What’s your earliest memory as child and what age

I remember my first day at school ( November birthday so not sure if I was 4 or 5). I cried a lot as I had never been away from my parents before and a boy called Alan said, 'Don't cry, you'll make it rain'. I always loved school after that first day though.

Can't remember how old l was, but small, I remember running excitedly towards a swing in the park; I always loved swings. My dad was running behind me shouting, 'Stop' as I got kicked, accidently, by another child already on the swing! Also my dad asking children to play with me in the paddling pool because I was shy ( not any more!!) and running to greet him as he came home from work shouting, 'My daddy'.

All my early memories seem to surround my father who, I think, played with me the most. Mum was there in the background, but very much the housewife, and my nan lived with us and I think she was mum's priority. I let my dad down very badly towards the end of his life, as I wasn't there for him, so I hope he's forgiven me wherever he is now!

I was just over 2 years old. I had my hat and coat on and I was standing by the bedside in someone's bedroom. I opened some drawers and it was a glass tray with dead butterflies that were pinned with their wings open. I told my mum of this memory over 40 years ago and she told me where we were and how old I was. She was a cleaner in people's homes and it was so cold I had to keep my hat and coat on. She said the husband collected butterflies.

My first day at school aged five.. I was frightened and I wet my pants The teacher stood me on a box at the front of the class and said 'look what this dirty little girl has done'.

Gillybob - your dad shaved your head because you played up at the hairdressers?!!!! That's awful - no wonder you remembered it! ???

Being pushed up the hill towards our house in the pushchair watching my older brother run along ahead. So I would have been about 2 or perhaps 3 years old.

gillybob that's what I wear . I can't afford these modern styles.
My first memory was being carried on the back of my uncle as he was swimming in an indoor pool in Cardiff. I've always liked swimming - but sea swimming is best.

I also remember my imaginary friend Mrs Kershaw who was an oldish lady . She wore a tweed skirt , soft jumper and pearls . She carried an old fashioned handbag . I loved her . Can still picture her and smile . She was my best friend in the entire world .

Making a bid for freedom at age 2, and deciding to visit a neighbour over the road on a summer Sunday lunchtime. And my dad frantic coming to look for me. I even remember the neighbour's name, Mrs Culley. I was wearing a white dress.

I do think some very early “memories” are of things we’ve been told about as a child and we’ve subconsciously taken ownership of them. I can picture myself standing in my cot screaming my head off become no-one was coming to get me but I’m not at all sure if it’s a genuine memory or my mind’s version after Grandma told me I was an attention seeker as a baby!

Ooops meant to add . All around 4-5 years old .

I can only remember horrible things like ;

Falling down in a puddle wearing a new coat and being terrified of my mum and dads reaction.

My dad shaving my head because I acted up at the hairdressers.

Waking up alone in a chalet ( Butlins or similar ) and being terrified .

Can vaguely remember my sister as a baby in a yellow plastic carrycot .

Gagagran

What an early memory!
It seems that either fear or pain feature in a lot of people's first memories.

The description of the day given in the report matches with what my mum has told me about it.
She was about 11, and like so many people, she had been at those Whit Monday processions, in her case with the Sunday school, I think. Awful!

I can remember being in a pram or pushchairs will all the family standing by our gate. A band went past with people in red jackets. I imagine it must have been coronation day so I would have been eighteen months.

I remember hiding in the outside toilet at the back of the house. I would have been under three. I can still hear Dad's voice shouting as he went up and down the street. It seemed to be quite a while before he found me. He was watching me while Mum was at work and I had sneaked out. I remember the big hugs when he found me and I didn't get a row - but remember him saying "we won't tell Mum"!! I never did it again.

My earliest indisputable memory is of breaking my arm aged 2 1/2. I can remember a lot of details about doing it, the wait for an ambulance, and even walking up some steps at the hospital behind a girl whose leg looked like it had been badly bitten by a dog.

An earlier 'memory' that stayed with me throughout my childhood was a vague one of sitting in something and looking at a wooden track in front of me.
Many years on, we were looking through old photos, and there was a photo of me - approx 18 months old, if not less - sitting in a funfair-style car on, you guessed, a wooden track!
The reaction of everyone around me when I said I remembered it was that I must have seen the photo before, but the photo was taken from a completely different angle - my memory is of the view from the car, not a view of it. I am quite sure it was a genuine memory.

I have lots of memories from 3 onwards.

I remember breaking my wrist on my 2nd birthday. Going to view a new house with mum and dad and the owner telling me to stay downstairs while she took mum and dad upstairs. I was about 3 /4. I stood at the bottom of the stairs thinking they would never come back.

I was just three. Wearing a matching coat, bonnet and leggings in a dark red material I went with my Dad to my maternal grandmother's house. My Dad and Grandma had an argument and a dish was smashed on the floor. I remember the room, the Pyrex dish but had no understanding of the harsh words

My first memory is of sitting on a blanket on a small lawn which was behind and up some steps from the back of the cottage we lived in. It was Whit Monday 29 May 1944 and I was 9 months old. I can clearly remember a family picnic when black clouds rolled in, the sky darkened and big rain drops started to fall. My sisters, brother and Mum hastily gathered up the picnic and shot off inside leaving me alone on the rug, probably for just a few seconds whilst they got things inside. I remember the feeling of abandonment though.

This is a report I found when researching it:

"Holmfirth Flood of 1944
On Whit Monday May 29th 1944 after a hot, sunny afternoon a sudden storm with a violent cloudburst at about 6:30pm caused the Bilberry reservoir to burst its embankments again. It released even more water than in the 1852 flood and had a devastating effect along the Holme valley and into Holmfirth.

Some people were returning to their homes after the Whit Monday processions and singing in Victoria Park, others were in the local Valley Theatre when a flood warning flashed onto the screen.

Bridges were washed away, shops and other buildings were damaged or swept away. Thirteen factories were seriously damaged and 107 people had to be evacuated from their homes. Three people lost their lives.

The river in Holmfirth rose to a height of 18 feet."

It was only when I found this report online that I realised what my embedded memory was about and my older sister confirmed that it had happened as I remembered.

I think I remember jumping up and down a little too vigorously in a big cot and somehow it overturned so that it was lying sideways on the rug.

I like your spooky one @StMary!

Reminded me of my much younger sister at 3, saying ‘a lady’ used to sit on the end of her bed and smile at her.

We hadn’t long moved into the house and heard not long afterwards that the previous owner had died in childbirth.

My first memory is at 2 and a half throwing a major tantrum and lying on the floor of the shop. My grandmother was offering to buy me an outfit, the one they were considering was a pale blue seersucker blouse with peter pan collar edged with lace, and a red wool skirt with straps. I loved the blouse, but hated the skirt, I remember thinking that I was much too old for skirt straps, and the material was harsh and rough. I could not understand that I could not have one without the other, and can feel the frustration even now at being unable to express this!

he could remember being born
midgey So can I I remember someone grabbing me by my ankles, holding me upside down, shouting "it's a boy"; another voice may have shouted "send him back" - definitely not "put him back", but my ears were bunging up at this point; then followed a big slap on my bum which made me cry and left its mark!.

I remember looking into my brothers Moses basket. I was 2 when he was born. I also remember the not very nice feeling I had while looking at him. No name for the feeling, because I wasn't old enough to understand it but... not nice.

I also remember my grandads lovely walled kitchen garden. He spent hours in it and I loved being in it with him. Wonderful man.

I remember dancing in the kitchen for my grandad. He gave me 6d. He died before I was 3. It probably imprinted in my brain as one of last times I was him.

(I have his photo , aged 24 on my wall. I promised my Granny I would keep him safe.)

Wheeling not shelling!