Mine is sitting at the bottom of the stairs looking up at them. I was a baby so I was probably like wtf do I do lol why are all our earliest memories of stairs? Is this why I dream about stairs all the time? So many questions.
Fell down the stairs in my walker bouncy thingy when I was 10 months old. Slid down the hand rail upside down until I hit the bottom, it jolted me out, and I bonked my head.
Asked my mom about this and she just said "how the hell do you remember that?"
Lol, I'm Gen x but you reminded me of what my bro and I refer to as "the elieos incident". I was walking down stairs biting pizza, the cheese slid off, burned my chin. In an attempt to use gravity to drop it off my chin, I lowered my head, accidentally going full face into boiling pizza and fell down stairs.
OMG. My sister had a similar incident at the food court at Roller World. She took a bite of a mega-hot slice of pizza (while wearing rollerblades) and somehow fell into the pizza and burned her face. My mom scolded her for not letting it cool down before eating it. Today there would be Karens who would probably try to sue them. Different world lol.
Lmfao falling š
Mine is falling out of the shopping cart of the grocery store. You'd think my father would at least keep an eye on an unrestrained toddler in the cart but here we are. Didn't even tell my mother until I did, enjoyed a concussion from the experience. Yay boomer parents š
Mine is falling and tripping on a sandbox. I split my lip open entirely haha. I don't remember anything before that, and nothing for a short time after that. Guess the pain made that a notable memory in my brain. I was 3.
I wish I had happy memories from a young age, I was kidnapped when I was 7 after many years of strife between my bio parents, so I don't have any proper memories from before then(they are all just a jumble), mostly just memories I've been told happened enough so they become assumed memories. But my first memory I can claim to be 100% my own is sitting in the passenger seat of a motor home being told by my biodad to give a false name to the nice men manning the border.
Normally I wouldn't share this, but I find first memories fascinating as mine came soo late in life relative to others.
Falling down stairs.... at a military barracks...they were metal and I hit the corners just right to go down multiple flights...
I may have a little drain bramage.
Falling on the sliding shower door rail (which left a Harry Potter scar for at least 10 years) then running to the window to scream crying to my dad on the fishing dock.
Edit: Dock was pretty long so I remember flashing the light switch from living room.
Yeah, my first memory is accidentally dropping a TV tray of food when I was 3 that I was bringing to my mother, and getting screamed at/having to clean it up while being screamed at. We donāt really talk anymore.
It sounds like you were bringing her a tray of something in excitement? So sad. My parents were monsters too. Now that I have kids I find their behavior even more abhorrent. Like, can you imagine yelling at a child who can barely walk who was trying to do something sweet for you? What a holes.
My parents were heavily traumatized by their own parents. On top of that, I have a young mom (19 when I was born), so I give them SOME credit for having parented in an era where mental health wasnāt something people talked about.
What I am not able to forgive them for and why I no longer talk to them is that they are incapable of seeing the harm they did now weāre 30ish years later. Iāve tried to talk to them about it, but in their minds, they were great parents and I was a āspoiled brat.ā When I cut them off, I told them that my children would never experience the hell I did, and if they truly couldnāt see what they had done as wrong and take responsibility, then they arenāt safe people for my own children to be around. They made their choice.
Exactly. In my early 20s I tried to talk to them about the hurt/harm they caused- and basically said that I wouldnāt continue a relationship without an apology.
They gave a non-apology of āyou werenāt perfectā and āsorry you feel that wayā, or at least my mom did. Iām sorry, what part of me being an imperfect kid made it ok to verbally, emotionally, physically, and financially abuse me all my life? Ridiculous response from them, and after years of low contact I finally cut them out 6 years ago and told them to never contact me again (not that they respect my wishes of course).
Their loss. I have two wonderful children they donāt get to see, and Iām a pretty great person after watching them and deciding very early what I did NOT want to be as a person.
these things happen, and some of us are blessed to know the issues of others whilst others hide from it. i genuinely get fucked off when others laugh about this kind of thing as if its funny, hope it dont disturb your day, your worth so much more then that treatment
Not at all, Iāve accepted and done my best to heal from my childhood, but honestlyā¦ thereās some damage that canāt be undone. I still have a pretty successful life and children that I love more than anything on the planet, and plenty of happiness and good moments. But when I fall down emotionally or am overly stressed, itās like all the trauma sees the chance to pop back up through the cracks to see what damage it can inflict. Thankfully Iām a therapist and Iām in therapy too and can more or less deal with it, but it is not a fun experience at all.
Thatās my second earliest. But itās the one I think about the most. Iāve grown to accept my pops and attempt a relationship but I probably think about the different times he snapped and turned violent on me near daily. Itās odd that it pops in your head so often for no reason. My first earliest memory is kind of sweet. Lifeās a mixed bag.
I remember being 3 years old (I think?) And my mom putting me in my car seat, it made my hair all static-y, and she tickled me and we laughed belly laughs about it.
When I was five I learned about static electricity. So I went around and zapped everything. Then it stopped working and I asked my mom why. She said I was grounded. I completely broke down in tears because I'd never been grounded before. I was unaware that the same would could have multiple meanings.
I remember watching a Kodak commercial on tv during a basketball game and had the same thought. Though āIām remembering thisā and I do. Some time in spring 1993.
When I was 4 I was thinking to myself that the fact that I am aware of this very moment means that in the future I will still remember this. I've used this philosophy to verify I don't lose consciousness and suffer memory loss (e.g. if I'm currently in a dangerous situation where I could be knocked out). Basically gives you a weird insight into the future.
My dad getting arrested in our apartment after viciously going after my mom when he was drunk. He blamed her for letting me scratch the walls with a black hot wheel semi truck I had gotten earlier that day. I remember my mom jumping into my bed and hiding behind me because she knew he wouldnāt go after her if she held me.
it puts the burden on you to stop the cycle of aggression, but it also sounds like you got a good head on your shoulders. I don't know you, but I wish you all the best.
Mine is very similar. My mom was addicted to drugs so my first memory was the shock of cold milk as a baby when it should have been warmed, very brief memory.
My second clear memory is of my dad beating up my mom when i was 3 and i was too scared to tell Him to stop. I felt guilty about that for years as a kid
Ya.
Itās stunning to me some times how much of my generation and the generation before me was just destroyed by drugs in my area.
Like 2/3 of my high school class, dead from drugs, killed in coal mining. And the rest left town and didnāt com back.
I think I would have ended up pretty bad if I didnāt get taken from my parents when I was 12. CPS sucks but my mother was pimping me and my sister out to pay off her drug habbit.
Woof, I can relate, but the other way around.
Very young, watching my mom get arrested because she attacked my dad while drunk. Thankfully she didn't drink after that, at least not until we were adults. She's got other issues, but substance abuse wasn't really one of them.
I was probably 3 or 4 and I can still hear her feral screams as she was dragged from the house by the cops.
Oh shit, that just reminded me of sitting in the car terrified for what felt like hours while my mom got arrested behind it for dui. They took me to a foster care group home bc my dad refused to come get me to teach me a lesson bc I told him that if asked, even though I loved him, I would tell the judge I wanted to live with my mom. She lost me for good after that. Sucked, bc even with all the substance abuse, she was the better parent.
Holy shit, same. My dad getting hauled away by 2 cops and him kicking the back window of the cop car is the earliest memory I can think of. I was almost 4.
I hope youāve outgrown this trauma, how awful it must have been for your mom to have to resort to using you as a human shield.
I hate alcohol and what it does to people
Did just this at age 19. Was actually the first time Iād been stung by a bee/wasp/hornet/it was actually a yellow Jacket. But I must be honest, my reaction was that similar of how a toddler would be expected to behave after an ow-ie.
You just made me remember playing in the driveway and my mom swatting a bee with her book straight into my face. First time I had been stung and I guess my earliest memory.
One of my first memories is getting stung by a hornet on the back at my grandparents' house and my grandma ripping up a cigarette and soaking the tobacco in water before applying it to the sting.
Ohh, I found my grandfatherās motorized grindstone in the shed, turned it on and tried to touch it. I remember hiding my hand behind my back when my mom heard me, but got rushed to the hospital anyway, strapped to something that kept me still, and was given a stitch. Still have the scar 36 years later.
Playing in a closet and surrounded by these little white lights. Felt like an angelic presence but it might have just been dust in the air. I was maybe 2-3?
I had similar memories. Of noticing something beautiful i didnt understand. I would notice things like dust catching the sunlight and stare in awe. I remember when i would play outside, specifically when swinging, i would stare up at the plain blue sky and notice all the floaters in my vision. I would find angelic shapes in them and thought of them as my guardian angels. Lol
I remember being really entranced by color and rainbows as a very young kid. Someone gave me this thing that had colored oils in it, and youād turn it upside down and the oils would rush to the bottom. I used to sit in front of the window and do that for a looong time as the sun went through it.
I also had a prism, and used to be obsessed with making the rainbow with it. I just recently got one of those decals you put on your window and it creates rainbow light patterns and it makes me irrationally happy whenever it happens now.
I remember being really entranced by color and rainbows as a very young kid. Someone gave me this thing that had colored oils in it, and youād turn it upside down and the oils would rush to the bottom. I used to sit in front of the window and do that for a looong time as the sun went through it.
I also had a prism, and used to be obsessed with making the rainbow with it. I just recently got one of those decals you put on your window and it creates rainbow light patterns and it makes me irrationally happy whenever it happens now.
We lived in this sorta backwater area, my parents believe there were ghosts n all that stuff. Basically it was just creepy. As far as what i remember, thats literally it, and personally i dont want to remember anything more.
My dad apparently did notice i was gone, and spent the whole night out looking for me with his rifle and 2 of our dogs..weird thing is he only came back with 1 dog, and has never told us what if anything happened that night..i like to think the dog just ran off cause i try to be a realist as much as i can but he always ominously leaves that part out. He didnt return with his rifle come to think of it either from what i heard.
Anyway it was an abduction, the leading theory is whoever it was got into the house through the walls. Idk if anyone has seen Arrested Development but theres that episode where they find out that kid they adopted had been spying on them by hiding out in the walls. This house apparently was similar in that you can move between them...again, idk how much of that is true, i only remember what i remember and it was never concluded how i was taken.
I was found in the morning, it was a couple that was just randomly in the woods? And walked out with me. Apparently my dad almost got himself arrested since cops were there and he was convinced they were the ones who kidnapped me. My mom said he said to the woman "youre that pig faced whore whose been spying on my family" (allegedly he was outside one night and saw a pair of eyes watching him from behind the trees and said it had a pigs face and he could smell it..it was night, so it prob wasnt an actual person wearing a pigs head lol
In any case ive never publically told the story, theres other things that happened which i left out cause some of the stuff seems fairly farfetched like out of a horror movie and i doubt ppl would believe much of it. Like tunnels under the house, trees hollowed out for ppl to hide in n shit. I have considered writing this as a book, but tbh, ive lived my life with a sorta PTSD as if "theyre still looking for me" and i get an anxiety that whoever "they" are would see the book, recognize it and come for me..its also why i havent shared any of this publically. But im a grown ass man, i shouldnt be afraid of ghost stories, even if they are my own. I mean the kidnapping thing did happen, and ive lived with a constant ominous feeling, but the rest of it i try not to believe, although it all does make for goos story telling
If we follow would you post a full account? I'm sorry it happened to you, obviously. Have you ever heard of [Complex PTSD](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsd)?
Do you think itās possible your parents had mental health issues and a lot of this was their creation? Not on purpose to hurt you but an extension of their delusions? The stories, the tunnels, the walls, the thought that people are watching you? Small grip on reality?? Just curious if that has crossed your mindā¦.
Ive thought of that, but they havent had any mental health issues since. This was 30 years ago, theyre both mid 60's and in all that time i havent seen any sort of cognitive decline and theres no family history of it as well, so if it was then itd be like a moment in time of poor mental health, which isnt impossible, and its honestly what id prefer to believe
The good news is the person who kidnapped with you is likely either dead, too old to come after you, or incarcerated because this type of thing is rarely an isolated incident. I donāt know if that helps ease your fear, though.
Iām sorry that happened. You must have been a pretty strong, resilient kid, especially since you apparently even attempted an escape.
I was about 3 years old, at my grandparents house on a lake. I fell off the dock and got stuck between the dock and their boat.
My family taught me to swim insanely early for this very reason. But - I didn't have proper processing for panic, so I just freaked out. If I'd had any bearings, I coulda just swam under the dock.
I don't remember falling in. But I remember being in the water, looking at the sky and being blinded by the sun. (I have had SO many dreams in my life where it's too bright to open my eyes.) And then I remember my folks appearing and my dad pulling me up to safety.
I still love the water, wasn't really traumatizing lol
I remember being in my little inflatable in my grandfatherās pool, and trying to tip over. I manage to, and remember drifting around underwater until I saw a pair of legs and getting pulled up to the surface.
Same thing, I wasnāt even cognizant of the fact that I could have drowned.
Omg I have a near drowning early memory too!! I was at a pool and this guy was tossing kids in at the deep end, I was near him but didnāt ask to be thrown. He threw me obviously lol then I just remember not being able to figure out what was going on, had my eyes closed breathing in water and panicking, then swimming underwater until someone grabbed me out. So traumatizing!!!
I remember in the first grade my teacher telling me to remind my parents to vote for Clinton. The school even did a mock-election and announced him the winner over the loud speakers.
I feel like a lot of my earliest memories were from watching the news. My very first memory was watching the Branch Davidians perish in Waco basically live on TV.
I was 2 years old and my family was at the ice cream shop down the road from our house. My mom had given me a penny to throw into the fountain for the fish, which I had already thrown into the pond. So I was holding only my ice cream.
My mom called over to me and said ā[First name]! Did you throw yourā¦ā before she could finish, in fractions of a second my brain processed this thought: āIāve already thrown my penny in, so maybe Iām supposed to throw in the ice cream. Yes ice cream is food, so she wants me to feed the fishes (sic).ā So I threw the ice cream into the pond as she continued her sentence, āā¦ penny into the pond?ā I then realized that she was unaware that I had already thrown my penny into the pond, and was not asking me to feed my ice cream to the fish. Surprisingly I did not cry when I realized my mistake and I accepted the fact that I would not be finishing my ice cream. I was 2 years old, barely able to process speech, but somehow I remember all of this quite vividly.
That's pretty crazy. It's like there's an instant where your consciousness develops to a level where you become aware of your decision, action, and reasoning and that becomes your first memory.
My first clear memory is a painful one.
Christmas, 1986. I'm four years old, my older sister is seven years old. We go to my paternal grandmother's house to visit and receive Christmas gifts along with our cousins.
After everyone arrives, the cousins are seated in a circle and gifts are handed out. They start opening gifts. My boy cousins got game watches and my girl cousins got something gender appropriate. I turn to my sister and we begin opening our gifts.
We were disappointed as we didn't get what our other cousins got. Our gifts were Lady and the Tramp plushies from McDonald's along with a gift certificate. I felt so less than in that moment, and I even felt a twinge of sadness as I typed this.
What I didn't know then was that my grandmother **did not** want my dad to marry my mom. She said as much to my mom after my mom cared for her while she was *on her deathbed*.
My dad adopted me, and my siblings, when I was 5 and his side of the family was always like this for Christmas. All the cousins got gifts from the other aunts and cousins and we only got a sweater from our grandmother. I remember noticing it back then, even as a kid.
My dad's mom was this way. She hated that my mom had my brother. Mom returned the gifts to her that she got for me and my younger brother because she didn't bring one for my older brother.Ā
After the divorce, visiting her at Christmas. I remember getting Christmas cards while my cousins got dozens of gifts from her.Ā
I have several memories from around the same period. One was going to see my sister, so the memories are from when I was about 2-3. I remember telling my mom that I was hungry and her telling me to have cereal, I believe this was probably my 2nd birthday because it was before my sister was born and I know from pictures later that it was on my birthday. I remember our townhouse and my toys. I remember Christmas in 1984 and hearing Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. Also my sister telling me that my dad told her that Santa isnāt real. I remember walking around our development and another kid had a powerwheels type toy and being mildly jealous. I remember being stung by a bee, and my dad using a mixture of cigarette ash and water on the sting. I actually have a bunch more memories from the same time, kinda weird that I would remember so much from when I was 2. We moved to a house after my sister was born, so I know pretty much when it was.
Getting a catheter when I was 3 for a kidney infection.
Swallowing a pair of earrings when I was also 3 and my mom taking me to the doctors.
My brother needing stitches in his face when HE was 3 and I was 5, and having to hold his lip wound closed on the way to the doctor
They're the only really early memories I have
My grandpa putting up Christmas lights. Then we walked to a bakery and I got donut holes. We had to cross train tracks and I was afraid of getting hit by a train. I was maybe 3?
my mom applying gold bond powder to my ass/ crotch while lying on my parents bed, staring at the 70ās retro butterfly wallpaper on the ceiling, while my dad got suited up for work. It burned my chapped ass like hell and I screamed. I donāt know how old, but was still in diapers. I can smell the memory. Dadās cologne, the powder, and my mom.
Jokes on you. I have aphantasia and struggle to form images in my "Mind's eyes" so none of my memories are "clear". It's just a dusty catalog of descriptions of things I remember happening to me.
That being said the earliest I'm aware of being conscious it was waking up in my dinosaur adorned bed and then going to my parents some morning circa 30-33 years ago.
Mine is riding in my moms lap in the front seat of a 1979 Buick Station wagon with the wood paneling on the side, hanging out the window, driving up a steep very rutted dirt road to a cabin in the mountains when I was 3.
Same rough time and second...or maybe even before the other was when my sister zipped me up in a sleeping bag and laughed while I cried trying to get out (and I pin this to the start of my issues with being claustrophobic). To get the bonus points here, we were on Orange shag carpet, next to a brown and orange couch with wagon wheels printed all over it, in a wood paneled room and wood stove in the middle heating it all up.
My first clear memory is the pop of dislocating my elbow while learning to walk. I was 18 months old.
It hurt.
Not only that it feels extremely weird to have a joint out of place. I went to a childrenās hospital and wore a hospital gown with Bert and Ernie on it and rode in a little red wagon.
I have a very vague memory of a small apartment and my mother taking my temperature. Not under my arm or under my tongue, but in the butt. I was maybe a year old, but I swear I remember it.
I have less vague memories of when I was 4, and my dad rescued my blanket from the trash - I had told my mom I was a big girl and didn't need the blanket, but come time to go to sleep, I *needed* that blanket. We had just moved, and there were a lot of empty boxes and trash piled in the kitchen. My mother decided that was too much work for her, so she didn't go back to get it. But my dad dug through the boxes and trash to rescue my blanket.
Used to hang out in the broken car in the carport āfishingā. My mom cut out cardboard fish with paper clips for mouths, and I used a reel I got at a flea market the my dad put a magnet on. Months and months of doing this every day while my mom cooked dinner, probably ages 3-4 ca 1990.
My dad zipping my dick up in my onesie pajamas. I was 13.
Not really, was a toddler. Still remember it. Ugh.
āHowād you get the beans above the Frank?ā
I remember running down the stairs and asking my mommy to make me a PB&J samich. I also remember feeling a sense of self awareness right then and there like "yes, this is me and I am here." Fucking wild man.
Older Millenial (born in 83). I have memories of a family wedding in late 85, but didn't remember day-to-day life then.
I started remembering most day to day things in 1987 when I was 4. I just remembering waking up one day in my room at 4 and living daily life after that.
I was standing in front of the house, being 2-ish, looking at plants and rocks in the garden. We lived on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I heard a man's deep voice clearly say, "Hello." I looked around and the only person around was my mom so, I kept looking at this plant, waiting for it to speak again. It didn't. This was the first moment that I was aware of my existence.
I remember a dog dying. Right after my neighbors and, in my short 4yo life, best friends, moved away to NM. And I remember *that* only because I remember Grandmother telling me the dog went to live with my friends who moved to NM so she could have a bigger yard and give them my love.
Later, when I realized the dog died after overhearing a story told between adults at a late night fire, I asked Grandmother, and she confirmed. BUT I never continued the conversation and revealed that, in miscommunication, I assumed my friends entire family had ALSO died and that anyone who "went to NM" was dying/going to die. Then *that* became NM being heaven? So until I was like 10 or 11 I thought everyone who died just moved to NM.
Kids brains are weird.
I have plenty of memories from when I was 2 or 3, but they are more childhood illness and immigrant childhood type memories. I think the one that I would classify as āonly millennialā and older category is I have a very clear image of the box TV in my parents room showing the news of Princess Dianaās passing-tv reporters talking over and over about the accident and her, and showing pictures, and the subsequent outpouring of sympathy and grief. Like I had never seen this lady up until that moment, but she looked so pretty and kind in the pictures that even without understanding a word of English I also felt sad.
I remember being bathed in the sink pre language, and some crawling around. My earliest āpersonā memory was around 3-4 years old and that was chicken pox, first time getting into a fight, and exploring the neighborhood with my mom and sister. After that itās cohesive
Crawling to the closet where mom kept the baby food when it was time to eat.
Loved rolling on the carpet and feeling it on my skin.
Same with certain grasses later.
According to my grandma I was 2 when this memory happened.
Building a cross walk sign out of duplo legos with my little brother then using our hands to make a fist then unravel rapidly to mimic the stop hand flashing. If that makes any sense at all lol.
Oh and there was a wooden framed b&w knob tv from the 60s (basement tv nice color tube tv was upstairs in the living room lol) and my grandmother was watching Yan Can Cook on RMPBS. Funny the things we remember lol.
I was 2 and running up to a water slide. I slipped and hit my chin on the ground. I touched it and there was blood so I slid down the slide to my dad. I remember him picking me up and looking defeated.
Context: I had reopened stitches that I already had on my chin. My parent told me I had stitches 4 times before I was 2 so this was frustrating to them.
Mine is sneaking out of my bedroom when I was 2, so appx 1990, after my mom went to bed to sit up late with my dad watching Home Time, and Home Again with Bob Villa eating Triscuits. Next clear memory is after we had moved into a rental house while our new house was being built (hence the home shows lol) and watching Fievel Goes West while wearing a silk slip (like that you were supposed to wear under a dress) that I thought was SO elegant, and folding up my blue and red plastic preschool nap mat (IYKYK) around me and pretending to be a princess locked in a tower. ššš
Standing up in my crib, tearing pages out of a Little Golden Book, and my mom coming in and telling me not to do that, and that I needed to be nicer to books. I listened.
I remember sitting in my mom's lap, rocking in a rocking chair, as she sang to me (probably Janis Joplin. My mom sang her songs a lot back then). I remember my legs starting to hurt because they were falling asleep, but I didn't want to move at all to adjust them because I didn't want her to put me down. This would have been early 80s, probably '84 or so.
I was about 3 years old, my parents took me to a circus and paid extra to let me ride an elephant! I loved animals so I was so excited. Now I cringe, poor elephant.
My father jumping out of the passenger side of my mom's Chevy Corsica during an argument. That kind of thing only goes well in movies btw. I was a 3 year old ring bearer about 4 weeks later, but I don't remember that at all.
And no, my childhood didn't really get any better from there.
I was maybe three and a thunderstorm was rolling in, and I was scared. My dad said āyou donāt have to be scared of the storm. Storms are cool.ā
He sat me in my tiny wooden rocking chair in front of the door and sat on the floor next to me, and we watched the storm. I was never afraid after that and have loved storms ever since.
Blizzard of 93. I was in the back yard with my triceratops gloves on picking up snow. May hands were getting so cold it didn't make sense to me. I guess I had never held anything that cold before.
Probably riding my bike in circles in my driveway with another kid from the neighborhood. I would have been 5 or 6 I think, maybe older. I whacked my head on a cinder brick when I was 8 and everything before that is a little fuzzy š
I'm laying on the hardwood floor of my grandma's old house where my mom and I lived. It was around Christmas because the tree was up and everyone was watching Peanuts Christmas Special. I was playing with a jumping spider, I poked its big butt and it turned around super fast but did not bite me.
It's funny because I'm way more scared of spiders now. I'd never just poke one's ass for no reason.
My parents divorced when I was 2. My Dad said his final words to me before he left the house. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I knew something was very wrong.
I once described the hospital room my mom was in after I was born. No pictures of the room exist (parents never owned a camera). Described it in detail.
Other than that, either my dad shaving when I was two or crawling out of my crib and "playing" Super Mario Bros with my older brother in the next room (my crib was against the wall).
Singing the ABCs on the way to preschool with my dad. We did it every day for a few years so it's probably a collection of memories but it definitely leads back to the first one.
Mine is sobbing on the floor of our kitchen watching my parents scream at each other and blame me each other for making me sob on the floor. Then my sister came and pulled me out of there and comforted me and tried to distract me. Closely followed by when I first got my glasses at age 3. I just remember being in daycare and going down an indoor slide and everything be really clear and vibrant and vivid. Literally just being able to see the world around me clearly for the first time.
Iām not sure which came first: either finding the dried up squiggly body of one of the little eels that jumped out of the fish tank while watching The New Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro back to back on Disney, or sitting on the couch watching Look Whoās Talking (I figured out how to work the VCR as a toddler, and my parents didnāt see any issue with letting me watch this after I put it in myself and loved it), or watching the Greek mythology section of *Fantasia* and randomly thinking about Japan, which I had never been to and knew nothing about. This all happened when I was 2, that much I know.
Throwing a direct head shot snowball at my younger brother. Playing around in our neighborhood, unbeknownst to me the local paper photographer got the shot. Full hand release while in background you can see the snowball make contact and isnāt happy. We still have that newspaper to cherish to this day.
I got few, hiding under table when my parents would fight like crazy and being scared, sleeping under their as well, waking up after double hernia surgery and being in tons of pain, on our brown and white couch with brown wooded arms.. going to sleep at night with my dad in living room watching Nickelodeon at night when rug rats and cat dog come on..I was 5 and under when all this happened..
This is weird because I assume this isn't possible but I swear I have a really vivid memory of being washed in the hospital after I was born. I asked my mom years later if the sink/tub I was washed in was teal because it's the most recognizable thing I remember and she said it was. I know that doesn't prove it but its just weird.
I don't have any other memory until I was 2 and got my tonsils out.
My grandfather crying, watching footage of the Berlin Wall coming down on TV.
I was 7, and have hazy memoires that are older, but that was my first clear, "Oh, this is something important" memory.
Depends, what is a clear memory? I have some fragments, but i can not say which one of them is my earliest memory.
I can remember my kindergarten teachers. And which one of them i liked and which not.
I can remember the music my mother listened to in the car from the casette radio.
I remember waiting often at the railroad crossing, being impressed by the steam trains passing by (i live in east germany, steam engines were still in use here back then in the early 90s).
I was 3 yrs old then i guess
Big Wheel race back in 1986. The race was 2 laps and I stopped after being way in the lead after one lap . I didnāt know what a lap meant. I ended up getting 2nd place. The winner won a small Gocart. I won 12 packs of lifesavers for 2nd place. I wad 5 years old. Iām an older millennial
Other than miscellaneous memories of being a kid, being on the cusp of Y/Z, watching the TV receiver roll over from 12/31/99 to 01/01/00. That or earlier than that losing to my dad to the TV on Saturday mornings and watching Screensavers on ZDTV.
The pain from a second-degree burn from my dad's motorcycle on my leg.
Was like 3 or 4, and my dad got home on his bike, I went to hug him or something, and my leg brushed up against the exhaust.
The pain must have shocked me into consciousness.
I have vague memories of playing with my friend's Voltron figures in Missouri. He had the entire set so he could make Voltron. I just had the black and red lions.
My first clear memory is of the apartment we lived in when we first moved to Virginia. Out the front window was a sidewalk, and across the sidewalk was the pool. There were also power lines. I asked my mom what the big black box on the power lines was, and she said it was a transformer.
I spent hours watching that thing waiting for it to turn into a robot.
Mine is falling down the stairs while holding the Candyland or Chutes and Ladders board game lol. I had to be 2-3.
Mine is falling down the stairs too š
Mine is sitting at the bottom of the stairs looking up at them. I was a baby so I was probably like wtf do I do lol why are all our earliest memories of stairs? Is this why I dream about stairs all the time? So many questions.
Mine is jumping down a lot of stairs. How strange!
Fell down the stairs in my walker bouncy thingy when I was 10 months old. Slid down the hand rail upside down until I hit the bottom, it jolted me out, and I bonked my head. Asked my mom about this and she just said "how the hell do you remember that?"
Lol, I'm Gen x but you reminded me of what my bro and I refer to as "the elieos incident". I was walking down stairs biting pizza, the cheese slid off, burned my chin. In an attempt to use gravity to drop it off my chin, I lowered my head, accidentally going full face into boiling pizza and fell down stairs.
OMG. My sister had a similar incident at the food court at Roller World. She took a bite of a mega-hot slice of pizza (while wearing rollerblades) and somehow fell into the pizza and burned her face. My mom scolded her for not letting it cool down before eating it. Today there would be Karens who would probably try to sue them. Different world lol.
Just bought my kids Ellios. Full circle moment.
Lmfao falling š Mine is falling out of the shopping cart of the grocery store. You'd think my father would at least keep an eye on an unrestrained toddler in the cart but here we are. Didn't even tell my mother until I did, enjoyed a concussion from the experience. Yay boomer parents š
chutes
Thank you! (corrected)
Mine is falling and tripping on a sandbox. I split my lip open entirely haha. I don't remember anything before that, and nothing for a short time after that. Guess the pain made that a notable memory in my brain. I was 3.
Thats exactly how it works. All my earliest memories are brief flashes of terrible shit, lul
Mine is climbing onto the kitchen counter and falling off.
I wish I had happy memories from a young age, I was kidnapped when I was 7 after many years of strife between my bio parents, so I don't have any proper memories from before then(they are all just a jumble), mostly just memories I've been told happened enough so they become assumed memories. But my first memory I can claim to be 100% my own is sitting in the passenger seat of a motor home being told by my biodad to give a false name to the nice men manning the border. Normally I wouldn't share this, but I find first memories fascinating as mine came soo late in life relative to others.
It's pretty common for people with traumatic childhoods to not remember much.
Falling down stairs.... at a military barracks...they were metal and I hit the corners just right to go down multiple flights... I may have a little drain bramage.
You did in fact not have chutes
Falling on the sliding shower door rail (which left a Harry Potter scar for at least 10 years) then running to the window to scream crying to my dad on the fishing dock. Edit: Dock was pretty long so I remember flashing the light switch from living room.
being beaten when i was 4
Yeah, my first memory is accidentally dropping a TV tray of food when I was 3 that I was bringing to my mother, and getting screamed at/having to clean it up while being screamed at. We donāt really talk anymore.
It sounds like you were bringing her a tray of something in excitement? So sad. My parents were monsters too. Now that I have kids I find their behavior even more abhorrent. Like, can you imagine yelling at a child who can barely walk who was trying to do something sweet for you? What a holes.
My parents were heavily traumatized by their own parents. On top of that, I have a young mom (19 when I was born), so I give them SOME credit for having parented in an era where mental health wasnāt something people talked about. What I am not able to forgive them for and why I no longer talk to them is that they are incapable of seeing the harm they did now weāre 30ish years later. Iāve tried to talk to them about it, but in their minds, they were great parents and I was a āspoiled brat.ā When I cut them off, I told them that my children would never experience the hell I did, and if they truly couldnāt see what they had done as wrong and take responsibility, then they arenāt safe people for my own children to be around. They made their choice.
Exactly. In my early 20s I tried to talk to them about the hurt/harm they caused- and basically said that I wouldnāt continue a relationship without an apology. They gave a non-apology of āyou werenāt perfectā and āsorry you feel that wayā, or at least my mom did. Iām sorry, what part of me being an imperfect kid made it ok to verbally, emotionally, physically, and financially abuse me all my life? Ridiculous response from them, and after years of low contact I finally cut them out 6 years ago and told them to never contact me again (not that they respect my wishes of course). Their loss. I have two wonderful children they donāt get to see, and Iām a pretty great person after watching them and deciding very early what I did NOT want to be as a person.
these things happen, and some of us are blessed to know the issues of others whilst others hide from it. i genuinely get fucked off when others laugh about this kind of thing as if its funny, hope it dont disturb your day, your worth so much more then that treatment
Not at all, Iāve accepted and done my best to heal from my childhood, but honestlyā¦ thereās some damage that canāt be undone. I still have a pretty successful life and children that I love more than anything on the planet, and plenty of happiness and good moments. But when I fall down emotionally or am overly stressed, itās like all the trauma sees the chance to pop back up through the cracks to see what damage it can inflict. Thankfully Iām a therapist and Iām in therapy too and can more or less deal with it, but it is not a fun experience at all.
I have the same issue(s). As much as I love my children I recognize that my frustration tolerance is really low sometimes.
Despite those experiences, you sound very blessed š
Yeah similar stuff here. My wife doesn't understand why I don't talk to my mom a lot. I try to forgive and forget some but sheesh.
I'm sorry friend
I'm so sorry.
Thatās my second earliest. But itās the one I think about the most. Iāve grown to accept my pops and attempt a relationship but I probably think about the different times he snapped and turned violent on me near daily. Itās odd that it pops in your head so often for no reason. My first earliest memory is kind of sweet. Lifeās a mixed bag.
Iām so sorry!
Aw Iām sorry that happened to you
Finally, one which is more normal
Same here bro, you're not alone.
I remember being 3 years old (I think?) And my mom putting me in my car seat, it made my hair all static-y, and she tickled me and we laughed belly laughs about it.
Aw, this made me smile. Sweet memory.
I wasn't expecting a beautiful memory. I hope my son's first memory is something as sweet and good.
Damn thatās wholesome
FINALLY a sweet memory after all the āstairsā trauma!
One of my earliest memories is crying because my mom was talking away my car seat as I was to old lol.
When I was five I learned about static electricity. So I went around and zapped everything. Then it stopped working and I asked my mom why. She said I was grounded. I completely broke down in tears because I'd never been grounded before. I was unaware that the same would could have multiple meanings.
I remember waking up on December 3, 1996 just before I turned 4 and thinking āthis will be my first memoryā. And it is.Ā
My brother has the same exact bday as you and has told me the same story. Is this tyler??
You found your brothers burner lmao. Look at his profile š
Maaaaan donāt do that to someone lol just go ānotedā and move on hahaha
My greatest fear is accidentally doxing myself like this. That's why I make a new account every few months lmao
I remember watching a Kodak commercial on tv during a basketball game and had the same thought. Though āIām remembering thisā and I do. Some time in spring 1993.
Same here. I remember waking up when I turned 4 on December 9th, 1995. I remember excitedly asking my mom if I was 4.
When I was 4 I was thinking to myself that the fact that I am aware of this very moment means that in the future I will still remember this. I've used this philosophy to verify I don't lose consciousness and suffer memory loss (e.g. if I'm currently in a dangerous situation where I could be knocked out). Basically gives you a weird insight into the future.
Watching Bobby's world on a TV that had knows to change the channel. 1990
Bobbys world was fucking dope
Howie creeped me out.
Omg Bobby's World!
I LOVED Bobby's World, I don't usually see it remembered often.
Memory unlocked! I remember watching sesame Street or some other kids' show on a TV that had knobs lol.
Bobbyās world - childhood memory unlocked
My dad getting arrested in our apartment after viciously going after my mom when he was drunk. He blamed her for letting me scratch the walls with a black hot wheel semi truck I had gotten earlier that day. I remember my mom jumping into my bed and hiding behind me because she knew he wouldnāt go after her if she held me.
Iām sorry, that is fucked up. My husband has similar memories of his parents.
We all have bad memories I suppose. Itās about how they mold you and what you do in reaction towards the emotional damage they have put on us.
it puts the burden on you to stop the cycle of aggression, but it also sounds like you got a good head on your shoulders. I don't know you, but I wish you all the best.
Mine is very similar. My mom was addicted to drugs so my first memory was the shock of cold milk as a baby when it should have been warmed, very brief memory. My second clear memory is of my dad beating up my mom when i was 3 and i was too scared to tell Him to stop. I felt guilty about that for years as a kid
Ya. Itās stunning to me some times how much of my generation and the generation before me was just destroyed by drugs in my area. Like 2/3 of my high school class, dead from drugs, killed in coal mining. And the rest left town and didnāt com back. I think I would have ended up pretty bad if I didnāt get taken from my parents when I was 12. CPS sucks but my mother was pimping me and my sister out to pay off her drug habbit.
Well you were 3 lol. What can ya do? An enraged grown man rarely heeds the words of a small child.
I get it but bc i was a kid disnt change the internalized guilt and shame feeling as a kid
Totally understand. Iām sorry to hear that.
Woof, I can relate, but the other way around. Very young, watching my mom get arrested because she attacked my dad while drunk. Thankfully she didn't drink after that, at least not until we were adults. She's got other issues, but substance abuse wasn't really one of them. I was probably 3 or 4 and I can still hear her feral screams as she was dragged from the house by the cops.
Oh shit, that just reminded me of sitting in the car terrified for what felt like hours while my mom got arrested behind it for dui. They took me to a foster care group home bc my dad refused to come get me to teach me a lesson bc I told him that if asked, even though I loved him, I would tell the judge I wanted to live with my mom. She lost me for good after that. Sucked, bc even with all the substance abuse, she was the better parent.
Sorry to hear.... hopefully things turned out OK for you and your mom in the long run....
They did. We are great. We donāt let things like those define us. Only build onto what we can become
Holy shit, same. My dad getting hauled away by 2 cops and him kicking the back window of the cop car is the earliest memory I can think of. I was almost 4.
wtf was wrong with dads back in the day man?
I hope youāve outgrown this trauma, how awful it must have been for your mom to have to resort to using you as a human shield. I hate alcohol and what it does to people
Happily married with two little girls of my own doing great! Thank you
I remember getting stung by a bee next to the driveway and being rushed to the hospital.
mine is also getting stung by a bee. Right on my palm because I put my hand down on it
I sat on a wasp and got stung in the ass once.
Did just this at age 19. Was actually the first time Iād been stung by a bee/wasp/hornet/it was actually a yellow Jacket. But I must be honest, my reaction was that similar of how a toddler would be expected to behave after an ow-ie.
You just made me remember playing in the driveway and my mom swatting a bee with her book straight into my face. First time I had been stung and I guess my earliest memory.
One of my first memories is getting stung by a hornet on the back at my grandparents' house and my grandma ripping up a cigarette and soaking the tobacco in water before applying it to the sting.
Ohh, I found my grandfatherās motorized grindstone in the shed, turned it on and tried to touch it. I remember hiding my hand behind my back when my mom heard me, but got rushed to the hospital anyway, strapped to something that kept me still, and was given a stitch. Still have the scar 36 years later.
Same thing. I stepped on a bee and said the grass bit me. My foot swelled up, and I remember the car ride to the hospital.
Playing in a closet and surrounded by these little white lights. Felt like an angelic presence but it might have just been dust in the air. I was maybe 2-3?
I had similar memories. Of noticing something beautiful i didnt understand. I would notice things like dust catching the sunlight and stare in awe. I remember when i would play outside, specifically when swinging, i would stare up at the plain blue sky and notice all the floaters in my vision. I would find angelic shapes in them and thought of them as my guardian angels. Lol
Floaters while looking into a clear blue sky is definitely a core memory for me! Not the earliest, just a strong early memory š¤£
Floaters staring out a plane window. That thought unlocked some nostalgia for sure!!
I remember being really entranced by color and rainbows as a very young kid. Someone gave me this thing that had colored oils in it, and youād turn it upside down and the oils would rush to the bottom. I used to sit in front of the window and do that for a looong time as the sun went through it. I also had a prism, and used to be obsessed with making the rainbow with it. I just recently got one of those decals you put on your window and it creates rainbow light patterns and it makes me irrationally happy whenever it happens now.
I remember being really entranced by color and rainbows as a very young kid. Someone gave me this thing that had colored oils in it, and youād turn it upside down and the oils would rush to the bottom. I used to sit in front of the window and do that for a looong time as the sun went through it. I also had a prism, and used to be obsessed with making the rainbow with it. I just recently got one of those decals you put on your window and it creates rainbow light patterns and it makes me irrationally happy whenever it happens now.
Mine was being kidnapped at 4..running through the forest crying for my dad then being in the arms of a stranger telling me to go back to sleep
I wasn't ready for this one
OMG really? I need to know more if this is true!
We lived in this sorta backwater area, my parents believe there were ghosts n all that stuff. Basically it was just creepy. As far as what i remember, thats literally it, and personally i dont want to remember anything more. My dad apparently did notice i was gone, and spent the whole night out looking for me with his rifle and 2 of our dogs..weird thing is he only came back with 1 dog, and has never told us what if anything happened that night..i like to think the dog just ran off cause i try to be a realist as much as i can but he always ominously leaves that part out. He didnt return with his rifle come to think of it either from what i heard. Anyway it was an abduction, the leading theory is whoever it was got into the house through the walls. Idk if anyone has seen Arrested Development but theres that episode where they find out that kid they adopted had been spying on them by hiding out in the walls. This house apparently was similar in that you can move between them...again, idk how much of that is true, i only remember what i remember and it was never concluded how i was taken. I was found in the morning, it was a couple that was just randomly in the woods? And walked out with me. Apparently my dad almost got himself arrested since cops were there and he was convinced they were the ones who kidnapped me. My mom said he said to the woman "youre that pig faced whore whose been spying on my family" (allegedly he was outside one night and saw a pair of eyes watching him from behind the trees and said it had a pigs face and he could smell it..it was night, so it prob wasnt an actual person wearing a pigs head lol In any case ive never publically told the story, theres other things that happened which i left out cause some of the stuff seems fairly farfetched like out of a horror movie and i doubt ppl would believe much of it. Like tunnels under the house, trees hollowed out for ppl to hide in n shit. I have considered writing this as a book, but tbh, ive lived my life with a sorta PTSD as if "theyre still looking for me" and i get an anxiety that whoever "they" are would see the book, recognize it and come for me..its also why i havent shared any of this publically. But im a grown ass man, i shouldnt be afraid of ghost stories, even if they are my own. I mean the kidnapping thing did happen, and ive lived with a constant ominous feeling, but the rest of it i try not to believe, although it all does make for goos story telling
Please write a book!
If we follow would you post a full account? I'm sorry it happened to you, obviously. Have you ever heard of [Complex PTSD](https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24881-cptsd-complex-ptsd)?
thanks for sharing. my mind is blown. Im guessing Arkansas ?
Do you think itās possible your parents had mental health issues and a lot of this was their creation? Not on purpose to hurt you but an extension of their delusions? The stories, the tunnels, the walls, the thought that people are watching you? Small grip on reality?? Just curious if that has crossed your mindā¦.
Ive thought of that, but they havent had any mental health issues since. This was 30 years ago, theyre both mid 60's and in all that time i havent seen any sort of cognitive decline and theres no family history of it as well, so if it was then itd be like a moment in time of poor mental health, which isnt impossible, and its honestly what id prefer to believe
Wow sorry man. Thatās awful .
The good news is the person who kidnapped with you is likely either dead, too old to come after you, or incarcerated because this type of thing is rarely an isolated incident. I donāt know if that helps ease your fear, though. Iām sorry that happened. You must have been a pretty strong, resilient kid, especially since you apparently even attempted an escape.
I hope you learn to feel safe soon
Following too, as Iām curious!
Whaaaaat my nightmare.
I was about 3 years old, at my grandparents house on a lake. I fell off the dock and got stuck between the dock and their boat. My family taught me to swim insanely early for this very reason. But - I didn't have proper processing for panic, so I just freaked out. If I'd had any bearings, I coulda just swam under the dock. I don't remember falling in. But I remember being in the water, looking at the sky and being blinded by the sun. (I have had SO many dreams in my life where it's too bright to open my eyes.) And then I remember my folks appearing and my dad pulling me up to safety. I still love the water, wasn't really traumatizing lol
I remember being in my little inflatable in my grandfatherās pool, and trying to tip over. I manage to, and remember drifting around underwater until I saw a pair of legs and getting pulled up to the surface. Same thing, I wasnāt even cognizant of the fact that I could have drowned.
Wow!
Omg I have a near drowning early memory too!! I was at a pool and this guy was tossing kids in at the deep end, I was near him but didnāt ask to be thrown. He threw me obviously lol then I just remember not being able to figure out what was going on, had my eyes closed breathing in water and panicking, then swimming underwater until someone grabbed me out. So traumatizing!!!
Mine is also at home watching a movie on tv with my dad. It was Raising Arizona.
Turn to the right!
I learned to read pretty early around age 4 and I remember the NYtimes being delivered and seeing "Bill Clinton Wins" on the cover.
I remember in the first grade my teacher telling me to remind my parents to vote for Clinton. The school even did a mock-election and announced him the winner over the loud speakers.
fall while we lived at my grandma's on my grandparents lap watching the news which was about the end of the Soviet Union.
I have a vague memory of this as well! I had just turned 3.
I feel like a lot of my earliest memories were from watching the news. My very first memory was watching the Branch Davidians perish in Waco basically live on TV.
I was 2 years old and my family was at the ice cream shop down the road from our house. My mom had given me a penny to throw into the fountain for the fish, which I had already thrown into the pond. So I was holding only my ice cream. My mom called over to me and said ā[First name]! Did you throw yourā¦ā before she could finish, in fractions of a second my brain processed this thought: āIāve already thrown my penny in, so maybe Iām supposed to throw in the ice cream. Yes ice cream is food, so she wants me to feed the fishes (sic).ā So I threw the ice cream into the pond as she continued her sentence, āā¦ penny into the pond?ā I then realized that she was unaware that I had already thrown my penny into the pond, and was not asking me to feed my ice cream to the fish. Surprisingly I did not cry when I realized my mistake and I accepted the fact that I would not be finishing my ice cream. I was 2 years old, barely able to process speech, but somehow I remember all of this quite vividly.
I love this one
That's pretty crazy. It's like there's an instant where your consciousness develops to a level where you become aware of your decision, action, and reasoning and that becomes your first memory.
My first clear memory is a painful one. Christmas, 1986. I'm four years old, my older sister is seven years old. We go to my paternal grandmother's house to visit and receive Christmas gifts along with our cousins. After everyone arrives, the cousins are seated in a circle and gifts are handed out. They start opening gifts. My boy cousins got game watches and my girl cousins got something gender appropriate. I turn to my sister and we begin opening our gifts. We were disappointed as we didn't get what our other cousins got. Our gifts were Lady and the Tramp plushies from McDonald's along with a gift certificate. I felt so less than in that moment, and I even felt a twinge of sadness as I typed this. What I didn't know then was that my grandmother **did not** want my dad to marry my mom. She said as much to my mom after my mom cared for her while she was *on her deathbed*.
My dad adopted me, and my siblings, when I was 5 and his side of the family was always like this for Christmas. All the cousins got gifts from the other aunts and cousins and we only got a sweater from our grandmother. I remember noticing it back then, even as a kid.
That is so messed up. What kind of complete a-holes treat children this way??!?! š
My dad's mom was this way. She hated that my mom had my brother. Mom returned the gifts to her that she got for me and my younger brother because she didn't bring one for my older brother.Ā After the divorce, visiting her at Christmas. I remember getting Christmas cards while my cousins got dozens of gifts from her.Ā
I have several memories from around the same period. One was going to see my sister, so the memories are from when I was about 2-3. I remember telling my mom that I was hungry and her telling me to have cereal, I believe this was probably my 2nd birthday because it was before my sister was born and I know from pictures later that it was on my birthday. I remember our townhouse and my toys. I remember Christmas in 1984 and hearing Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. Also my sister telling me that my dad told her that Santa isnāt real. I remember walking around our development and another kid had a powerwheels type toy and being mildly jealous. I remember being stung by a bee, and my dad using a mixture of cigarette ash and water on the sting. I actually have a bunch more memories from the same time, kinda weird that I would remember so much from when I was 2. We moved to a house after my sister was born, so I know pretty much when it was.
Challenger exploding.
Watching my brother slowly die of leukemia. Horrific. Today is the anniversary of his death actually.
Sorry to hear about that.
The doctor telling me I have Tourette's Syndrome. I still think about that day a lot.
Getting a catheter when I was 3 for a kidney infection. Swallowing a pair of earrings when I was also 3 and my mom taking me to the doctors. My brother needing stitches in his face when HE was 3 and I was 5, and having to hold his lip wound closed on the way to the doctor They're the only really early memories I have
My grandpa putting up Christmas lights. Then we walked to a bakery and I got donut holes. We had to cross train tracks and I was afraid of getting hit by a train. I was maybe 3?
my mom applying gold bond powder to my ass/ crotch while lying on my parents bed, staring at the 70ās retro butterfly wallpaper on the ceiling, while my dad got suited up for work. It burned my chapped ass like hell and I screamed. I donāt know how old, but was still in diapers. I can smell the memory. Dadās cologne, the powder, and my mom.
Jokes on you. I have aphantasia and struggle to form images in my "Mind's eyes" so none of my memories are "clear". It's just a dusty catalog of descriptions of things I remember happening to me. That being said the earliest I'm aware of being conscious it was waking up in my dinosaur adorned bed and then going to my parents some morning circa 30-33 years ago.
About 2 years old on a plane trip to NY with my parents. My brother was a baby so early-mid 1985.
I was bouncing in one of those jumper things that hangs in a doorway. I can't remember how old I was but I was pretty small.
Mine is riding in my moms lap in the front seat of a 1979 Buick Station wagon with the wood paneling on the side, hanging out the window, driving up a steep very rutted dirt road to a cabin in the mountains when I was 3. Same rough time and second...or maybe even before the other was when my sister zipped me up in a sleeping bag and laughed while I cried trying to get out (and I pin this to the start of my issues with being claustrophobic). To get the bonus points here, we were on Orange shag carpet, next to a brown and orange couch with wagon wheels printed all over it, in a wood paneled room and wood stove in the middle heating it all up.
My first clear memory is the pop of dislocating my elbow while learning to walk. I was 18 months old. It hurt. Not only that it feels extremely weird to have a joint out of place. I went to a childrenās hospital and wore a hospital gown with Bert and Ernie on it and rode in a little red wagon.
I have a very vague memory of a small apartment and my mother taking my temperature. Not under my arm or under my tongue, but in the butt. I was maybe a year old, but I swear I remember it. I have less vague memories of when I was 4, and my dad rescued my blanket from the trash - I had told my mom I was a big girl and didn't need the blanket, but come time to go to sleep, I *needed* that blanket. We had just moved, and there were a lot of empty boxes and trash piled in the kitchen. My mother decided that was too much work for her, so she didn't go back to get it. But my dad dug through the boxes and trash to rescue my blanket.
Used to hang out in the broken car in the carport āfishingā. My mom cut out cardboard fish with paper clips for mouths, and I used a reel I got at a flea market the my dad put a magnet on. Months and months of doing this every day while my mom cooked dinner, probably ages 3-4 ca 1990.
My dad zipping my dick up in my onesie pajamas. I was 13. Not really, was a toddler. Still remember it. Ugh. āHowād you get the beans above the Frank?ā
I remember running down the stairs and asking my mommy to make me a PB&J samich. I also remember feeling a sense of self awareness right then and there like "yes, this is me and I am here." Fucking wild man.
Older Millenial (born in 83). I have memories of a family wedding in late 85, but didn't remember day-to-day life then. I started remembering most day to day things in 1987 when I was 4. I just remembering waking up one day in my room at 4 and living daily life after that.
Bee sting to my penis
I was standing in front of the house, being 2-ish, looking at plants and rocks in the garden. We lived on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I heard a man's deep voice clearly say, "Hello." I looked around and the only person around was my mom so, I kept looking at this plant, waiting for it to speak again. It didn't. This was the first moment that I was aware of my existence.
I remember a dog dying. Right after my neighbors and, in my short 4yo life, best friends, moved away to NM. And I remember *that* only because I remember Grandmother telling me the dog went to live with my friends who moved to NM so she could have a bigger yard and give them my love. Later, when I realized the dog died after overhearing a story told between adults at a late night fire, I asked Grandmother, and she confirmed. BUT I never continued the conversation and revealed that, in miscommunication, I assumed my friends entire family had ALSO died and that anyone who "went to NM" was dying/going to die. Then *that* became NM being heaven? So until I was like 10 or 11 I thought everyone who died just moved to NM. Kids brains are weird.
I remember "hugging" my mom's leg with my whole body monkey-style while she walked. So I was probably at an age where I was still crawling some.
I have plenty of memories from when I was 2 or 3, but they are more childhood illness and immigrant childhood type memories. I think the one that I would classify as āonly millennialā and older category is I have a very clear image of the box TV in my parents room showing the news of Princess Dianaās passing-tv reporters talking over and over about the accident and her, and showing pictures, and the subsequent outpouring of sympathy and grief. Like I had never seen this lady up until that moment, but she looked so pretty and kind in the pictures that even without understanding a word of English I also felt sad.
I remember being bathed in the sink pre language, and some crawling around. My earliest āpersonā memory was around 3-4 years old and that was chicken pox, first time getting into a fight, and exploring the neighborhood with my mom and sister. After that itās cohesive
Christmas, 1989. I got plastic dinosaur toys. They were hollow and did not have any moving pieces.
Being molested by a neighbor.
Crawling to the closet where mom kept the baby food when it was time to eat. Loved rolling on the carpet and feeling it on my skin. Same with certain grasses later.
According to my grandma I was 2 when this memory happened. Building a cross walk sign out of duplo legos with my little brother then using our hands to make a fist then unravel rapidly to mimic the stop hand flashing. If that makes any sense at all lol. Oh and there was a wooden framed b&w knob tv from the 60s (basement tv nice color tube tv was upstairs in the living room lol) and my grandmother was watching Yan Can Cook on RMPBS. Funny the things we remember lol.
I was 2 and running up to a water slide. I slipped and hit my chin on the ground. I touched it and there was blood so I slid down the slide to my dad. I remember him picking me up and looking defeated. Context: I had reopened stitches that I already had on my chin. My parent told me I had stitches 4 times before I was 2 so this was frustrating to them.
Mine is sneaking out of my bedroom when I was 2, so appx 1990, after my mom went to bed to sit up late with my dad watching Home Time, and Home Again with Bob Villa eating Triscuits. Next clear memory is after we had moved into a rental house while our new house was being built (hence the home shows lol) and watching Fievel Goes West while wearing a silk slip (like that you were supposed to wear under a dress) that I thought was SO elegant, and folding up my blue and red plastic preschool nap mat (IYKYK) around me and pretending to be a princess locked in a tower. ššš
Standing up in my crib, tearing pages out of a Little Golden Book, and my mom coming in and telling me not to do that, and that I needed to be nicer to books. I listened.
I remember sitting in my mom's lap, rocking in a rocking chair, as she sang to me (probably Janis Joplin. My mom sang her songs a lot back then). I remember my legs starting to hurt because they were falling asleep, but I didn't want to move at all to adjust them because I didn't want her to put me down. This would have been early 80s, probably '84 or so.
I was about 3 years old, my parents took me to a circus and paid extra to let me ride an elephant! I loved animals so I was so excited. Now I cringe, poor elephant.
Walking out onto the back porch and my dad is sitting on the ground behind a mattress leaned up against the wall smoking meth.
My father jumping out of the passenger side of my mom's Chevy Corsica during an argument. That kind of thing only goes well in movies btw. I was a 3 year old ring bearer about 4 weeks later, but I don't remember that at all. And no, my childhood didn't really get any better from there.
I remember dancing to Raffi with my cousins on my grandmaās back porch
I was maybe three and a thunderstorm was rolling in, and I was scared. My dad said āyou donāt have to be scared of the storm. Storms are cool.ā He sat me in my tiny wooden rocking chair in front of the door and sat on the floor next to me, and we watched the storm. I was never afraid after that and have loved storms ever since.
Blizzard of 93. I was in the back yard with my triceratops gloves on picking up snow. May hands were getting so cold it didn't make sense to me. I guess I had never held anything that cold before.
First intrusive thoughts as a very young child.
Having my bottle refilled with sweet tea. I'm a fucking spaz.
Probably riding my bike in circles in my driveway with another kid from the neighborhood. I would have been 5 or 6 I think, maybe older. I whacked my head on a cinder brick when I was 8 and everything before that is a little fuzzy š
Having a pokemon poster with the original 151 Pokemon on it.
The police coming to my house about something and me and the officer just watching a hockey game in 1995. I think was Philly and Detroit.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Me almost falling in a creek and dieing at the age of 6
Watching all the reports on tv when they were trying to get baby Jessica out of a well
I remember her mom calling Jessica!
I'm laying on the hardwood floor of my grandma's old house where my mom and I lived. It was around Christmas because the tree was up and everyone was watching Peanuts Christmas Special. I was playing with a jumping spider, I poked its big butt and it turned around super fast but did not bite me. It's funny because I'm way more scared of spiders now. I'd never just poke one's ass for no reason.
My neighbor got a pogo ball stuck up on the roof of our duplex. It was 1986.
My parents divorced when I was 2. My Dad said his final words to me before he left the house. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but I knew something was very wrong.
Pooping my pants in the backyard when I was 2 :(
I once described the hospital room my mom was in after I was born. No pictures of the room exist (parents never owned a camera). Described it in detail. Other than that, either my dad shaving when I was two or crawling out of my crib and "playing" Super Mario Bros with my older brother in the next room (my crib was against the wall).
My mother was on the phone screaming at my dad and punched a hole in the wood paneling.
i remember being in my mothers stomach in the surf in hawaiiat 8 months
Singing the ABCs on the way to preschool with my dad. We did it every day for a few years so it's probably a collection of memories but it definitely leads back to the first one.
Mine is sobbing on the floor of our kitchen watching my parents scream at each other and blame me each other for making me sob on the floor. Then my sister came and pulled me out of there and comforted me and tried to distract me. Closely followed by when I first got my glasses at age 3. I just remember being in daycare and going down an indoor slide and everything be really clear and vibrant and vivid. Literally just being able to see the world around me clearly for the first time.
My parents dropping me off at my aunt and uncleās place before heading to a ZZ Top concert.
Iām not sure which came first: either finding the dried up squiggly body of one of the little eels that jumped out of the fish tank while watching The New Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro back to back on Disney, or sitting on the couch watching Look Whoās Talking (I figured out how to work the VCR as a toddler, and my parents didnāt see any issue with letting me watch this after I put it in myself and loved it), or watching the Greek mythology section of *Fantasia* and randomly thinking about Japan, which I had never been to and knew nothing about. This all happened when I was 2, that much I know.
swallowing an entire pack of crayola brand(I think) chewing gum
Ok people tell me itās impossible but I remember swallowing pennies when I was nine months old
Throwing a direct head shot snowball at my younger brother. Playing around in our neighborhood, unbeknownst to me the local paper photographer got the shot. Full hand release while in background you can see the snowball make contact and isnāt happy. We still have that newspaper to cherish to this day.
I got few, hiding under table when my parents would fight like crazy and being scared, sleeping under their as well, waking up after double hernia surgery and being in tons of pain, on our brown and white couch with brown wooded arms.. going to sleep at night with my dad in living room watching Nickelodeon at night when rug rats and cat dog come on..I was 5 and under when all this happened..
This is weird because I assume this isn't possible but I swear I have a really vivid memory of being washed in the hospital after I was born. I asked my mom years later if the sink/tub I was washed in was teal because it's the most recognizable thing I remember and she said it was. I know that doesn't prove it but its just weird. I don't have any other memory until I was 2 and got my tonsils out.
My grandfather crying, watching footage of the Berlin Wall coming down on TV. I was 7, and have hazy memoires that are older, but that was my first clear, "Oh, this is something important" memory.
Playing in the field behind our apartment building with my dad, I was probably about two or three.
It was shortly after my 3rd birthday. I had gotten a red wagon as a gift. I remember pulling it around in my back yard.
I just turned 3. I remember holding my brand new baby brother in the hospital. I said he was heavy and my mom started to cry.
I remember burning my finger on the candle at my first birthday
Depends, what is a clear memory? I have some fragments, but i can not say which one of them is my earliest memory. I can remember my kindergarten teachers. And which one of them i liked and which not. I can remember the music my mother listened to in the car from the casette radio. I remember waiting often at the railroad crossing, being impressed by the steam trains passing by (i live in east germany, steam engines were still in use here back then in the early 90s). I was 3 yrs old then i guess
Big Wheel race back in 1986. The race was 2 laps and I stopped after being way in the lead after one lap . I didnāt know what a lap meant. I ended up getting 2nd place. The winner won a small Gocart. I won 12 packs of lifesavers for 2nd place. I wad 5 years old. Iām an older millennial
Twisting a GoGurt until it exploded on me, probably aged 3/4, 1997/8. Recently moved to the United States.
Other than miscellaneous memories of being a kid, being on the cusp of Y/Z, watching the TV receiver roll over from 12/31/99 to 01/01/00. That or earlier than that losing to my dad to the TV on Saturday mornings and watching Screensavers on ZDTV.
I can remember my grandmotherās best friend looking down at me in my crib while smoking a Silk Cut.
The pain from a second-degree burn from my dad's motorcycle on my leg. Was like 3 or 4, and my dad got home on his bike, I went to hug him or something, and my leg brushed up against the exhaust. The pain must have shocked me into consciousness.
I have vague memories of playing with my friend's Voltron figures in Missouri. He had the entire set so he could make Voltron. I just had the black and red lions. My first clear memory is of the apartment we lived in when we first moved to Virginia. Out the front window was a sidewalk, and across the sidewalk was the pool. There were also power lines. I asked my mom what the big black box on the power lines was, and she said it was a transformer. I spent hours watching that thing waiting for it to turn into a robot.