Your first ever memory....

[Royston]

This was prompted by another thread, but I'm interested in hearing anyone's very first memory. I remember discussing this years ago, and there seems to be a myth that your first memory somehow shapes who you are...I don't buy it personally, but if anyone else would like to comment on that premise, feel free.

 

My first ever memory was relatively traumatic. I went to a local park with my parents, and I remember going down the 'little' slide, I wasn't man enough to tackle the 'big' slide (being a child and everything), and through my blind happy abandon I didn't realise there was a boy still sitting on the end. I flew right into the back of him and knocked him off, and all I remember was the scolding looks of a group of adults who witnessed the event, as if to say 'yoooouuuu...you horrible little urchin...look what you've done.'

 

It's interesting that to be indirectly told off by someone who wasn't my parents, somehow made me self aware. Do you think there has to be something mildly extreme to prompt your first memory...or is it just a matter of your brain developing at a certain age and your first memory could be really quite mundane ?

 

I suppose that's quite hard to answer as practically anything can be exciting or traumatic when you're a child, but maybe worth pondering.

[YT2095]

a bright White light coming towards me, then feeling cold and getting spanked for no particular reason, I could hear crying/screaming and feeling really cold?

 

Just Kidding

 

actualy I find it impossible to determine my 1`st ever mem, I know I rem stuff about the 1`st place we lived in, so that would put me at 8 months or less because we moved after.

I have several different mems from that place, but no way of knowing which was 1`st or not?

[Royston]

a bright White light coming towards me, then feeling cold and getting spanked for no particular reason, I could hear crying/screaming and feeling really cold?

 

I think that would be the makings of a serial killer. Thank god we can't remember when we're born...yuk.

 

 

 

actualy I find it impossible to determine my 1`st ever mem' date=' I know I rem stuff about the 1`st place we lived in, so that would put me at 8 months or less because we moved after.

I have several different mems from that place, but no way of knowing which was 1`st or not?[/quote']

 

I guess I could rephrase it as what you think your first memory was, because it may as well be your first memory. Obviously this is something you try and work out when you're older, and you're dead right, you have to work it out through logic by associating the memory with e.g the first house you lived in (your example)

[Green]

I somehow remember my first memory

I was crawling across my house and saw everybody really busy.I remember the vision from the perspec tive of crawling and remember my dad talking on the phone.

Not that interesting but thats it.

[Royston]

I somehow remember my first memory

I was crawling across my house and saw everybody really busy.I remember the vision from the perspective of crawling and remember my dad talking on the phone.

Not that interesting but thats it.

 

On the contrary that's rather impressive to be cognitive before walking.

[Ducky Havok]

Well I can't pin down my very first memory, and sadly I have a horrible memory, but your OP brought a memory of when I was about 4 to mind.

 

My dad and I were visiting a park, and I wanted to go on the big slide like my dad was (He really is just a big kid at heart). Well he helped me climb the ladder, but when I got up there I was to terrified to go down, so I latched on to the little handlebars on the side. My dad, not realizing I was holding on and getting rather impatient, decided to push me. Me, being the stupid little child I was, didn't let go of the handle and ended up careening over the edge and smashing headfirst into the woodchucks below me. I blame this for my bad short term memory and everything that has ever gone wrong in my life. On the bright side, my dad felt so guilty he bought me ice cream afterwards (I don't remember this part but he swears he did).

[Royston]

I blame this for my bad short term memory and everything that has ever gone wrong in my life. On the bright side, my dad felt so guilty he bought me ice cream afterwards (I don't remember this part but he swears he did).

 

Well I'm going slightly off topic, but that sparked another memory when I was a year or so older. It was actually in the same park, and they hadn't yet developed that black spongy stuff that looks like tarmac you see in parks nowadays. So the roundabout was surrounded by soft giving concrete.

 

My Dad was spinning the roundabout, and like you, my instinct was to 'hold on' even though I lost my footing. My Dad didn't realise I came off ( I guess his attention was averted )and kept on spinning the roundabout while my legs were grinding on the concrete. It took a couple of revolutions for the pain to hit...you know when a child falls over there is always a pause before they realise they're hurt.

 

I don't remember any icecream either (bad memories nearly always outweigh the good, it stops you making the same mistake)....my Dad was almost stunned into silence (poor bloke) I was rushed back home where my wounds were tended to.

[YT2095]

my editing but to the point, as you said in post #3

what you think your first memory was, because it may as well be your first memory. you have to work it out through logic by associating the memory with e.g the first house you lived in (your example)

 

remembering my 1`st home puts my mem at 8 months old or less, I rem quite a bit about it and on different occasions, my fave was sitting on the floor in front of the gas fire, I couldn`t crawl (my one leg was in a plaster cast until I was a year and half old, though I don`t ever rem that!???), I Do rem the gas fire though and some of my toys and the general layout of the place etc...

oh yeah and in Color TOO!

[The Peon]

I was in a cradle or small bed of some sort, and I remember looking up and being fascinated with a pine cone my mother had on her fireplace shelf. I must have been under 4 years old (we sold that house at that time), and I am figuring I was about 1-2 years old. Funny thing is I have a black period from the time I was around 5 to around 10 years old where I cant remember anything at all.

[Pangloss]

Watching Neil Armstrong step out onto the lunar surface.

[Royston]

I'm amazed at how cognitive everyone is at such an early age. It's interesting when you see a photo of your childhood that a memory can almost manifest, even if you have no recollection of actually experiencing the event before seeing the photograph.

 

If I think about the pram I used to be in...digging really deep into my life archives, there is definetly an image with some adults wobbling there fingers around near my face. Trouble is I can't tell if this is fabricated because it's kinda obvious that there was a point that I was in a pram with the adult family members making daft noises and pinching my cheeks.

[Royston]

An after thought, I think the incident with the slide was probably the first time I became self aware. The adults making me the centre of attention for those few brief seconds made me think..'oh, I'm here.'

 

I guess you can recollect an experience, but doesn't actually mean you have a clue what the hell was going on at the time.

[insane_alien]

probably from when i was around a year old. i was sitting in my garden staring at a cat that sat down near me. it was the most interesting thing in the world at that point. my next memory is smearing food all over my face (not quite sure if it was earlier or later but still when i was in nappies) and then one from when i was older and i was walking along a pebble beach with my family and i tripped and fell face first in the water despite the fact i had reins(a kinda harness thingy so i wouldn't run away from my parents, you know what kids are like when they first learn to walk) on.

[Bettina]

My first memory was someone (I don't know who) was trying to give me something from a spoon. I was being held and I couldn't move. I remember hitting it somehow, but it came at me again. I was crying but whatever it was got into my mouth.

 

I have never forgotten that.

 

Bettina

[Tigerbeam]

my first memory was at age four. My cousin told me to pour my pepsi on the floor, which i did. Good thing my cousin lived five hours away, cause back then i did everything he told me to. Maybe it was because he was my hero and my getting in trouble for things he told me to do i remember being betrayed, although he was only five so now i know he didn't know any better.

[Celeste22]

I must have been around 1 or 2 and I tried riding our Desert Tortoise,

"Herbie".

I remember my mom picking me up and telling me how I was going to hurt the turtle and make the turtle cry. That in turn made me cry.

I remember telling Herbie I was sorry and "kissing him better" for months afterward, and cryed for months when he died 11 years later.

It's no wonder I still have an intense fondness for tortoise/turtles to this day.

[Royston]

Funny thing is I have a black period from the time I was around 5 to around 10 years old where I cant remember anything at all.

 

I used to have the same problem, I try and remember what teachers / tutors I had at the time (no-one forgets a good teacher) and children I knew and school events I attended as I was growing up. It's easier to gauge how old you were if you use school as a guide, you can then branch off to family holidays, birthdays, christmas et.c. Maybe you should dig out some old photos and sit with a family member and see if you can refresh your memory.

 

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. So many memories get pushed aside as you get older, you reject certain events as they seem meaningless to your personal development or some memories take precedence, but are they truly lost ?

I'm convinced if a particular event in your life is explained and you have photographs to refer to, you can probably remember actually being there. The more I think about it, the more everything comes flooding back. Just as when I think about my pram, the image of 'coochey coo' grown ups seems so vivid. This could be a fabrication, but what's the difference between a fabricated memory and a true memory when you have been told you were actually there...I guess as you can't truly tell the difference you could argue it's irrelevant.

However really early memories are incredibly powerful, however mundane they may seem, because it's possible to recollect how bewildering, scary but exciting being a very young child was. It's possible to feel those emotions again with a little concentration.

[Royston]

My first memory was someone (I don't know who) was trying to give me something from a spoon. I was being held and I couldn't move. I remember hitting it somehow' date=' but it came at me again. I was crying but whatever it was got into my mouth.

 

I have never forgotten that.

 

Bettina[/quote']

 

Sounds like you were at the doctors if you were being held, and the fact that whatever was on that spoon had to be given to you. I might be wrong but I think the polio vaccine is taken orally, and I'm sure it's given to babies.

 

So your memory was probably in the first couple of years of your life...just guessing, sorry if that seems intrusive.

[YT2095]

OR she was being fed and just didn`t like Brocolli

 

 

Watching Neil Armstrong step out onto the lunar surface.

 

I have that same mem too (well not Exactly the same) I was woken up and taken out of bed, sat on the floor in front of the TV (black and white) and watched that also, I specificly remember being told how important it was, but being more happy that I was allowed to stay up late to watch it

[Leison]

my first memory was when i was around 2 ,my mom used to sing for me so that i could have a nap. I still remember those sunny days, crows which used to disturb my nap and mom's old song.

[Royston]

my first memory was when i was around 2 ,my mom used to sing for me so that i could have a nap. I still remember those sunny days, crows which used to disturb my nap and mom's old song.

 

I still have analogue tapes of me singing to my mum, it's really cute how high my voice was, and my mum mimicking the sounds I produced.

[Royston]

OR she was being fed and just didn`t like Brocolli

 

 

 

 

I have that same mem too (well not Exactly the same) I was woken up and taken out of bed' date=' sat on the floor in front of the TV (black and white) and watched that also, I specificly remember being told how important it was, but being more happy that I was allowed to stay up late to watch it [/quote']

 

Brocolli next to sprouts and mature cheddar is a taste that develops. They're strong flavours which is why so many kids love those hideous cheese strings, which taste like rubber to adults.

 

Yeah, your second point, having the same privelages as an adult means a lot when your a child. Probably why kids toys are so geared towards adult influences. Especially girls...they like to play with fake cooking appliances. Boy's, cars and hero figures...as a general rule.

[BobbyJoeCool]

I was 3-4, I had a dream that my Mom died on an operating table. That's my earliest memory. Right, memory of a dream. I was afraid of doctors and the ER for years...

[Bio-Hazard]

I wish I'd get more of a post count for having things like the in the psychiatry forum.. but anyways.. since age 3 or 4 is typically the age that one remembers their earliest memory.. my earliest memory was perhaps..18 months..

[SNAVEZNAD]

i have many memories from a young age, but i havn't a clue which was my first. I don't even think those memories are from the same year, maybe even 1-3 years apart LOL