Your earliest memories come from which age? How old were you in the first moments you can remember?

reply to post by GLontra


I have a brief memory of sitting on the steps in front of the house and a neighbor's child sitting down
beside me..her diaper leaving a wet spot there. I'm not sure how old I was but if I had to stretch it..I
would say I have unclear memories at 2 and 1/2 maybe of another event. Perhaps many of us who
like me are not known for the mental keeness LOL..mix our memories with things that impressed us
at the time. If someone else was present..say a parent they would have a different perspective,
rembering or thinking things that we did not at the time. I'm glad I cannot recall that much for it might
be too much to handle.

Just one very early incident I remember, which was very traumatic and when I told my mother about it she said it was something that happened in hospital - well I left the hospital at about 4 months old, or a bit less. Also I remember being in the pram out in the street, which must have been fairly early as well. It's interesting to me that some other people here also have very early memories because there is (or was - I'm not up to date with this) a theory that no-one remembers anything earlier than about age 3. I tend to lump this idea together with other theories about babies that don't seem to work, such as the one that used to say babies don't feel pain (now acknowledged to be wrong) and one still prevalent that goes something like, they can't make decisions about themselves.

Memory is a funny thing. We are completely capable of imagining a memory and accepting it as real. When I hear someone say they remember something from under the age of 1, I have to wonder...

For me it was 2 years, 11 months, the night my parents rushed me to my grandparents' house so that Mommy could go to the hospital for my baby brother to be born. I did not understand what was happening and thought that Mommy was hurt or dying. No doubt the trauma is the reason for the memory.

Two of my grandparents died when I was 5, and I have many memories of them, and also of my little brother as a baby/toddler. It seems like once the capacity for memory was turned on, then my life began.

My first memory, the actual first one, is from when I was three years old. July of 1969. The very first clear incident I can remember in this life is watching the first moon landing live on TV, and how excited my dad was about it. His dad designed a fastener than held the mylar skin on the lunar lander, see, so it was almost personal to them. And I suppose every experience and memory I've had from then on sort of built on that initial foundation. Sure, I remember sort of general smears of color from before then, but nothing concrete. That little black and white TV with the funny little ship on it was the nucleus around which my life crystallized.

You'll never meet a bigger Trekkie.

My earliest memory I was 11 months old. Its was christmas and my brother got a ninja turtles weebles. A kids punching bad with the bottom filled with said and top air. Weebles wooble but they dont fall down

I was able to remember events around 2-3 years. Some even my parents had no clue about Myself and my uncle were out in the balcony and were watching the sunrise while he was sipping coffee. More random events like this.

Age 2.

I vividly remember the carpet and the ground.

My earliest memories are from about the age of 4 but the strongest memories I have start about 9-11 years old. My sister says she does not remember anything before she was 12 which I always found weird.

I was 2, and wandered off to play down the steps of the apartment building my folks lived in in Sacramento. I was 2 and someone poisoned our dogs, and I still remember how I felt when I found out they were "gone" (like I was falling in an airtight room with no wind, other than the motion of my own body in space). I was 3 and my dad sat me between his legs in the front seat of his little car, and let me help him "steer" as we drove in a loop around the block. We moved to southern California when I was 4, but I still remember the way the apartments were laid out, how they faced the street, how the carports were arranged.

I am 42 now, so there ya go. I definitely remember a lot of things that happened between 2 and 4 and have sense-memories to go along with the emotions and "pictures."

This is SO much better than the ego inflating, unwarranted self importance thread about IQs. That thread is so full of BS I couldn't even post. Apparently an ATS account grants an IQ of no less than 140. So much nonsense.

My first memories are from 2-3 years old. I distinctly remember that first house, my crib full of toy cars, climbing out of the crib, falling asleep whenever the shower was on, my favorite toy truck, and the sandbox in the backyard my Grandpa built for me. I was scared of planes when they flew over, but also fascinated. I would run under the eaves, and stare up absolutely enchanted. I also remember two books my parents would read to me, and that I could pretend because of memorization, I was reading along.

This is a little embarrassing but I also remember my parents coming into my room and the song they would sing with two stuffed animals. I will not be sharing. Ugh, one more thing. Brushing my teeth. My parents would supervise, and help. 'There goes an uncle Bob germ! Get him! There goes an aunt Patty germ you gotta brush!'

Oh hell, now I am remembering all sorts of things. Guess I'll stop.

reply to post by GLontra


I hope this isn't too off topic.I was astounded the first time I realized that my son could recall memories of events that happened before he was able to speak. When he was three, he would say "Daddy, remember when grandpa pushed me on the cart by the fast water?" He was refering to a trip we took to Niagara Falls when he was about 16 months old. Since then, I bring up that memory to him every once and a while. Maybe when he's my age he can come back to this post and say that his first memory was when he was 16 months old.

I can remember what my nursery looked like and the kitchen of the hose I lived in until I was 6 months. Aside from that I can remember on my 2nd birthday wondering why I couldn't remember anything prior to a few days before that. It was such a profound thought and bothered me for weeks. I remember exactly where I was standing when the thought first entered my head in relation to the table that held my birthday cake.

my mom and I played Zelda 2 on Nintendo when I was probably 2-3.
I remember holding the controller and seeing the game but I didn't understand anything beyond that.
just laying on the bed at the old house, laughing, playing video games.

what I really remember most though is hearing this song.


anytime I hear it, it instantly takes me back to that moment in time.

anything further back then that I can't really say 100%

2 years old. Remember my birthday cake but beyond that, I can't remember #. I guess it's very rare to see people people remembering beyond 2 but I see a few of you do. I often wondered if I couldn't remember anything beyond that because I got sick from menigitis and nearly died and even the Doctors said I wasn't suppose to survive but guess not, since everyone seem to have a hard time recalling their memories from under 2 years old.

I have memories from my walker (sometime under a year old).Not very many from around that time but the few I do have are very clear, Both what I was seeing and feeling. I remember getting rather upset in my walker when I kept throwing this traffic light toy off the tray. It was soooo hard to pull the suction cup off and every time I would manage some grown-up would come put it back on. They all thought I was playing fetch (like small children do) and it was cute...I was apparently scared for life.

ETA: My moms face when I told her how far back my earliest memory was priceless. I imagine she was thinking of all the old dirt on her she didn't think I knew about.

Age 2.5 I remember the people who babysat me when my younger sister was born. I have many memories from age 3.

Got hit by a car at the age of 5, can't really remember anything before then just black. Basically wiped the slate clean for me. I'll get bits and pieces every once in a while, but I sware I haven't been right since. Right after that accident I developed epilespy lucky me right.

reply to post by GLontra


Few believe me, except family, when I say I have MANY memories from 3 onward.

My earliest memory is from the age of 2. I have two in particular from that year.

I'm 24 now and was born in late April. My very first memory is from my first Christmas which would put me at about 8 months old. I remember the lights on the tree blowing my mind, my mom singing to me and a few of the presents I received.

My next memory is my 1st birthday which is still very fresh from start to finish.

The weird thing is I have a very tough time remembering anything from age 18-23. I got into psychedelics and it removed my ego which I believe led to me simply taking life day to day and filtering out all the BS.

reply to post by GLontra


Interesting OP. One’s lack of memories prior to age 2-4yrs. is due to childhood amnesia here’s a decent wiki take on the subject: en.wikipedia.org...

In essence, the brain’s underdeveloped regions have yet to establish enough contextual knowledge with which to derive a cogent schema. Encoding and retrieval typically begins after the amygdala has developed the capacity to attach emotion to experience while simultaneously the hippocampus (memory & spatial awareness) begins storing and sorting.

Interestingly, the ‘terrible twos’ are a direct result of our newly developed cognitive awareness that is a direct result of establishing memories. Btw, my earliest memory was around 3yrs. & it was the green interior & dashboard of an early 70s Torino.

Your thread reminded me of this story & because this is ATS, I couldn’t leave out the earliest childhood memories of all...