Is my 3 yo remembering past life or just imaginative?

I have a 3 yo. She talks quite often about "when I was a boy" and tells me all about her big brother (she is an only child). I think she may be preceptive but I also KNOW she has a very lively imagination.

Any suggestions for telling imaginations from memories from current perceptions?

Hmm...interesting. What is an example of one of the things that she says? How does she describe her "big brother"?

[edit on 6/27/05 by ShreddedIce]

Only time can tell the story there ....

As she matures you will be able to discern.

If she is commenting on a past life then she will probably attempt to distance herself from it when confronted in adolesence.

example- Claim to have made it up, or was just pulling your leg....

I've seen this behavior before in children her age, for some reason I can't recall whose child it was, but that kid would always talk about all the things he/she did "when I was grown up".

Could be a past life, could be imagination, could be loneliness, could be *cough* penis envy.

Keep a journal of what she tells you. Maybe it will add up to something eventually.

Does she use odd words that where used in the past.

EXP:
Hose = Pantyhose
a Purse = a change purse or something.

Has she stated that she has been in a place that you know she has never been.

Reason I state these things is cause my Sisters kid, also female has said these things...

She swears she has been in this theater but now it only shows pron for the last 10 or so yrs and is in a black neiborhood.

Anyway see if she states anything like that and try and compare what she is saying to what you think...

It may be past life or it may be just messing around..

hmmm.....this is interesting, because I've noticed my 4 year old daughter is very adamant about her gender, she doesn't like to wear pants because thats for boys, .....short hair is for boys.....etc

we haven't raised her in a gender specific way, I play football with her, my wife and I share household chores....but she has very strong natural gender ideas, so I wonder if your girl is getting her ideas from a playmate ?
I've also noticed kids that age are expert at mimicking everything around them......

Might just be imagination. There are a VERY few cases that suggest previous lives.

I'd suggest writing down as accurately as you can what she says. She might be relating to a cartoon character. I know that when my (lovely, normal, adult now) daughter was 4, she had a "sister" named Teresa... the "sister" was a plastic horse.

We're not sure what this was all about. It was charmingly odd, and she outgrew it in a bit. It wasn't related to a past life ... or to anything at all that we could tell.

- write it all down.
- let her talk but don't make a big deal about it. If it's just imagination
this will fuel the imagination.
- Check out what cartoons she's watching .... check for simularities in
the characters. She may believe that she's one of the characters.
Very young kids sometimes confuse the characters and themselves.
(natural psychology thing). Example - when my daughter was three
she thought she was Clifford the Big Red Dog because every so often
she'd say 'I wonder why Emily Elizabeth hasn't been here to play' and
a few other things like that. Her world morphed with Cliffords.
- Check out her friends and see if any of them have similarities to her
stories.
- check for key words like was said before - words she wouldn't have
heard but that she uses.
- Body language. How does she behave? Example - I noticed in my
daughter when she was 1 1/2 that she'd pick up a book and let the
pages slide through her fingers and thumb, much as an adult would
do when skimming the books pages. She'd hold the book in one
hand and the pages would slip past her thumb (in a very controlled
way) and she'd skim the pages. VERY adult. No 1 1/2 year old
takes control of a book like that.
- If names of places are said, write them down and check them out.
When my daugter was 3 I asked her what town she lived in and
she told me (very firmly) that she lived in such and such a town in
Illinois and that she had also lived in Missouri before that. She
pointed to the area on a map and ... I found a town with a similar
name to what she was saying. hmmmmm

Just some thoughts. You'll never know for sure of course ...
but it is interesting, isn't it?

www.childpastlives.org...

Please do not let her get any older until you gently question her about her brother.
Tell her 'can you tell me more about your brother?' but just as in a passing comment..She will respond in her time..She IS remembering her last life.
I had a niece who was remembering a past life when she lived in a swamp with boats, but het mom was /is a fundie and shushed her up and would not let me speak with her..
I do PLR hypnosis..wish I could more open-minded parents who would let me record the child..just do it as if you are NOT shocked..


Please u2u me is you wish..

I am a believer of past life due to life experiences, I know that many disagree with that and I am fine with it.

Now for the young boy, is normal for young children to remember their past experiences, many of adult people don't remember this things, and when children starts to talk about amazing stories of what they did in other lives, we tend to disregard them as to much TV, or just make believes stories.

like many already said you should write this stories and never force the child to explain, after all he is only 3 years old and he is just starting to get used to his new life.

Usualy this will stop by the time he be 4 or 5, but in some instances more than people think he will keep some memories, until older but eventualy he will forget them and only will become dreams.

If you can perhaps you can ask for the name of the person he used to be, and then run a check if you can come out with something.

I remember my daughter used to tell me that the name I called her was not her real name, so sometimes they are able to remember names.

This will be a nice dectective work for you, but remember when he starts to forget all that let it be.

Kids are born way smart in the last days and genetic memory will be seen ALOT.
God gives one life one chance and these are the days when kid genious will be born again.
Just remebering a long lost relatives experience.

I was born with the ability to fly Bell 47 helicopters- Sioux Scouts. I drew them with my first crayons, used sodapop for fuel and my cheeks for saddletanks. I learned to walk by 'flying missions' around the floor with 'available fuel' in my cheeks. My mom saved my drawings. Eerie, no?.

I remember hitting a piece of zinc-chromate primed riveted aluminum and Plexiglas with my face, not in a Bell but in a Piaseki. I couldn't breath or move, then I 'went to sleep'. And woke up a very happy little baby boy helicopter pilot.

It was Korea. I do stay out of Piasekis to this day.

No genetic memory there- my Dad was a groundhog. Not a pilot.

Take it serious and look to hidden talents/latent abilities that will help in this subsequent lifetime.

I honestly hate to read stuff like this. Reincarnation seems to be the best evidence for some type of survival after death yet its also the most confusing and seemingly pointless of all types of survival. When some people remember past lives and not others it simply muddies the water on the truth of the matter. It makes me wonder why I don't remember past lives. Unless the conclusion is that this is my first time out. Anyway, the incredibly sketchy nature of what some people allegedly remember coupled with there being only theories as to why reincarnation takes place seems like all the makings of a literal Hell scenario. Repetition of such lengthy and perhaps endless life cycles without knowing any reasons for it happening sounds like an eternal version of water torture or some other slow and insidious means of making someone go mad. If there was an understood point or if everybody remembered past lives maybe this wouldn't be my opinion, but as it is, it sounds like I am in the midst of a situation where total non-existence might be more welcome and "humane". At least if reincarnation is real.

Originally posted by Frith
Repetition of such lengthy and perhaps endless life cycles without knowing any reasons for it happening sounds like an eternal version of water torture or some other slow and insidious means of making someone go mad. If there was an understood point or if everybody remembered past lives maybe this wouldn't be my opinion, but as it is, it sounds like I am in the midst of a situation where total non-existence might be more welcome and "humane". At least if reincarnation is real.

Frith, you have just made one of the most profound and personal expressions of Buddhism that it has ever been my pleasure to read.

For what its worth, I can verify what others have written. And I can repeat their words from personal experience:

When one once understands the nature of existances, and renounces them, and at last finds release from the worlds of illusion and desire, after a period of rest that soul may stir from slumber and return to the world of birth and rebirth to aid those who suffer. And that person will be called bodhisattva, one who chooses to return to offer comfort to those who suffer.

Nothing special, just someone who loves other people and is bored enough to want some company. And compassionate enough to offer some help.

We're all in this together. If we were truly alone- now that would be Hell.

[edit on 1-7-2005 by Chakotay]

Originally posted by Chakotay
Frith, you have just made one of the most profound and personal expressions of Buddhism that it has ever been my pleasure to read.

For what its worth, I can verify what others have written. And I can repeat their words from personal experience:

When one once understands the nature of existances, and renounces them, and at last finds release from the worlds of illusion and desire, after a period of rest that soul may stir from slumber and return to the world of birth and rebirth to aid those who suffer. And that person will be called bodhisattva, one who chooses to return to offer comfort to those who suffer.

Nothing special, just someone who loves other people and is bored enough to want some company. And compassionate enough to offer some help.

We're all in this together. If we were truly alone- now that would be Hell.

I know about Buddhism. I don't ascribe to it nor do I any religion. I'm just trying to figure out the real deal of the mess I appear to have myself in. Though it does appear that reincarnation might play a role in existence despite my misgivings concerning it. If spirituality is real and I have any type of control over reincarnation, to be sure this will be my final trip. I don't see why my mind would be different when dead than alive. At least if some people can remember past lives then surely the "soul" retains the same information that our minds currently have and my thoughts now will reflect any thought I might have in a post-death situation.

I for one am not going to accept any tenets of any religion during my life unless something absolutely profound alters my perceptions. I would prefer to find out when I'm dead. If existence after death truly takes place that is. To put stock into any religion, including one seemingly as peaceful and sensible as Buddhism is against my own sense of right and wrong. Meaning, I don't want to be wrong. So in order to not live my life potentially decieving myself, I just won't accept any spiritual theory until something truly spiritual takes place in my life even if that event is my own death.

I believe in addition to the afore mentioned, watching for words or phrases or even locations that your daughter couldn't possibly have knowledge of, also watch for strange behaviors or reactions to something that couldn't stem from their own personal experiances.

For example, I have never been able to deal with anything relating to the guillitine. It always makes me freak out to watch anything about it or the French Revolution. I don't have specific memories, just extreme reactions to it in the form of terror.

As for genetic memory, I don't think it really applies in my case. My family was primarily Native American and Scottish. I don't nessecarily disbelieve in the possiblity of genetic memory, I just don't believe it is the only possilbity.