How far can you go back: what is your earliest memory?

[misa.j]

I have heard people say that they remember when they took their first steps, what their first words were, or a friend of mine has once said that she remembers the time when she was less than six months old, thinking of touching a toy hanging over her bed.

Do you guys remember things you did, things that happened or things you thought about when you were very young?

Mine was when I was about a year old, I was on my grandmother's back listening to our neighbor and her talk and feeling sleepy. The neighbor commented on how my hair looked very full for my age, and that made me look older. I remember taking it as a compliment.
We were outside right in front of our house, and street was busy.

What's your earliest memory?

 

[BrennaCeDria]

Either a stairwell in Dover Castle, or in the checkout lane of the supermarket down the street from my family's flat when we were stationed in England. I know in the supermarket I was two, because I was trying to tell the clerk I was three (and I wasn't) but I think the castle may have been before that by a few months.

 

[lexico]

Great topic, Misa J !

I don't know remember how old I was, but my earliest moment was a mobile my mother made for me. It was a comic strip character called KOBAU, and she hung it over my sleeping area.

I used to believe that I had attended my parents' wedding which doesn't make any sense, but I believed it for decades until they finally persuaded me that was not possible. Strange things kids would imagine.

Misa J & Brenna; I can see that from a very young age, women folks are so self-conscious. Guys are all into play things, but you are so aware of yourselves landing a "Good impression" and all.

 

[misa.j]

Misa J & Brenna; I can see that from a very young age, women folks are so self-conscious. Guys are all into play things, but you are so aware of yourselves landing a "Good impression" and all.

Good point! I knew you're going to say that.
Girls will always be girls.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

My Parents Said.....

I was only 4 years old. I remember my parents having a water fight with the next door neighbors. There was a lot of screaming and yelling and throwing potfulls of water on each other. I'd not seen adults acting so crazy before and started crying because I was scared. My father came over and dumped a big bucket of water on my head and said, "stop being a crybaby!".
I described the memory to my Mon when I was about 40 years old and she was amazed I recalled something at age 4?

Frank

 

[Kinsao]

I remember something that my mother tells me I was six months old... (!)... she left me in my carrier on the floor and told me not to try and stand up... she was afraid I would fall over... so of course I had to try and stand up....

Bloody typical, says my mother... you haven't changed....

 

[kirei_na_me]

I have vague memories every now and then, that I believe happened very early in my life.

The earliest vivid memory I have is when I was two or three years old and tried to drive my mom's green, box-like Datsun. Either that, or the time when my dad and my grandma took me with them to the Booker T. Washington birthplace and I had an accident. I was two at the time. I had to go home naked because all my clothes were wet...

 

[Rich303]

My first vivid memory is swallowing a marble,by mistake

 

[Kinsao]

My first vivid memory is swallowing a marble,by mistake

I hope your last memory isn't of losing your marble...

 

[Rich303]

marbleous!(marvelous)

I hope your last memory isn't of losing your marble...

Ha ha, me too!

 

[Clawn]

First off, I'm not the age I say I am. I was born not so long ago and my first memory is, and you won't believe me, but it was of laying on a yellow mat on a table, butt-naked(literally), while my mom wiped my arse. This was before I could walk, so anywhere from 0-9 months old.

 

[Tsuyoiko]

My first memory is from when I was just over a year old, in summer 1976. It was a very hot summer. :atsui: I was in my pushchair outside the village pub and the pub landlady fried an egg on the wall.

My next memory is from just before I was two, on the day my sister was born. I was staying at my Auntie's house, my cousin Kirsty was about six months old. My dad came to get me and my Auntie gave me a teddy bear - she said it was from Kirsty to give to the new baby. :72:

I also remember my fourth birthday very clearly. I had spaghetti on toast for breakfast, then my nan came and asked how old I was. I remember I was looking in the mirror, and I answered her reflection. She bought me a musical Dutch doll. I have lots of memories from that time. We moved house a month later, and I remember laughing with my mum, because she asked what I wanted for breakfast, but when we went into the kitchen everything had already been put in the removal van.

Sorry for boring you all, but I am very fond of those memories!

 

[Doc]

The earliest memory I have was when I was about two years old, but it's so embrassing that I'm afraid to tell it so I'll just tell something else instead. I can remember when I was four years old my parents tried to trick me into believeing that all the toys in the Venture that we had gone to was for Toys for Tots. Then two days later on Christmas morning I have all those exact toys as presents. Heh, I guess my parents thought I wouldn't remember that. Heck I still remember the price tag for the NES Zapper pack that they bought me: $136.87. Weird huh?

Doc

 

[misa.j]

Thank you so much for bringing this thread back to life, Frank!
I'm amazed how everyone has such a good memory.
I sometimes wish that I remember the time when I first started to walk or talk because those times must have been breakthrough in early days of my life.

Frank, your dad sounds like a hard-core father who is hard to find nowadays.

 

[smoke]

I knew of a guy who reckoned he could remember being born...i thought it was a load of old toss...scientifically, is this possible?

 

[BeNe]

erm according to the medical school of thougt it is not possible...

i can remember an event, when is was in my baby carrige...

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Thank you so much for bringing this thread back to life, Frank!

Frank, your dad sounds like a hard-core father who is hard to find nowadays.

I have to be honest, i was much more upset when my cat died suddenly at 3 years old, then I was about my father's death. I still miss my cat after all the years, don't miss my dad at all?

Frank

 

[Flashjeff]

My earliest memory? Hmm! That goes back to when I was five and one day I was playing with my toy truck in the kitchen when I heard my mom screaming bloody murder in the living while while she was watching TV, yelling profanities about Chico Ruiz. I didn't learn until years later that mom was foaming at the mouth about Chico Ruiz of the Cincinnatti Reds having stolen home in a game against my hometown Phillies, igniting what's well known to sporting fans as the worst collapse in the history of baseball as the Phils gave up a six game lead with ten games to play in 1964, costing us a shot at the World Series. To this day, Philly fans still mourn over that hideous incident.

:auch:

 

[lexico]

Thus I heard about the second coming into the world.

I knew of a guy who reckoned he could remember being born...i thought it was a load of old toss...scientifically, is this possible?

You probably read about the near-death experiences related by those who somehow snapped out to live and tell the story. According to what I recall from reading, since I never had a near-death call;

"I am passing through a dark tunnel, and then I notice a bright light at the end. I feel joy at the sight, and I am about to enter the bright, white light. But suddenly I am interrupeted, and here I am."

One psychologist explained those despcriptions of near-death that resemble the version given above; the person telling the story has either...

1) remembered the moment of his/her birth at the time of his/her near-death, and remembered the remembering experience like a dream within a dream.

2) remembering the experience of reviving. The dark tunnel was unconsciousness from which (s)he was waking like a sleep or dream. The bright light was the visual sensation (s)he felt as (s)he regained consciousness; but the eyes still being closed, it resembled exiting a tunnel into the light.

The first case, if it can be proven to be what the survivor had actually experienced, would be one answer to your question.

 

[Mycernius]

I knew of a guy who reckoned he could remember being born...i thought it was a load of old toss...scientifically, is this possible?

I've heard of these rebirthing therapies where they quite literally push you through a tight hole to 'experience' your birth. Some say it will help you remember your birth. Got a feeling it came from the new agers in California. Figures really

My earliest vivid memory is going to the hospital to see my new brother when I had just turned three.

 

[Macrend]

I'm sure my first memory is me playing with toy cars at the window of my sister's first house after she just married. I was two years old. I have asked this question to my family and the average age for the first memory is 2 years. I think I also remember the first time I walked. But I'm not sure, maybe is a fake memory. I was one year old when I walked without help. But I remember my mother telling me many times how I walked for the first time. That's why I think it is a fake memory.

 

[Void]

I've heard of these rebirthing therapies where they quite literally push you through a tight hole to 'experience' your birth. Some say it will help you remember your birth. Got a feeling it came from the new agers in California. Figures really

My earliest vivid memory is going to the hospital to see my new brother when I had just turned three.

Don`t know about new agers, but such therapy is well described by Stanislacv Groff (??), psychiatrist, psychoanalyst
these techniques based on holotropic breathworks. As much as i read, people can not only remember their birth and their feelings and sensations within womb, but also their "past lives"
But such "memories" can also be caused by anaxia or by oxigen excess, so, the verity of results is still questionable
Practicing this techniques is not recomended without qualified medical staff near by

---------------------
some info... but try not to do any on your own
S.Grof
breathwork
some more

 

[Flashjeff]

I've heard of these rebirthing therapies where they quite literally push you through a tight hole to 'experience' your birth. Some say it will help you remember your birth. Got a feeling it came from the new agers in California. Figures really

Funny you should mention that. One of my TV passions is Law & Order and I watched a repeat episode on TNT a week ago where an emotionally troubled young girl was accidentally smothered to death while going through "rebirthing therapy" and both the mother and therapist tried to cover up the girl's death but wound up getting caught and punished. I tell ya, if there's a buck to be made in psychiatry these days, somebody will come up with quackery like rebirthing therapy to rake in the dollars!