3 ms·

on the flip side, a lot of kids experiences before 12 will be forgotten, some will be super memorable for their entire lives, but a lot of their memories of you

on the flip side, a lot of kids experiences before 12 will be forgotten, some will be super memorable for their entire lives, but a lot of their memories of you as a "parent" and who you are as a person will be after the age of 12.

JamesSwift 4y ago
That was a bittersweet realization for me. Thinking back to my own childhood memories and what age they correlate with. I have a couple school-specific memories from 4-8 or so. Then they kick in more fully from 8-13ish. Then it becomes more "normal". My oldest is 8, so he probably will only now begin to remember our life together.
- bombcar 4y ago
  It's even more scary when you realize that many of your memories from that far ago are "enhanced" by photos, etc (the brain isn't great at distinguishing) - so take pictures/video of the things you'd like to remember, it lasts longer.
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> on the flip side, a lot of kids experiences before 12 will be forgotten, A lot of children's life experiences before 12 will shape them and their worldview for the rest of their lives, whether they actively remember it or not.
Ptchd 4y ago
I was a stay at home parent from 0-9yo for 4 kids and now my wife is trying to kick me out of their life and get child support... fun times.
magicalhippo 4y ago
I've reached my 40s, but I have lots of memories of things I did with my parents and others from I was 4 and up. Not super special stuff either, but also "daily" interactions. Now, I don't feel like I have a particularly great memory, I just imagined everyone could recall many different things from their childhood. However I've noticed in the last few years both my SO and my mom often utter surprise when I recall some episode from when I was a kid, like "wow, you remember that?" Almost makes me feel like some weirdo for recalling that early stuff. As to the topic at hand, since I do recall a fair bit from I was 4 and up, I'd say the time I spent with my parents before I was 12 definitely shaped me. So while I don't recall details of may conversations or similar, their parenting and behavior left a lasting impression.
- markus_zhang 4y ago
  Can relate. My parents were more strict with my study and piano practices after 10 so most of the good memories came from time before that. My best two pieces of memories: 1) Parents took me to a geology museum and I got awed by the huge dinosaur skeleton; 2) In some Saturday nights I'd sleep between parents and we all watched paleontology programs on TV I'll probably do similar things with my son.
- Morgawr 4y ago
  I'm just like you, I have so many memories as a kid playing with my parents (mostly my dad) and my sister. From the age of 3-4, I remember my dad coming home with a new PC (didn't know what a PC was back then), "helping" him set it up, trying out games (mostly MS Paint) with him, etc. I remember playing "teaching" my dad to play with pokemon cards. I remember a lot of evenings we spent together playing Doom II, Monkey Island, Tomb Raider, and a lot of other computer games (I remember my sister would press the "shoot" key, my dad the arrow keys to move around, and I was in charge of pressing numbers 1-9 to swap weapons in Doom).

JamesSwift 4y ago

That was a bittersweet realization for me. Thinking back to my own childhood memories and what age they correlate with. I have a couple school-specific memories from 4-8 or so. Then they kick in more fully from 8-13ish. Then it becomes more "normal". My oldest is 8, so he probably will only now begin to remember our life together.

bombcar 4y ago
It's even more scary when you realize that many of your memories from that far ago are "enhanced" by photos, etc (the brain isn't great at distinguishing) - so take pictures/video of the things you'd like to remember, it lasts longer.

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

> on the flip side, a lot of kids experiences before 12 will be forgotten, A lot of children's life experiences before 12 will shape them and their worldview for the rest of their lives, whether they actively remember it or not.

Ptchd 4y ago

I was a stay at home parent from 0-9yo for 4 kids and now my wife is trying to kick me out of their life and get child support... fun times.

magicalhippo 4y ago

I've reached my 40s, but I have lots of memories of things I did with my parents and others from I was 4 and up. Not super special stuff either, but also "daily" interactions. Now, I don't feel like I have a particularly great memory, I just imagined everyone could recall many different things from their childhood. However I've noticed in the last few years both my SO and my mom often utter surprise when I recall some episode from when I was a kid, like "wow, you remember that?" Almost makes me feel like some weirdo for recalling that early stuff. As to the topic at hand, since I do recall a fair bit from I was 4 and up, I'd say the time I spent with my parents before I was 12 definitely shaped me. So while I don't recall details of may conversations or similar, their parenting and behavior left a lasting impression.

markus_zhang 4y ago
Can relate. My parents were more strict with my study and piano practices after 10 so most of the good memories came from time before that. My best two pieces of memories: 1) Parents took me to a geology museum and I got awed by the huge dinosaur skeleton; 2) In some Saturday nights I'd sleep between parents and we all watched paleontology programs on TV I'll probably do similar things with my son.
Morgawr 4y ago
I'm just like you, I have so many memories as a kid playing with my parents (mostly my dad) and my sister. From the age of 3-4, I remember my dad coming home with a new PC (didn't know what a PC was back then), "helping" him set it up, trying out games (mostly MS Paint) with him, etc. I remember playing "teaching" my dad to play with pokemon cards. I remember a lot of evenings we spent together playing Doom II, Monkey Island, Tomb Raider, and a lot of other computer games (I remember my sister would press the "shoot" key, my dad the arrow keys to move around, and I was in charge of pressing numbers 1-9 to swap weapons in Doom).