair amount of stuff, though the ease of recall is fading. I have to actively think back to remember details. I guess don't tend to think back to childhood all that frequently (not through any negative reason; I had a happy childhood, but I just don't find myself reminiscing about it very frequently), and I suspect my recall ability for those times is fading through disuse.
I have very vivid memories of my childhood going back to around 1966 or so, and spotty memories before that. I can remember trying to walk down the hall to my grandfather, who died when I was two. I can remember, from around the same time, being frightened by the sparks from the wheels of a model train on the rug. But for most of grade school and beyond, I can remember conversations, experiences, books, TV shows, et cetera; most importantly, I can remember how it all felt, and this has formed the basis of a lot of what I've written (I think about my life a lot 
). For example, right now I'm thinking of a summer day in the late 60s, in my house in Dorchester; a warm breeze is blowing around the curtains at the end of the hall and a giant convertible is driving by with "The Girl From Ipanema" playing on the radio. If I close my eyes, it's almost like I'm there. 
). For example, right now I'm thinking of a summer day in the late 60s, in my house in Dorchester; a warm breeze is blowing around the curtains at the end of the hall and a giant convertible is driving by with "The Girl From Ipanema" playing on the radio. If I close my eyes, it's almost like I'm there. 
I know my earliest memory was when I was two and drank my mother's bottle of Chanel N.5 
I remember specifically thinking it was gingerale before I drank it!
I remember events from then on in...I remember nursery school and the cots (I was 3) I remember my 4th Christmas and my first book (Little House in the Big Woods) I remember kindegarten, and so on. I have some pretty bad memories too that are more vivid than the good ones unforturnately
So ya, I can remember it all!
I remember specifically thinking it was gingerale before I drank it!I remember events from then on in...I remember nursery school and the cots (I was 3) I remember my 4th Christmas and my first book (Little House in the Big Woods) I remember kindegarten, and so on. I have some pretty bad memories too that are more vivid than the good ones unforturnately
So ya, I can remember it all!
So that's their secret... [begins to take notes...]I know my earliest memory was when I was two and drank my mother's bottle of Chanel N.5
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