What is your favourite childhood memory has been asked several times: what is your most confusing childhood memory?

“Why do I like Princess Leia so much? She’s pretty and those brown eyes…” (I was 8).

Adult Jude: Wimpers.

@Jude That isn’t confusing. That is logical. Even her brother fell in love with her.

@seazen_ Ha!! :)

I have a clear memory of my parents fighting a lot and my dad going to live somewhere else for a week or so when I was maybe 5. My parents say it never happened.
I also have a clear memory of my parents telling me not to tell anyone we were moving when I was 14. My parents say it never happened, and that I even had a going away party of which no pictures exist.

I don’t think my parents would lie about those, as they’re pretty open people. But how the heck did I make up those memories?

“Why do I have a crush on my female babysitter and the 8th grade (female) teacher?”

@Likeradar Often, memories will get confused and even “mashed” with literature… have you read Toby Tyler?

@Jude Cuz they were babes? A hunch.

Oy. Didn’t read the question thoroughly. I was confused at the time, yes. I get why now.

@seazen_ nope

My favorite childhood memory is our summer cabin in Wisconsin…I loved that place.

Almost dieing twice was weird and confusing for a young me.

@Likeradar It’s a kids book – but a good read. Try it?

Wordsworth said, and this is for all the jellies writing here:

It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

@Likeradar False memory is very common. Although a having a party is a pretty big false memory in my opinion. The other things like your parents telling you not to tell anyone you were moving could be you were at a particular place and your mom said, “don’t tell anyone,” and she meant in that room, and you took it as anyone. Is that possible?

I have a relative who generally feels her childhood was horrible. She says she lived in terror and shame. Her sibling has a completely different feeling about their growing up. For the most part they have very very similar memories, but for one sibling it evokes very negative emotion. This, let’s say, very emotional sibling does seem to exaggerate bad events, amd seemingly make some up. She is 40 years old and said she had nightmares for weeks, and lived in fear on and off for a few years when something triggered a memory of being in second grade and doing air rade drills, having to go under her desk. The problem is those drill were done in her parents day, not hers. I even asked other people who went to her school if they remember any such thing, and everyone says no. I figure she saw a movie, I saw them in school, of the drills, and now thinking back she thinks she did the drills.

Memory is tricky.

We had an outhouse on our farm when I was 6. I went to school in town for grade 1 and there was this little closet room at the back of our class. Kids would go in there, there would be a scary noise but they would come out okay. I didn’t pee from 8 am to 5 pm for awhile because I couldn’t find the outhouse and, for some reason, didn’t ask. My mom asked one day why I made such a beeline to the outhouse when the bus dropped me off.

It funny how some tiny memories stick through the years and some big things just don’t.
I can remember being a flower girl at age 4 and being dressed in the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. Then the next memory is being driven to the wedding but I don’t remember the wedding. And then being in a photo shop to take pictures and hating the other little snotty flower girl. Next thing I’m dancing with my uncle (who was the groom) and waiting for my dad, and then falling asleep and waking up without my beautiful dress and dressed in pjs. I think I was roofied.

When I was very very young, there was this absolutely awful woman who looked after me and a bunch of other kids. There were a lot of nasty things she would do to us kids like forcing food down my throat if I ate too slowly or screaming at the babies when they were crying rather than picking them up and trying to figure out why they were crying, as well as leaving the babies alone with the two- and three-year-olds which is probably why they were crying in the first place. Just to make it clear, my mom didn’t know what was going on and I only told her about it a few years ago. For some reason, I figured she wouldn’t believe me if I told her though I’m sure she would have.

I have two confusing memories of this woman’s house. The first is the memory of one day when I was very tired and all I wanted to do was sit down and color. She told me I wasn’t allowed to sit down. So, I didn’t sit down. I stood at the fireplace, bent over the hearth with my coloring book and tears pouring down my cheeks because I was afraid of what might happen if I sat down. I think this might have some bearing as to why I have issues sitting down unless I am offered a seat or unless I know the person very well.

Another memory I have of this woman is one day, I was playing with her youngest son. We were playing in a room that was right off the garage. While we were playing, his mom ran from the garage through the room we were playing in yelling in a high pitched voice, “There’s a possum in the garage!” She was so terrified. I guess what’s confusing about this particular memory is my feelings at the time. A part of me was scared of the possum, but another part of me wanted to go out and see the thing that was terrifying this awful woman so much.

My most confusing memory was when I was just a chubby-cheeked baby. My mother sat me on the couch, then the whole family went to the other side of the room and just stood there, staring at me. Then they sent my sister over to tickle me, and then she ran back. I was so confused! Found out later that they were taking my picture.

My father remarried and everyone else was at the wedding except me. I was 7 and was sent to my aunt’s house for a holiday over that period. All my siblings were there though. I remember my aunt saying one day, they were coming to pick me up and being told they were now married. Odd. Never asked about it because by the time I really thought about “why wasn’t I there?” my father had died and my stepmother…well there just isn’t any point. So it will remain a mystery.

I was really, really young so forgive me if this makes no sense. The few details that remain, for some reason, I always remembered, and probbaly always will. But what the hell was going on, I have no clue.

I was holding one or the other following objects; a black glass ashtray, or a brown empty beer bottle. I stuck it in my face and started walking around, and everything I saw through it was distorted, and coloured in dark brown and some really dark orange. I think my parents were having a party, and I walked in there and said things to people, or at least, made noises at people, all the while still looking through whatever I was holding. I remember people paying attention then, and my dad gently taking my object away. I don’t remember much after that, but I went back in my bedroom, and then, zilch.
It seems bizarre to me if only because it’s so random yet I always remembered this.