How old were you when your memories start ?

[Vincennes]

I was just perusing through another form and one of the posters there talked about a memory she had from the age of three. Another poster responded to her that to remember anything at the age of three was in itself unusual.

I have always have had snippets of memory as a young child. The first occurred at around the age of 14 - 16 months. It's not a memory of conversation mind you. What I remember is perhaps a 5 second interval that I wanted to do something and made my mother stop and let me do it.

By the age of two, the memories are just a bit longer and involve do involve a snip little conversation. By the age of four I remember running away from my mother because I had done something wrong (and I clearly remember what it was) and I knew she was going to be after me in a flash.

I have ran across comments before in which people say they have no recollection of early childhood.

None of mine are earth shaking events. They are just snips of how I felt and what was going on for perhaps a 10/20 second periods of time.

Any one else ?

[+ouija ouija]

I've always heard that 3yrs was the most usual age to have your earliest memory ..... certainly is for me.

[amaterasu]

I remember being taken by my father to meet my newborn sister in hospital so I would have been 16 months old. I remember him holding my hand as we walked through the hospital corridors which had random coloured tiles here and there, I was trying to jump from one coloured square to the next but my legs were too little so he had to lift me by the arms as I jumped so that I could reach each one.

When I saw my mother holding my newborn sister in her arms in the hospital bed remember feeling nothing but sadness and that this new little thing was my mummy's new best baby

Things haven't changed and we are in our early 40's now

I really cannot explain this memory but it is as clear as crystal.

[white lion]

I have memories of when I was 2-3 , really they almost feel like a memory of a memory , I have about 3-4 short clips in my head that I can play , they have feeling attached to them also ,

[Vincennes]

I've always heard that 3yrs was the most usual age to have your earliest memory ..... certainly is for me.

Thanks for your responses. Maybe we can establish an average in this forum. But I'm also anxious to hear if other people remember things as early as I do but then maybe I'm just weird. Won't be anything new in that realization.

[Vincennes]

I remember being taken by my father to meet my newborn sister in hospital so I would have been 16 months old. I remember him holding my hand as we walked through the hospital corridors which had random coloured tiles here and there, I was trying to jump from one coloured square to the next but my legs were too little so he had to lift me by the arms as I jumped so that I could reach each one.

When I saw my mother holding my newborn sister in her arms in the hospital bed remember feeling nothing but sadness and that this new little thing was my mummy's new best baby

Things haven't changed and we are in our early 40's now

I really cannot explain this memory but it is as clear as crystal.

When does the next memory occur ?

[amaterasu]

When does the next memory occur ?

Probably the next most vivid memory was when my parent's left my aunt babysitting while they attended a wedding - my mother was still breastfeeding my baby sister and had left a bottle of expressed milk in the fridge so that my aunt could feed the baby ....so I drank it .....and got yelled at

My aunt had to pace the floor with my screaming hungry sister until my parents got home - I was not in the good books.

Can you see a pattern emerging here?

[+DieChecker]

I can remember back to perhaps when I was 5.

Perhaps earliest memories are related to how old you are? I'm 45, and can remember back to age 5. Perhaps someone who is 20 can remember back to age 3? Or perhaps it is an individual variable kind of thing?

[Beany]

Four? I read an article in Discovery magazine that said our memories are so faulty that every time we recall a memory we alter it some way, either adding to it, or forgetting some details.

[Vincennes]

Probably the next most vivid memory was when my parent's left my aunt babysitting while they attended a wedding - my mother was still breastfeeding my baby sister and had left a bottle of expressed milk in the fridge so that my aunt could feed the baby ....so I drank it .....and got yelled at

My aunt had to pace the floor with my screaming hungry sister until my parents got home - I was not in the good books.

Can you see a pattern emerging here?

I thought later I should have added, I bet your sister was not your mom's "best baby."

Actually at first I couldn't see a pattern but thinking it over now I think I do. What I remember come from very strong feelings inside ME at the time. I guess because I was the important one present ~~LOL~~~

Things that I wanted to do or things I wanted and they were trying to satisfy what I wanted. I was very pleased when they did. Perhaps everyone is lucky that I am an only child. I probably would have been a drinkin' that milk too !

[Vincennes]

I can remember back to perhaps when I was 5.

Perhaps earliest memories are related to how old you are? I'm 45, and can remember back to age 5. Perhaps someone who is 20 can remember back to age 3? Or perhaps it is an individual variable kind of thing?

No, I'm afraid that it's not related to current age. I'm a lot older than you are and they haven't changed or diminished.

I know how old I was at the time of the earliest because of the house we were living in. I do seem to very conscious of where I was. My grandmother lived three or four blocks away and every day my mother would take me in my stroller down the street for a visit. Along that route there was a maybe 2' high x 3' wide bolder that happen to have a hole or indentation in it that collected water. I must have thrown one heck of a fit to get my mother to stop along the way. What I wanted to do was put my fingers in that water and then I found some small pebbles around the rock that I could drop in and watch them trickle down. Every day after that we stopped there so that I could play with the water in that rock.

Funny thing is as I grew up I used to go by that corner every now and then and check the hole for water. Then I moved away. Coming back years later as an adult I passed that corner and they had widened the road and my rock was gone. You know I sat there in traffic and had a mental fit. They took my rock and didn't let me know and I could have come back and gotten it. I had to shake myself hard to move on down the road realizing most people aren't quite that bonded to a rock !

[Lilly]

I'm older than dirt and I can remember back to about age 3 as well. The age at which we store memories may have more to do with personal circumstances and how an individual processes experiences.

[amaterasu]

No, I'm afraid that it's not related to current age. I'm a lot older than you are and they haven't changed or diminished.

I know how old I was at the time of the earliest because of the house we were living in. I do seem to very conscious of where I was. My grandmother lived three or four blocks away and every day my mother would take me in my stroller down the street for a visit. Along that route there was a maybe 2' high x 3' wide bolder that happen to have a hole or indentation in it that collected water. I must have thrown one heck of a fit to get my mother to stop along the way. What I wanted to do was put my fingers in that water and then I found some small pebbles around the rock that I could drop in and watch them trickle down. Every day after that we stopped there so that I could play with the water in that rock.

Funny thing is as I grew up I used to go by that corner every now and then and check the hole for water. Then I moved away. Coming back years later as an adult I passed that corner and they had widened the road and my rock was gone. You know I sat there in traffic and had a mental fit. They took my rock and didn't let me know and I could have come back and gotten it. I had to shake myself hard to move on down the road realizing most people aren't quite that bonded to a rock !

Presumably our cognition and mental processes as infants have a huge bearing on whom be become as adults. I had a huge issue with my grandmother washing my enormous teddy bear which was bigger than me at one point - I had to literally drag it around. She used to wash it in the twin tub and then pass it through the mangle which upset me greatly ...seeing my beloved Charlie being squished through the awful device in the back yard. He would always come back to me but very much smaller.

It only occurred to me as a young adult that Charlie only appeared to be smaller as I was growing taller ....although I didn't get my head around this as an infant.

My youngest daughter is like me, she has memories of her 2nd birthday party and can name all the people who attended even though she hasn't seen any of them since she left that nursery when she was 3. She is now nearly 8.

Edited March 30, 2014 by amaterasu

[quiXilver]

two

[Wickian]

My memories have kind of a staggered start. I have brief flashes of things before I was 4(with the memory length gradually getting longer and more complete), but my constant stream of memories don't start until I was around 4.

The(I believe) oldest memory I have is crawling underneath of a blue flannel blanket before I could walk. Either that or when I was in one of those standing wheeled walkers(the circular ones you put babies in so they can practice the motions while being supported) and running around the living room/kitchen in it.

[Imaginarynumber1]

Memories are notoriously unreliable, so what you think may be a memory from when you were three or four could actual be a memory from age 10 or 12 or just something your brain made up based on a feeling you had or even a book you once read.

[Euphorbia]

I have memories of being two years old and riding my rocking horse.....the kind with springs on them. I have been told I wore the thing out.

Other than that, I have a memory at the age of three, but in the first half of being three, of following some older kids into a backyard where I watched them throw rocks at a bullfrog and remember not liking it at all. Then, one of the older boys picked up a big rock and crushed the frog.

I do not kill or harm animals due to this......I have never hunted and have only fished a couple of times but not in the last couple of decades. It made me feel guilty.

I know how old I was because my parents moved us out of that neighborhood when I was three and a half.

Anyone else have a early memory that changed how they live their life?

[Professor T]

I think my earliest memory I can recall is about 3 or 4ish..

But I wonder if the same question was asked when I was that age if I could remember even earlier?

I'm of the opinion that some memories hide, but don't fade..

[meryt-tetisheri]

My earliest memories are not of events, but images. I know I was around 2 years old at the time because my parents moved house (and changed furniture) when I was 2. My mother was surprised when I described to her our living room in the first house, as photo albums were lost in the move. My memories are vague, incomplete: a huge (at least to me) arch, the color of the walls, an olive green leather sofa. However, I have a better recollection of my first nightmare around the same period, a big 'monster' which looked like a huge brown teddy bear, was hiding behind the closet in my bedroom!

[archer95446]

My earliest memory is when I was 3 yrs. old. My mother sat me down on the front walkway of a house, told me to stay there or else, then she went into the house.

My next one is when I was 4 yrs. old. It was Christmas morning, I was told to sit on the couch, as I was handed my presents. I remember that I had my little pink

robe on. These two memories never change. I am in my late 40's!!!

[ProfessorPurple]

I can remember going to stay at my granma's house, when I was less than three years old. A month before my third birthday my sister was born. I can remember my bedroom - the yellow blanket on the bed with small square indentations, the yellow, brown and white wall-paper, black and white checkered curtains and a dressing table with a large oval mirror.

Another memory I have, is of when I was three or four years old. I split some milk on the carpet at my friend's house. He told me that his mother was going to be really cross at me so I "ran" away! I got on my toy scooter and was off. I went for miles thinking that I could get to my aunt's house but with no idea where I was going. This was nearly fifty years ago and luckily there were a lot less cars on the road!

First school, four years old, hold some scary memories.

I have heard that memories are just memories of the last time that we thought/remembered them. Does that make sense?

[theotherguy]

My first memory is from when I was four, trying to learn how to tie my shoes and not getting it. Interestingly, almost 20 years later, I still frequently leave my shoes untied. Oddly, even though I'm right handed, I tie my shoes as if I was left handed. Annoyingly, this post has too many unattached adverbs.

[Vincennes]

I think my earliest memory I can recall is about 3 or 4ish..

But I wonder if the same question was asked when I was that age if I could remember even earlier?

I'm of the opinion that some memories hide, but don't fade..

I can remember going to stay at my granma's house, when I was less than three years old. A month before my third birthday my sister was born. I can remember my bedroom - the yellow blanket on the bed with small square indentations, the yellow, brown and white wall-paper, black and white checkered curtains and a dressing table with a large oval mirror.

Another memory I have, is of when I was three or four years old. I split some milk on the carpet at my friend's house. He told me that his mother was going to be really cross at me so I "ran" away! I got on my toy scooter and was off. I went for miles thinking that I could get to my aunt's house but with no idea where I was going. This was nearly fifty years ago and luckily there were a lot less cars on the road!

First school, four years old, hold some scary memories.

I have heard that memories are just memories of the last time that we thought/remembered them. Does that make sense?

I think these two posts really have a tie together and I really agree with them. Both the hiding / last time we thought of them brought to me one instance of another early memory probably about 20 months. I was standing in our driveway looking down at my "cool" outfit and I can remember thinking that I looked so good. That was one snip that probably would have never came to me were it not for the fact that I was standing there while my mother took a picture. Obviously, she was taken by the "look." LOL The memory really wasn't created by the picture. I guess I'm the only one that can know that but as an adult the picture brought back that moment back to me thinking that I looked so good. Therefore, since it came out of hiding and came to me as an adult, it is now another retained memory.

I hope that make sense.

Also, Professor Purple, that first year of school at age four hold some really scary memories for me also. Did you perhaps start a year earlier than most due to a late year birthday. My birthday was about a week from the close of date for school entry. However, back then there were no exceptions. If you birthday was before November, you started that year. Scholastically I never had an issue but emotionally those first two years were frightening.

Just wondering if you started young also ?

Edited April 3, 2014 by Vincennes

[Thorvir]

6ish. Playing in the tiny little yard we had in Terre Haute, falling out of the top of my bunk bed, playing with my old Star Trek toys, an interview on our old b&w TV with Dick the Bruiser--those are memories I can remember with a bit of a struggle. I do remember going to school for the first time, so I guess that counts too. Wasn't scary, just remember standing there looking up at the building.

I could be wrong, but six years old seems about right.

My mother keeps telling me stuff I did around that time and earlier, but I never remember any of it. When we drive by the old house, nothing really stirs in me.

[docyabut2]

Interesting but could it be when a child first connects words to something the memories begin ? They say every baby says the same vowels at first.

Edited April 4, 2014 by docyabut2