To think it's a bit unusual to have absolutely nothing from childhood!

[VoppityHoosh]

As in not a single thing? No special teddy, first baby shoes, the blanket knitted by granny?

My husband and his three siblings (all in their 30s) have absolutely nothing left from under the age of about 15 (when they got weekend jobs and were able to buy their own stuff) not a sausage

There is no physical record of their childhood left, apart from a few packets of photos- I've only ever seen about half a dozen photographs of my husband as a child/teen

Pils have nothing stashed in their attic either (I know because I helped them move house) DH says they never did.

They have plenty of ornaments and knickknacks on display, so it isn't minimalism, they were comfortably off and lived in a big house with loads of storage, including a massive attic, so it wasn't a space issue, so I can only assume they aren't sentimental that way (though they have loads of pictures and items that belonged to their own parents/holiday souvenirs on display)

It only really struck me as unusual when I was boxing away some of toddler DD's baby things - I've kept a few outfits, a silver baby bracelet, her baby book and a special blanket, which seems about what most of my friends and family seem to keep (apart from one friend who kept every single thing in the garage for years!)

AIBU to think it's a bit strange? Friends of mine have Lego sets that are being played with after spending a few decades in the grandparents attic, and I've also kept some doll's house furniture for DD when she's older - I don't like clutter but it's nice to pass on one or two special items and keep a few bits for memories.

My mums got loads of pictures and various items of junk from me and my brothers younger years; first tooth, shoe, lock of hair, blankets made by my granny, teddies etc. They have lots of photos scattered round the house of me and brother when we were kids and now have photos of my ds and brothers D.C. They have always lived in the same house and never needed to downsize or leave in a rush/flooded/fire etc.

I’ve been with my partner 10+ years and I’ve only ever seen 1 photo of him when he was maybe about 3, I’ve seen a few photos of him when he was a teenager (friends tagged him via Facebook etc) but He doesn’t have anything in the way of photos, memories etc. his mum has absolutely no photos of him/his sister or either of her grandkids in the house. I’m not 100% sure she has many photos of either dp or his sister from when they were young, no special blankets. No first shoes. She did move a few times when dp and his sister were young but nothing excessive. I just don’t think she does keep stuff. I’ve never seen photos of dp’s grandparents, his dad etc.

My friend has kept her children's bedrooms the same since they moved out - the last one over a year ago. Her house is large but stuffed full of what seems like every single piece of their childhood.

If your house is small then there isn't much room for sentimentality.

I've got things from my childhood but to be honest as I get older they mean less and less to me.

Life is for living in the now.

My parents kept a lot and gave it to us when we were adults - school reports, letters, the list of gifts we were given when born (I got a lot of "frocks"). I like that stuff. Each of us, including my 3 children, has a large box in the storage area of the basement with memorabilia/letters/notes/school stuff, accident report forms from daycare etc. During the lockdown I went through all the boxes, threw out a lot of stuff and resorted it. I would bring up a few things every day and leave them out for them - they found it very entertaining. Now that my parents are dead, it is lovely to have all the letters they wrote me over the years - some of them are very funny and very evocative of them.

We have a lot of room for storage though. I suppose if I didn't, I'd have to be stricter about what I keep.

I don't think it's unusual at all, I have a very small number of photos, my parents and siblings have a few more with me on but no stuff. I wouldn't want anything, my children have no interest in me keeping their things either.

I haven't counted up but for the vast majority of posters that seems pretty normal.

We didn't have a lot of 'things' to keep.Cloths,books etc got passed down and along.Tots were few and far between and shared.
I do have lots of good memories and photos,much more important to me.

It would be odd enough. Add in the fact their house is full of knick knacks and isnt minimalist.. even more so!

I was eldest of many children and everything got handed down. Our youngest sister has souveniers from all our childhoods and nobody else has anything. She decided what to keep and what to chuck and that was that. We didn't have a camera as DM didn't want to risk herself being photographed and school photos were too expensive, especially as there were a lot of us. One bear and a few photos would have been nice. I even had to order a copy of my birth certificate when I left home - not even that was kept.

I don't think my parents kept any momentos from my childhood. I've kept a few bits from when my daughter was young, but the memories mean more than 'things' for me.

I have nothing , not even photos, l think l have one that l have photocopied. My family are really toxic and neglected us all , basically we bought ourselves up .

I have books - that I then gave to my DD , photos and of course my favourite cuddly toys .

I think I have a couple of baby photos.
My husband has one photo from when he was about 5.
That's al we have.
It's not that unusual.

All this makes me look like a horder.
Each of my kids has a file box with first lovey, knitted blanket, homemade quilts, kindergarten pictures, and report cards, All sorts, Cub scout badges, Swim certificates.
We moved internationally and the baxes came too.
Oldest Ds box even has GI joe and his footlocket full of outfits
I have a cupboard full of albums with each ones pics as babies and special days.
Poor youngest hasn't got albums I must get some printed, her pics are all on the computer seeing she's still a teen.

Not everyone is close to their parents though. Some of us had abusive childhoods where it is better for us to cut contact instead of getting in touch for childhood artefacts

I have only a few photos from my childhood (I'm mid 60s). We moved so much when my daughters were young I couldn't take things with me, so photos and wonderful memories of far flung places are all they have.

Fair enough, I can see that we're all different. I understand that family issues, moving and the like can have an impact. I just thought it was strange to have absolutely nothing, even though pils lived in the same large house from they were first married until recently, have tons of bits and pieces like engraved bells and those Willow Tree things, but hadn't kept a thing of their DC! My DM is far from a hoarder but had a little box with a few baby things of mine in it, and it was nice to go through it when I left home, and I just automatically thought I'd do the same for DD.

I've got virtually nothing from my childhood. Didn't do much 'stuff' back then and Franky it would have been impossible to have taken as many photos of me as I have done of the kids. Film was WAY more expensive than today's memory cards.

I have some school books (exercise books) from my time at infants school (started school in 1974). Scrap books from junior school trips. Two huge boxes of reading books (Famous Five etc). A couple of childhood board games. LOTS of photos. DD (12) loves going into the loft and looking through my stuff (as do I)

For DD I have kept special outfits (leaving hospital outfit, a couple of pairs of THE cutest shoes, the box from her first cereal(!), birthday cards + anything else I couldn't bear to part with

DH has pretty much nothing of his past. His mum died when he was 6. His "lovely" brother "kindly" chucked everything out when he cleared FIL's house when FIL had to move into a carehome. So no momentos, no photos, nothing. It has affected DH