Would you say it was normal not to be able to remember very much about your adult children's childhoods?

[FrannyandZooey]

Such as things they enjoyed doing, etc?

My mum is completing a Grandparents Book that we bought her to do for ds, and she keeps saying "Well I can't remember any of the bits about "your mother (i.e me F&Z)'s childhood", so I will have to ask you when I come up."

I am 35 so I suppose it was a long time ago. She is 70 odd and neither wildly on the ball nor very prone to forgetfulness.

oh good lord. my mil is awful. she cannot even remember how much my dh and bil weighed at birth, can't even remember them doing any of the baby/toddle milestones..... And then dares make comments about "is it normal" re x, y or z for my dd. grr

drives me and sil potty!!!

i would say normal, I am already forgetting things about my dd who is 5, I need to wrtiet things donw now!

yes. from what my MIL scantily remembers i would agree. plus she half remembers things, then i looked at dh's baby book and she got things wrong. he's 42, she's 65. can't speak for my own mother, she died years ago.

oh yes, agree with that too. my friend just had a baby and was asking me what age dd (aged 1) started holding things properly and what age she started dropping night feeds. i have no idea at all.

I don't mean what age they started walking and stuff (agree that I can't even remember than accurately for ds who is 4)

just things like what games they liked playing, what sort of clothes they wore

not from any specific year or date but just at ANY TIME during their childhood

I would have thought you would be able to dredge something up, wouldn't you?

My mum has 5 of us and although she can remember specifics she invariably thinks of the wrong child.
She is still convinced my favourite food is beetroot when I hate the fecking stuff...she brings it out every time I visit! (my sister loves it!)

Thanks Chirpy

bumping to see if anyone else has an opinion

My mother would probably be terribly opinionated but wrong in every detail.

I am going to keep bumping this until someone says

"No, it is not normal, she is an evil freak, what sort of person could not remember all the cute, unique and unforgettable things that you, F&Z did as a little child."

just warning you

hi fran
yes, i think thats fairly normal... you only really keep in your head what you currently need to know iyswim... right now its details about how to 'pitch' lunch to ds2 and how to get ds3 to open his mouth for the toothbrush... but all that will disappear.

i think that memory is a funny thing. i bet she remembers feelings or smells or moods or something more than quotable details.

my mum hardly gets our names right, but she cares like mad and always has... ach, we all have our failings, dont we?

I get all myc children confused and their still at home. When ds1 was little I used to be so stunned that people couldn;t remember stuff about thier children, now I have no idea.

My Mum only had me, and is a very doting grandmother, and very supportive mother. She remembers feck all!

francoise, im gonna send you a big revolting wet smacker on the cheek for that last post... you nutter.

Not ANYTHING about what they liked to do when they were little?

and those grandparents who claim to know millions of details... mostly they are , if not making it up, then the real memory has been shaped over time to fit a nice wee anecdote. imo.

yes it's normal. It's all the sleep deprivation.

people do remember all the embarrassing bits though.

shit fran, I dont know what I liked to do when i was little... do you??

I suppose general bits you can remember though.

But I'm sleep deprived and sounding like yoda

Ruddy hell yes i DO know

I was paying attention at the time

God yes I've forgotten large chunks of dd(15yrs) childhood.I expect it will all be a blur when she's an adult.

My mum can hardly remember a thing about me-except I had a messy room

well your children must all be very unmemorable that's all i can say

it would take a heart of stone to forget my adorable little antics

I always thought it was my mother -as she seemd strangely unaware of my life - I remember asking if I had had a rubella jab and she said I don't know - why are you asking me ? I was pretty offended ! But - as my own dd grows up I realise that a lot of it is already becoming a blur sadly ! So many similar days, all blending into a blur !

I hope I will remember the important bits - I am thinking of keeping a scrapbook - but who's to say what's important to me will be what's important to her ??

It's very normal, F&Z. My mum has been dead for years, but my dad remembers nothing about me as a child.

It puts things in perspective a little when you get these veeeery long threads about minutia, like whether to use the word 'naughty' or not, or 'OMG, he won't eat celery.'

His only famous phrase (still used today), is that 'I peaked when I was nine.' Oddly enough, that is one year that I remember nothing of, and he remembers succinctly.

It will be us, one day. Parenthood is so intense at the time, that I'm sure the same forces that create the energy to go through it, also deplete us in later life of the energy to remember it!

LOL fran.
none of us would forget your little lovlinesses... lets all go live in a comune and ditch the recall-ally challenged 'blood' rellies

I can't believe I won't remember some little stories about stuff ds liked to do

I really can't

I can see if you have a lot of kids, or your life is mega busy, or stressful, or whatever, but mine isn't any of that

I just can't believe I won't remember it in 30 years time