What is your earliest memory?

[SamBamford]

I can recall being a nursery and dying for the toilet but too scared to ask, the teacher was a shouter and I was terrified of her. It was almost home-time so I'd be home soon and could go there. I didn't manage and soiled myself. Once home my Dad got the smell of me, put my clothes in a bucket and sat me in the sink. Grandma came and said 'Oh, what have you done with the poor little love?' and wrapped me in a towel and sorted it all out. Asked why I hadn't gone to the toilet I said I was refused by the teacher. My Dad shot off to school where she had luckily left for the day, I did tell the truth later on. Now time and memory got hazy with my Dad and he swears this was my brother and he has taken much stick for this over the years but really, it was me. Still not saying though.

 

[pushypony]

I remember my second Christmas at 13 months old and the presents I received from Santa. I also vividly recall being taken from our garden as a 3 yr old and forced into a stream by local boys. It was a very unsettling incident and the police were called.

 

[Sickofinstacrap]

I remember my brother being born and my dad having to dress me for nursery and I was so embarrassed by what he dressed me in, i was about 2 and a half. I remember going shopping with my nana when i was 3 and falling asleep in the car and waking up parked in our shed so confused, on my own screaming cos i couldn't get out of the car and i must have been ill because i remember then getting an ear infection! I remember touching a light bulb, burning my hand and my dad going crazy at me i remember from such a young age that magical feeling Christmas morning and swearing blind you heard santa up on the roof

 

[ChloChlo]

I think photographs can prolong a memory too as well as it being an incident in the family no one ever stops talking about.

And that I can differ between the memories that I have revoked through photographs, stories, etc and what "true first hand memories" judging by the level of childhood perception in them.

One of my memories is a family trip to Margate, I remember the pink sun dress I wore and my cousin going missing and us all driving to collect him from a police station when he was found, I also seemed to have detailed memories of what everyone was wearing. However a few photographs of said trip featured along my nans mantelpiece growing up and any time we were there someone would point out remembering that day or would talk about it. I would have been far too small to remember myself and my memory of that day seem to have no childhood perception of anything.

 

[Cookiecookie]

My two years younger than me sister eating my Donald Duck sponge (she made sure to save hers until last) I would've been 3 and a bit. It's my first real memory of having a sister too, which probably says a fair bit about our relationship! I also remember her eating the soap too, strange little girl

 

[Begborrowsteal]

I dont remember much at all of being young. Earliest memories are of being chased with daddy long legs by my Mum, hearing a gun shot when looking out the window for my dad coming home and walking into our new house when I was around 4/5.

 

[265]

My earliest memory, that scene from Dr Who "Spearhead from Space" when the autons woke up in the shops, I was about 3 years old.

Dr Who was never repeated till the 80's and then for anniversary's only, I finally saw the story on Video and I realised some of the
scenes were a little familiar.

In fact when the Dr Who Video collection was building up and realised that many of the Jon Pertwee stories were familiar.

 

[Tricham]

Such a random and boring one but I can remember my nappy being changed by my mum once. No idea why the memory stuck but I can remember where I was.. in the lounge on the rug. My mum still lives in the house so maybe that's why it jogs my memory. Other than that I don't have any memories from before 3 or 4! As others have experienced, and makes sense really.. you are going to remember things that were traumatic (or really exciting), and I never had anything bad happen to me.

 

[ChloChlo]

There are three of mine and I'm not sure of which order, but I had flashbacks of this flat they had no carpets, two black puppies that shat all over the floor and it would get squidged in between the doors and walls of their flat, their kids were a bit older than me in their room you couldn't see the floor because they were so messy, their floor was like mountains of things, the mum having brown teeth and I didnt like them and because I also remember being there in this house seeing my sisters nappy being changed on the cold hard, black council estate floor there, so growing up I was convinced she was adopted from said house and would call her a tramp as we got older for it. It turnt out to be one of my dads best friends at the time he had from childhood. He was always in and out of jail for theft and his wife had brown teeth as she smoked cigarettes and drank tea all day.

I also remember going to see my mum in hospital after she gave birth to my brother. She had him wrapped in a pale orange blanket, the ward seemed enormous, but it was just a normal post natal ward, just my childhood perception.

I also remember stubbing my big toe while I was running on something (turned out to be a speaker while they were rearranging a room and having a big clear out), my toe POURING with blood and half hanging off (again childhood perception because I'd only lost a nail) screaming my head off, my parents trying to comfort me but then trying to get into a bin liner because I was broken.

I was 3 when all of these would have occurred.

 

[Miss Havisham]

I have frequently heard, that memories cannot stretch back to before we are three years old. I will be one of many, that dispute this, as I have two very vivid memories. A psychologist may say that I have formed these memories, from bits of other information and later memories - but they have always felt very real to me.
I remember sitting on my grandfathers knee. He was wearing a heavy knit cardigan, with those old wooden effect buttons. I was 22 months old when he died, so some experts will say that it’s not a real memory.
I also recall sitting in a four wheeler pram, and freewheeling down a flight of stairs, like there was nobody holding it. The stairs were dark grey - a communal stairway, and not in a house as such.

 

[Gembo]

When we were kids my brother was adamant that he could remember seeing me in mums tummy. So his memory stretched back pretty far

I don’t know which is my earliest memory as I’ll never know what order they happened in but my earliest memories are all bad
One is sitting on a balloon and it popping and snapping against my legs and being scared and crying!
Two is falling down the stairs
Three is going to a park with my mum & dad. We got some snacks at the cafe & sat down on the grass to eat them. I then realised I wanted something we’d forgotten so I was given the money to go back by myself. On reflection it was obviously all really close together and we must have been very close to the shop but to my memory it was all massive. The next thing I remember is running back to my parents screaming because an intercity 252 train had come out of nowhere at full speed and I was convinced I was going to be flattened!
in reality it must have been one of those little 1 mile an hour trains that go around malls and parks but I still remember it being a proper train!

 

[XXSJPXX]

I’m not sure if my mind made this up lol but I swear I can remember standing up in my cot and crying for my mum in the night and then her coming in the room to comfort me.

I have a few memories from when I was at nursery! I was about 2/3. I remember a boy having a tantrum because I started playing with a boat in the water table and then being told by an adult to share, I remember making paintings for my mum & dad and they were put up on our kitchen wall.

 

[idk2]

I was just about to post a new thread about this topic! I was also thinking about it last night

My earliest memory was my Grandma picking me and my cousin up as she was babysitting while our parents worked. When we got in, she told us to be super quiet as my Granddad was having a bad day (He had cancer). I remember sitting on the floor next to my Grandad's head while he lay on the sofa and we watched Who Wants To Be A Millionaire together, even though I probably understood nothing! I have several memories from the ages 3/4 revolving around my Grandad and I was able to narrow down the age because he passed when I had just turned 4.

I think our earliest memories are those where were have a good grasp of language and language comprehension. Theres several studies that link memory and language which is why most peoples earliest memory is 2/3 years old.

 

[LittleMy]

Being terrified in a ball pool at the age of 2 while on holiday to Blackpool with my family in the 90s (I’m told it was Jungle Jim’s soft play). I vividly recall everything looking so big and not being able to see my mum or dad (who were probably sitting nearby). It took me a long time to get over my fear of them, and now, as an adult of young children who aren’t afraid of them one bit, I still dislike them (mostly because they’re a breeding ground for germs).

 

[Platypusfattypus]

I can remember some things vaguely from being like 3/4. My husband always takes the piss out of me and says there’s no possible way people remember anything from that age. I told him a story from when I was about 8 and even then he was saying there’s no way I could remember that. He can’t remember his childhood at all, especially before the age of 10. I’ve always found that really strange, maybe because he didn’t have the greatest childhood he’s just blocked it out .

The average age for childhood memories is around 2 and a half to three years of age so you are the norm.

 

[Kim Mild]

I remember visiting my grandad in hospital. It was the Christmas before I turned 3 .
I also remember being at toddler group and it rained heavy and one of the mothers was wearing sandals .

 

[rainbowlemon]

Holding my baby brother just after he was born. Seeing my mum in hospital and hiding behind the curtain. There's a three year gap between us so I was around 3 years and 10 months old.

 

[Fancyfeathers]

My earliest was about 4 and starting school i still remember the smell of the chunky crayons even now

 

[tskiry56]

My earliest memory is my mum being attacked in the town by a neighbour, they tried pushing her under a lorry. He went to prison shortly after for harassment. I was possibly just turned 3.

That's awful! It's sad that alot of the memories children hold on to are negative!