From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: remembering childhood
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:29:16 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: <ronkean at juno.com>
To: <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 4:03 AM
Subject: [WSFA] remembering childhood

>
> On Tue, 15 Apr 2003 23:52:08 -0400 (EDT) "Keith F. Lynch"
> <kfl at KeithLynch.net> writes:
> > "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net> wrote:
> > > ... unlike most adults, I retain a firm grip on my childhood
> > > memories and I can recall my thoughts of that time in my life, as
> > > well as remembering the many and varied conversations I had with
> > my
> > > peers as preschoolers.
> >
> > Doesn't everyone?  My memories go back to age 19 months.  Probably
> > further, but I didn't have much sense of time at the time.
>
> This might be a good opportunity to take an informal unscientific poll
> among this list of the age of earliest memory, and the related matter of
> the sense of time at a very young age.  For me, the earliest memories are
> from age 3 years, and memories are sparse before age 5.  I know that my
> sense of time was not well developed even at age 5, because at that age I
> once asked how long a 'week' is, after being told that an anticipated
> event would happen in 'two weeks'.  So I would put the age at which I
> developed a sense of time as age 5 years, since after I got an
> explanation of what a 'week' is, I did grasp the concept.
>
> After a dozen or more have responded, after allowing, say, five days for
> responses, perhaps the listmaster could tabulate the results so we may
> get an idea of the average, median, and range.
>
> Respondents should try to avoid counting 'implanted' memories as actual
> memories.  Many people have extensively discussed with their parents,
> older siblings, etc. what they were doing at age 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., and
> been shown piles of family photos documenting their early years, so what
> they remember might in some cases be what they were told to remember.
>
> To make things more interesting let's throw in the ages at which we
> attended the first birthday party remembered, whether our own birthday,
> or that of a contemporary child, and the age at which we first went
> 'trick-or-treating' on Halloween.  For me, both would be about age 5
> years.

I didn't go trick-or-treating until I was almost too old for it, for two
reasons:  the semi-rural nature of this area when I was younger, and my
parents' opposition to the practice.

I don't recall my *first* birthday party, but I recall them in general --
they all followed the same pattern and involved family only; not like
modern Take The Kids To Chucky Cheese birthday parties for kids.  I
remember early Christmas celebrations better.

I do recall learning what "a week" was by the age of three -- I visualized
it like a loop, with the weekend (no school) being the transition to the
next week.   And, before you ask, there was *always* school in my family's
schedule, since my mother ran a private kindergarten and nursery school
here in our home.  I started attending it at two and before then the girls
in my mother's school liked to fuss over me (as a baby).  I recall them
singing the "What are little boys/girls made of" sing-song to me (which
seriously messed with my head, convincing me that girls were "good" and
boys were "bad").

None of my memories are "implanted;" most of them concern activities of
which my parents were unaware.

--Ted White