How many childhood memories do you have?

[HourlyTime]

A friend asked me if I had school dinners or took a packed lunch when I was a kid - I couldn't remember.

Either Primary or secondary school, I have zero memories of eating, I couldn't tell you - I can't remember any friends I had, or outside school what I did in the summer holidays or weekends.

I realised I have very, very few childhood memories at all.

Is that normal/common?

No photographs at all - and only snippets of memories, being frightened or confused.

No memories of happiness or fun, or just normal daily stuff, and nothing vivid or certain.

My adult memories can be quite faint too, thinking about it!

I'm not a daydreamer but I am in my own mind a lot. An introvert for sure.

Me and my sister had a pretty rubbish childhood. She remembers nothing, I remember everything. Small details, entire conversations, feelings, how many trees were in a certain place. I could draw you maps of the area, pictures of places.

I have a lot of childhood memories- my first memory is of moving house and I was 2 and a quarter. Lots of memories of school dinners and occasionally having packed lunch. I can remember bringing 75p in an envelope to school- this paid for a week's worth of school dinners.

However I've read about others who have hardly any childhood memories, so it is definitely a thing.

I should add that I also had a pretty rubbish childhood.

How did you do at school? Can your parent/s, sibling/s or guardian tell you anything about that time?

You may have an issue with forming long-term memories, but if you were unhappy or scared a lot then you may well have been disassociating and that's why you can't remember.

I remember being in my cot too and ive never known anyone else to remember this.

Green mint custard and pink custard, creep into my dreams 🤮

I have loads. My earliest was when my parents announced they were pregnant with my brother. I remember my older brother and sister clocking my mum wasn’t drinking tea ( she went off it each pregnancy) and everyone laughing about it and not really understanding what was going on. Then my mum saying she was pregnant. I would have been under two years old.

I can remember a lot. I can place myself back there as though it were real. To the extent that I see my parents height from a child’s view for example. I can feel my mother holding my hand on the first day of school.

I don’t remember everything though.

I can remember lots from the age of about 4, apart from a couple of years that I was in an abusive relationship, I’ve somehow managed to block loads of that out. I can tell you what I ate for dinner on my birthday in the 90’s but I can’t remember what I ate last week. My long term memory is much better than my short term memory.

I remember lots! Right from pre-school. I can remember some of the teachers and pupils from primary and things we did, playing outside and the classrooms, and having a crush on an older girl! Also remember my childhood home and garden and going for walks on the beach with my mother. I remember watching the funeral of JFK when I was 6, and being given a piece of sugar cane to eat when we had someone visit our school to talk about sugar, also when I was 6 - delicious! Many memories!

My father is dead now, my mother isn't likely to remember much (ironically); I was an 80s child and parents didn't really get involved back then, it was very much 'be seen but not heard'. I think I must have been average at school, I left aged 15, didn't sit GCSEs.

I don't remember any birthdays or Christmas days, perhaps I just have an awful long term memory!

I can remember being sick in my cot and being desperate for someone to come and get me. My other toddler memory was my brother being born when I was 18 months old. I have loads of memories of him as a baby/toddler, he was so cute!

Gosh, I have absolutely LOADS of childhood memories! I can remember more about what I was doing 50 or 60 years ago than what I was doing last year!

I remember the names of all my teachers from primary school and can picture them in my mind's eye, what clothes they typically wore, what they smelled like etc. I remember the games we used to play in the playground, the children I used to play with, what the classrooms looked like. I remember specific incidents, like the day there was a partial eclipse when I was 8 and we looked at it through two negatives (ie photography negatives) or the day, when I was 6, when we got two baby rabbits as classroom pets and the name that I proposed was voted the winner. I remember starting school (although, curiously nothing specifically relating to the very first day), school dinners, the dinner ladies, the scary teachers and the lovely teachers and on and on. I remember all our family holidays and what we did on them. I remember my clothes and which were my favourites and which ones I was sad to have grown out of.

I have so many memories from years and years ago.

My earliest memories date from when I was about 2.5 - 3 years old and are very brief little cameos of specific incidents. As I got older, I remember things in greater detail.

I can't imagine not being able to remember my own childhood. That seems really strange, to me.

I too remember being in my cot and feeling lonely and wanting my mother to come. I think in those days (early 1960s) children were in cots until about 3 years old, so I would have been a toddler at the time of that memory.

I remember things I’ve been in trouble for mostly- things I’ve lost, broken, been told off for doing. Not loads but that’s all I have.
Almost no memories of actually doing anything with my parents or older sister. A couple with my other sister, and some with a school friend I'm still in touch with.

There is a condition called Developmental Amnesia, which people are born with. It affects your ability to form long-term memories, but weirdly doesn't affect your ability to learn facts and skills, so might not be noticed at school.

The other possibility is that school, and maybe your childhood in general, was unpleasant or lacking in nurturing, causing you to disassociate (retreat into your mind) to avoid things you found scary or uncomfortable to experience.

Thank you for that - I'll have a Google.

My short term memory by constrast is strong, with the ability to pick up new skills and digest information easily, multi task, manage a complex job role - but I couldn't tell you the name of any teacher or pupil from school or say what I did as a kid!

I know my childhood was hard, more from the knowledge of the situation than my memories, so perhaps I simply don't wish to remember/never formed the ability for things to stick long term.

All I remember is moments of shame, insecurity, embarrassment and paranoia.

@HourlyTime I hope you don't mind me asking this, but how do you feel towards your parents? What is you relationship like with your mother?

I was also an 80s kid, so i understand about parents being less hands-on. However that didn't mean that parents weren't caring and nurturing (even if they did whack us!)

I hope that you did receive care and attention that you deserved from your parents and they weren't neglectful.

This resonates with me - I remember these feelings (and fear) but I can't link any memories to them.

I can remember loads. Pretty clear memories of all of primary school, and I have memories of being under 2 - and then increasing amounts of memories from then onwards up to school age.

I have a terrible short term memory but have lots of memories from nursery school onwards. Home was unhappy and abusive. School was a bright spot amid the misery, and I remember lots about it.

There’s 20 months between myself and my sister. One day in a random conversation I told my Mum a story of how I remember going to meet a baby in a hospital I could remember (still remember) the green dress and sandals I wore. Mum is convinced it was the day I met my sister. I remember back to when I was at least 4, my first day of primary school, I remember all my teachers names from nursery and primary school even remember dinner ladies names. I’m now 46. I can however, not tell you what I had for dinner yesterday. My long term memory is insane my short term memory is just awful.

I have great long term memory and can remember specific lunches at school from when I was about . I can even remember the conversation that was happening at the time. I remember the way the orange squash had a slight taste of the plastic beaker too.

I remember various playing out sessions throughout my childhood years and again, the conversations of those days.

I can’t remember what I did yesterday however