What is your earliest memory?

[Greenworld]

My earliest memory

I was only two or four years old. Such a happy little boy I was. Riding on the back seat of my fathers bike. He picked a flower and handed it to me to hold onto. I looked it and smelt it. Nature is beautiful. We ride upto a pretty young girl. Hand her the flower Jake, he said. But it was too late, I had already thrown it under the wheel to watch it be destroyed on the ride there. I was not like him, I was the spawn of satan.

What is your earliest memory? Do you feel it shaped your character in some way? All stories welcome 😃              

[Simona]

I was about 7 years old when my chickling died and no-one explained to me what it is to be dead and still. I remember finding dead animals and just studying ( I just stared at them) them before burying them side by side - mostly cats from what I remember. Neighbour yelled at me and made shooing motion to scare me away because I made the flies come. Oh well.  I think yep: it shaped my character because I love animals and I have a pretty curious nature & like to examine creatures up close -  I have collected Trapdoor spiders and Wolfspiders but it's a catch/keep as pet for about 1-2 weeks system.  Also I found a bird covered in engine grease and gave it a nice tepid bath and it was good as new. I like rescuing animals 🙂

[geoff]

dear Greenworld, well this will be an interesting comment.

My first memories were when I was about 4 or 5 and started my first battle with OCD, which I didn't know what it was called, and could never understand why I had to do all these repetitive habits and rituals.

An older brother used to label me as being as a 'crack-pot' and he always teased me, so after 55 years I still have it.

It started my life on a negative spiral. Geoff.

[Gruffudd]

My earliest memory is at 18 months old. My parents sat my brother and I on top of the caravan to take a photo. I remember his hand on my back as he pushed me off the caravan and that he looked so happy as I fell. 

I learned a little about being a brother on that day. 

[pipsy]

My earliest memory is being looked after by a neighbour who looked on me as the daughter she never had (she had 2 sons).  One of the sons was having a party, I had been put to bed, I was only about 3 or 4.  These neighbours were looking after me.  One of the sons friends came to read me a bedtime story.  Everytime we came to a 'full stop' in the story, he would tell me to count to 4, if it was a comma, I would count to 2.  It helped me understand the story and also taught me when to take breaths during reading and reciting stories.  I've never forgotten the 'lesson' and it got me good marks later in school. 

[topsy_]

When I was 4ish I remember being allowed to go & play with the girl across the road. We played underneath a big old gum tree & I remember she told me if we dug a super deep hole all the way through the earth we would end up in China!!

But I also remember my mother told me to come home "half way through the afternoon" to say hello. I didn't have a watch & couldn't tell the time anyway. Later she angrily called me home & I got belted for being disobedient. It's my first memory of unfair punishments that were to last too many years. And, of course, it was my fault.

[lookingforme]

My earliest memory is from when I was two years old. I was on a kiddy flotation ring being pulled by my swimming teacher into the deep end of the pool. She had the biggest smile on her face because she just told me I can go to the deep end, and I was so proud of myself for having achieved something so quickly (this was the first time I had ever swum, and it was my first ever lesson).

That is the only memory in which I have pride actually. Pride for myself. That has gradually been trained out of me.

[redgirl-blackdog]

Wow, one of my twins asked me this today & luckily his brother interrupted before I had the chance to answer. It was my 3rd birthday. My 4 1/2 yo sister & I were in a huge dark-wood panelled courtroom, in front of an enormously tall bench being asked by a man in black robes what things we enjoyed doing with our mummy, we said cooking cakes, swimming, colouring in & playing on the swings, then being asked who we wanted to live with. Of course we said Mummy. I think maybe that's when I realised people would politely listen but not hear.

[Lazykh]

My earliest memory is when I was taken out with my two friends (all of us aged about 2) with our mummies to a restaurant called Miller's. I had no memory of it for a long time, because it was the day that I developed a phobia (since extinguished!) of balloons. After ridding myself of the phobia, I was sitting telling my mum about it and started to recall the details. They corresponded with what she remembered of the restaurant, but she couldn't remember the colour of my two friends' balloons (sky blue and red transparent), and had forgotten that there was a minor bingle on the way home involving a green sigma...

Dr Freud says that we can't remember a lot from our early childhood because it is inherently traumatic. There are a few conflicting views on 'infantile amnesia' but I must say I do agree with Dr Freud. Hypnotherapy theory also asserts that the memories are all still there, they are just clouded by other things (such as my anxiety which increased as the balloon shrank and deformed after I took it home which I thought was yuk). I had other memories from when I was around 2 1/2 that were preserved by rehearsal, as they were stories that were told over and over again and sometimes had photos accompanying. But that one is now my earliest.

[CalmCat]

My earliest memory is when I was 2 years only and a picture frame fell on my cot. I remember getting a huge shock and started to cry.