What Was Your First Memory Of Life ?

[Zeno Lorea]

I never dare to tell this in the real world so I'll do it here, online.

The oldest memory I have is of my nanny washing me, dressing me, playing with me, putting me to bed etc. I just know for sure those memories are older than my oldest memories of my dad or my mom. Some people would probably reckon, based solely on this story, that I'm a rich brat, spoiled rotten, raised by nannies. I'm none of that. My parents raised me on their own and though we had a cleaning lady, they only had a nanny for a short period while both my parents had an ailment I was still too frail to be vaccinated against. For real.

 

[rareboy]

This is a joke, right?


~~~~~~~~~~~~


Seems some people would have us believe that their childhood development more closely resembled that of a modern chimpanzee than that of a modern human.

For crying out loud, the 'prolonged' development of the modern human brain is one of the biggest mysteries/puzzlements of human evolution.

The human brain does not develop the ability to retain 'complex/long-term' memories until around 3 – 4yoa – closer to 4.

If you think you remember events from before this age, it's far more likely [believable] that you have remembered stories/memories that others have told/recalled over the years and incorporated them as your own.

Sorry. You are just wrong.

There are outliers for everything.

Please don't insult us by calling people liars because you were developmentally delayed.

 

[Hotrich]

Peeing all over the living room wall at age 3. Honest!

 

[rareboy]

^ Well, I guess...start as you mean to finish.

 

[SaskGuy]

I remember sitting on our brand new couch when it was just delivered and still wrapped in plastic... I was a toddler at the time so it's amazing I actually remember that.

It was one of those "country" themed living room sets that were ubiquitous in the '80s; the couch was brown with "old west" scenes printed on the fabric. By about 2000, the couch was getting saggy and worn out, and the coffee table and end tables started looking a bit shabby. We tossed it all about 5 years later and got new stuff, but I still have one of the end tables in the garage.
Most people think of the "ultra-modern" designs when they think of '80s furniture, but where I live, almost everyone had those country sets, and many kept them well into the '90s. Even today, those '80s country couches are all over Kijiji.

 

[Telstra]

Only remember bits and pieces of it like rolling on a bed and falling on a floor a few times.
It was painful. Don't know why they put small kid on the bed without watching it LOL

 

[LeicsDom]

The human brain does not develop the ability to retain 'complex/long-term' memories until around 3 – 4yoa – closer to 4.

If you think you remember events from before this age, it's far more likely [believable] that you have remembered stories/memories that others have told/recalled over the years and incorporated them as your own.

I can assure you that, contrary to your delayed development, I have very clear memories of around the 2 year old time
I know for a fact that NO-ONE has ever told me about the Dr on the table incident
I can also clearly remember the day my sister was born. I was 2 years, 2 months and 2 days old and we lived in an aprtment above a butcher's; there was an iron fire escape we used to access the apartment and I was sent downstairs to a neighbour while Mother did the business. The reason this was so clear is that it was the first time I saw a TV

 

[Kahaih]

I can assure you that, contrary to your delayed development, I have very clear memories of around the 2 year old time
I know for a fact that NO-ONE has ever told me about the Dr on the table incident
I can also clearly remember the day my sister was born. I was 2 years, 2 months and 2 days old and we lived in an aprtment above a butcher's; there was an iron fire escape we used to access the apartment and I was sent downstairs to a neighbour while Mother did the business. The reason this was so clear is that it was the first time I saw a TV

You are delusional.

At 2 years of age you did not understand, let alone remember, what a Doctor had to say.

As I said, you have borrowed other people's memories.

 

[Kyanimal]

This is not an easy question. I have so many memories that I can not accurrately determine what might have been my first.

I remember my "new" sister being brought home. She was born on June 6, and I didn't turn 3 until the following October 7.

I remember things before that, though.

We were living in an upper flat, and I'm pretty sure I can draw a floor plan of it. The front entrance was our landlord's front door, then up an open mahogany stair case, to our door. There was also an open stairway up the back of the house, to our kitchen door.

I remember our landlords, "E" and Albert, and their little Scotty "Max".

I remember their black and white T.V., with it's little red light, under the screen, to show it was on.

I remember that Albert was a city bus driver, and the night he died in his bed.

I remember Dr. Campbell, a fairly young guy, making house calls, and letting me sit in his red 1950 Chevy convertible.

We had a grey 1949 Chevy sedan.

There is so much more that I remember, too. And, I've mentioned some of those memories in other threads.

The "funny" thing is, at the age I am now, I can have trouble recalling what I might have done yesterday!

 

[mikey3000]

I remember being all alone in a dark room, then being pushed along in a small tunnel towards a bright light. Then I was smacked on the bum and I cried.

 

[Vitamin]

I remember being all alone in a dark room, then being pushed along in a small tunnel towards a bright light. Then I was smacked on the bum and I cried.

You should have known better then to head towards the light.

 

[frankfrank]

The earliest that I can put some kind of time frame on, is hearing Spike Jones "Chinese Mule Train" on the radio. That was a hit in spring of 1950, when I was two-and-a-half years old. That is also the kind of song (UNLIKE "Tennessee Waltz" or "Mona Lisa" in the same year) that would have been VERY unlikely to be played after it was a hit.

I remember being put into a crib (through the end, not via the side) after a tonsillectomy, probably soon after I woke up (OR MAYBE just before I went "under") on January 2, 1951...I couldn't have remembered the date, except that it was in a "1951 diary" that my mother made, with her drawings.

I remember plenty of music from, like, 1951.

UNDATED CONTENDERS:
1. The family singing "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" around the Christmas tree. That *MIGHT* have possibly been 1949. Again, it's something musical.

2. Feeling some pain, while playing around a woodpile in the back yard. I vaguely remember my mother explaining something about an operation down there. (In other words, a circumcision...which might have happened when I was 2, 3, maybe as much as 5 years old. I'm thinking it was "newer" than 1950 or 1951, remembering the woodpile.)

 

[SaskGuy]

Like, I remember being a newborn and listening to all the latest 1980s music like Loverboy, Payola$, and Laura Branigan! I watched shows like Check It Out, and Miami Vice!

Hey.... sound ridiculous? There's people born in the late '90s claiming this very same thing about a time they were barely old enough to remember. Nostalgia is a fad, especially among people who aren't old enough to remember a time that was much different than today.