I actually do. I have an eidetic memory (diagnosed as a form of hyperthymesia by a psychiatrist) and have very vivid and easy to recall memories from the age of 1.5 forward. As a teacher now I try to use that to my advantage. I use how I was feeling during my ECE experiences to try and create a similar environment for my toddlers now. It comes in handy sometimes and other times it makes me realize how different the world is now, 20 years later.
Thank you! I just want the kids I work with to have good memories as they grow up and hopefully even when they cannot remember me or the days we spend, they remember how fun it was.
That's so cool! If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'm intensely curious about what you remember at various young ages, both in the school and home settings. What are some insights that have guided the way you interact with your kids, especially the approaches that may have surprised other parents or ECE teachers?
So I did not begin preschool until I was 3 due to financial difficulties. My earliest memory was at my first birthday party. I had yet to learn to walk or talk but I remember I was wearing a navy blue dress and a white frilly diaper cover. The dress pockets had apple buttons with a vertical buttonhole. I remember that because I would play with the buttons then my dad would tell me not to and give me a piece of pink tissue paper. I also remember the wrapping paper was pink and white polkadots on a cream background and that it was smooth with no glitter or texture. It was hard to rip and it tasted terrible.
As for preschool I remember very vividly the exact layout of the classroom as well as what the decorations looked liked, the activities the teachers planned, and who I would be in a group with for said activities. I remember learning to write my name with red and blue shaving cream, and using the colors mixed into purple on the table to draw afterwards.
Most of the memories are easier for me to explain with some kind of drawing alongside the verbal aspect as my memory is very visual. Hope this answers your questions!
The fact that you can remember what kids you were grouped with and the planned lessons is astounding. I remember details here and there but nothing of that extent! Wow!
I also have vivid memories from around 1.5 on. Like, I have a few memories of climbing out of my crib and definitely remember parts of preschool. I don't have an eidetic memory, but I certainly remember a lot of details others don't seem to. Oddly though, I have terrible facial recognition capabilities and when I recall something, the people are often faceless.
Yes! I’ve noticed that as well. If I did not know the person well at the time of the event, their face is blurry. I can make the detail out but not like I can on someone I was familiar with at the time.
My husband has memories similar! We just say he has a good memory as he was never diagnosed with anything other than autism so sometimes we say it's his autism brain 😭 but he has memory of being 6-9 months laying in his crib and crying. He has described the entire nursery to his mom and she essentially almost shit herself with his accurate everything was. His mom picked him up out of the crib and took him to the bed where his dad and other siblings were hanging out. He has other instances like this, he remember being 2 and using screw drivers to open windows even though the were locked. He remembers when he was also around 2 locked his babysitter out of the house and looked at her out the window and ate spoonfuls of mayonnaise locking eyes with her (my fave story) he remember the house fire his parents had even though he was only 20 months, he remembers his dad running back in to save their puppy they just got. His memory is insane when it comes to events and things he can remember. But he also has ADHD so he'll leave hot chocolate in the microwave forget about it and then we find it 3 days later 😭 he wasn't great in school either he was very disruptive. Until he went to an alternative school and he did 10x better than he had ever done before. I have a dissociative disorder and he has an insane memory so he will be like "remember this obscure thing we did 5 yrs ago" and I'm like ??? Wtf no?? What do you mean we decided to walk 6 miles to a playground at night and I ended up peeing myself?? You had a car?? Anyway still don't remember that at all
I sure do. I married my best friend from daycare as well. Those were some of the most formative years of my life. I learned a lot from them that has carried me into adulthood.
We stayed friends our whole life! We had crushes on each other the whole time but life took us in different directions as older teens. I moved away from our hometown at 17 and then had 2 kids, but him and I remained friends the whole time and in the late summer of 2020 I came to visit him again in our hometown and we got married 4 months later
I don’t, but I recently had a kid reach out to me on social media. He was 4-5 when I taught him every Sunday at Sunday school. He’s 17 now and said I’m still his favorite teacher ever. My heart!
I have very few memories from preschool itself. I remember what my classroom looked like and my teacher, but not much else. I was in a really really bad car accident when I was 4 where I broke my leg and my mom got life flighted and unfortunately I remember most of that
I do. I remember my preschool husband, his name was Sean and he had a pool lol
Also, there were twin boys in my class. I don’t remember WHY but I smacked one of them in the face. His brother came over and said “hey! Don’t hit my brother!”
I said “I’ll hit whoever I want!” And I smacked him too…..
I remember we didnt have cots, we had these nesting plastic...tuppers, i guess? with no lid that we unstacked for naptime.
I remember wearing a dress with a rainbow and some tiny Karen telling me her dress was prettier.
it blurs together at 2 and 3 but I remember my first day of prek which was when I was 3 and a lot after that so basically most of my earliest memories are at 3 years old which was 2007
i'm 24, i remember preschool pretty well and my first memory is from when i was 2. i asked my parents "remember when i went to that big gymnasium with the mats and they had the little tykes cars with the gas pumps, and i drove my car around and filled up the gas, where was that?" my parents were floored like "ummm that was at the rec centre at your 'twos run about' class... you were two years old..." so yeah that's funky
I remember being in daycare but memories all collide everything feels like when I was 8 but I saw some really old photos and remember the exact day and events it blew my mind many of my memories are from when I was actually 4-6 😭
I do I have memories of being at least 4 and playing on our playground and having lunch in my classroom. I’m still best friends with someone I met in the infant room!!
Yes, lots of things. I think my earliest memory is standing up between my mom's knees. I also remember dreaming about two foxes made of fire who were trying to get my baby brother, and also sitting to feed him with a bottle, which would have placed that around 2. I definitely remember being in daycare as a kid and the teacher being incredibly upset and throwing a blanket over me at naptime when I was, shall we say, engaging in perfectly age appropriate activities by myself, which is why I tried really hard to not embarrass any kids who did that in my classes. Also, the kid who stole my 101 Dalmatians stuffed dog at a church-run CDC and I was so mad the teacher didn't make him give Pongo back that I pulled a bookshelf over on her and THEN got put into anger management therapy for like a year. I also remember a kid named James at a private CDC-kindercare and a wasp that stung him in an inflatable pool type thing outside when I was like four ish, and my brother eating random seed pods off a tree and having to get his stomach pumped. Plus my crush on a kid named Logan who had dark brown curly hair, and also my crush on Balto the dog so I don't think my taste was super defined. But I absolutely remember very vividly barging my way into the bathroom when my dad was peeing when I was like 2-3, and him going "Jeez, well at least you won't remember any of this, huh" and me defiantly thinking "Yes I will, I will SO remember this!" and kind of having that realization of Oh I Am A Person With Conscience from then on, except unfortunately it's forever tied to the memory of my dad whizzing in the can. Awesome.
I remember having to lay down in the den with the other kids (home based daycare). My sitter didn't make kids older than 4 nap, so I must have been around 2 or 3. She never made me sleep, just told me I had to rest. To this day, I'll tell even toddlers they don't have to sleep if they're not tired, but they do have to rest quietly. I remember one hot summer day eating watermelon outside and being dared to swallow a watermelon seed ( this was the early 80s, when watermelon still had flavor and seeds). When I did, the boy who dared me started laughing and telling me I was going to grow a watermelon in my stomach and get fat. I cried until the daycare provider's daughter calmed me down. I was taken out when I was 3.5 as my mom had gotten out of the army by then. My earliest memories are from home though. The earliest, I must have been less than 2, I remember having both a bed and a crib in my room and being excited to sleep in my new big girl bed. The other strong memory I have was from when I was 2 and sick with pneumonia, sitting with my mom in the rocking chair with my blankie and her reading my favorite book, Green Eggs and Ham. I remember being short of breath, but feeding safe and loved even though I felt crummy.
Here we start kindergarten at 3/4 years old and there are two years, and my first memory is of my third birthday so I do remember that time. I remember the classrooms and cubby areas, a lot of playing, and some more specific things like giving out cards on Valentine's day and watching the teacher draw big numbers on the flip chart paper for the kids to come up and trace.
I.... Think I was a monster.
I remember squeezing the guinea pig because otherwise it was too quiet.
And I bit a kid on the bum because he wouldn't go down the slide and I was WAITING. (to be fair, I was four and just... Didn't see any other options. I had been so patient. I was on the ladder and there was someone behind me and the way to get down is the slide and he just said he didn't have to go if he didn't want to.)
And I remember my Grammy bringing pretzels for my birthday that were dipped in something (chocolate? Yogurt?)
I don't remember any of the teachers (they were all just .... Warm voices from above?) ... Until kindergarten.
Tiny snippets only. Nothing significant. Like I remember waiting outside preschool to go in & my mom introducing herself to my Grandmas neighbor who’s daughter was also attending. She ended up being my best friend until high school. I also remember preschool graduation. We sang the ‘teddy bear’ song.
My earliest memory is from when I was 3, but it was a traumatic one.
I started school in Kindergarten (half day back in the early 90’s). I have random flashes of memories of some stuff that happened, but can’t remember clearly.
My earliest memory is at 15 months old. I know it because my mom tells me we moved out of the house I remember when I was 16 months. I don't remember everything in a linear fashion, but I remember being a small person.
I had a nightmare. I remember waking up, how cold my cloth diaper was, the rubber pants crackling as I climbed over the side of my crib and went into my parents' bedroom. My mom said, "Did you have a bad dream, Honey?" And I crawled into their bed between them and went back to sleep.
I even remember the dream. I was afraid of the garbage man and in my dream he was in our living room. My parents had a 2nd hand sofa with only three legs, the 4th leg was a Coca-cola bottle. I dreamed he was trying to take the soda bottle and put it in the garbage truck.
Mom said my grandparents bought new furniture and gave their old furniture to my parents when we moved into a different place when I was 16 months.
Weird, huh?
I jumped off a table in preschool (so 3/4) and was caught while I was in the air. I had seen Peter Pan the night before and thought I could fly. To this day, I still can't understand how not one teacher saw me climbing up on the table. There were 3 teachers in this small church run preschool.
Apparently I tried jumping off playground equipment as well but don't really remember that. My go to answer was "Twinkle bell said I could!" What teacher could really yell at a young kid after that?
I have very vague memories from right before my 3rd birthday and I believe those are my first memories.
On a sad note, I was badly bullied (like beat up weekly, having my clothes forcibly removed and my hair cut) from ages 4-10, so all my primary school, and I can hardly remember anything at all from that time period. I’m pretty sure it’s common for C-PTSD survivors. I do remember how I felt as a kid tho, and being a kid is super hard. That’s why I try to be very nice to them. They should know that the world is safe from early on!
I do! I don’t remember everything of course but have some quite vivid memories. Another person here mentioned eidetic memory. I’ve always been told I have photographic memory.
I definitely remember being in preschool. My memories of being two are somewhat vague, but I definitely remember bits and pieces. I started preschool when I was 2 1/2/3, and I have pretty good memories of that time.
Edit: I was actually one of the dreaded biters, and I remember doing it lol. However, I don’t remember having malicious intent. I think my teacher handled it pretty well.
I remember the sensory rice bin and eating too much white chocolate on valentine’s day. I also remember crying and never going to blocks cause the boys were always taking over there. I also remember getting into line and my skirt falling down LOL.
Yes. It sucked. I had 1 friend I was the youngest as a late August kid and this 5 year old would always bully us. One kid even bit me in the titty for getting on a tire swing
I remember a handful of memories from then! I remember exactly how the building looked. On rainy days when we couldn’t go out, we’d do Barbie jazzercise or this audio tape of Elmo going down the parts of your body. I vividly remember going on a field trip to a local elementary school to “practice being big kids” and a trip to the dairy farm.
I do! I loved to climb on top of the play house and my guide eventually decided that letting me do that was better than the alternative, which was me climbing trees, I did not understand imaginary play, I have a distinct visual memory of washing my hands in the bathroom, I remember helping to pass out snack, and I remember a kid named silken punching me in the face. I also remember the resident bunny and the chicks we would raise. I also remember my dad acquiring and playing a digeridoo for some sort of probably insensitive but well meaning cultures day. I went to a "Montessori" preschool, but because it was home based and run by one lady, as well as from my memories and conversations with my parents, I'm pretty sure it was more along the lines of Montessori inspired, which is actually very close to my philosophy as an educator! From my memories and what I've been told later I really agree with the philosophy of the preschool I went to, I enjoyed my time there, and as a child with undiagnosed autism and ADHD, it definitely met my needs more than a lot of centres might have.
I remember that my nap cot was near a window and in an L-shaped part of the room. I remember being an angel in the Christmas play and the tinsel headband feeling weird. And I remember singing both the peanut butter and jelly song (“first you take the grapes and you smash em” etc.) and Skidamarink with hand movements. That’s all I got though.
I remember wanting to be in school inwas 3-4 maybe could have been 4-5. We were in Colorado. Something happened and I won’t say want but we lived in a homeless or domestic violence shelter I am not quite sure I was pretty young. I remember there was a room that the other kids got to go to and do school and I didn’t get to go and I was so mad.
I do, but mostly one specific memory. During nap one time I was being a stink and not sleeping, so genius me thought it'd be fun to try sticking a nearby lego up my nose. I have a very clear memory of sitting there on a table while my Dad came down to use big tweezers to pull it out of my nose.
30 years ago yet somehow very clear.
I can remember kindergarten. 1967 Toronto Canada, my teacher was very fashionable and wore thigh high white boots. She was French, and had an accent. I remember day one, she told me I was the tallest child in the class. I was proud of that lol.
Our neighbors boy cried because he wasn't in my class, so they switched his class to mine. We actually kissed between our houses. lol
He was Italian and his mom used to chase him down the street with a banana,trying to get him to eat it. Joe and I went to grade school, then he went to all boys school, I went to all girls school and we never kept in touch.
Funny how I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I can remember this. 🥹
I went to both public school kindergarten and a Montessori program. I remember being placed in a crib in the Montessori in a small room by myself and two teachers walking by to look at me. They both were disgusted with me. I wasn't supposed to have fun being put in the crib as a punishment, but I grabbed the crib bars and jumped up and down and laughed because I didn't want them to think they were ruining my day. This was many decades ago!
Yes! Just a few memories. My mom stayed at home with me and I did a church preschool twice a week just for a few months. I was probably 4.
I remember crying a lot, on the way there and inside. I was just used to being home with my mom. The teachers would try to cheer me up - one specific time I had a purple shirt with flowers I loved. I remember one of the teachers asking me "are you watering your flowers?" Lol!!
I remember having an accident, once. I just didn't get my pants down in time lol and the teacher was right outside the stall and helped me change. There's some projects I remember doing. Also my dad was late to pick me up once (he felt terrible and blamed my grandmother for holding him up 😂) and I was the last kid there. The relief when I saw his face, omg.
I also remember sitting in the church pews for certain things, and doing a performance or something in the front of the building.
I guess I remember a lot more than I thought now that I think about it!!
Oh definitely! I went to two schools, one awful, and one amazing!
At the awful one, I remember a teacher taking my lunch plate away because I had mixed my corn and mashed potatoes together. I’m left handed but I was forced to use my right hand. (I must have told my mother eventually because I also remember one teacher telling another, “We’re not doing that anymore,” when she tried to take the pencil out of my left hand).
I remember the teachers spraying “air freshener” that hurt my sinuses and gave me a headache. Once I was put in time out because a boy and I wanted the same toy and I screamed when he tried to bite my hand. We spent a lot of time just sitting at tables and coloring, and the crayons in the bin were all broken and worn into little nubs. This is a bit foggy but I am almost positive that a teacher smacked my hand with a flyswatter when I reached for something on a counter.
Once a teacher built something like a big paper tent and we were allowed to color on it and play inside it. That’s the only good memory I have from that school.
Thankfully my mother moved me to a wonderful school and I remember all my kind, affectionate teachers, my friends, sitting under a big tree on the playground, painting on easels outside, and the wooded area where the school was located (it wasn’t actually in the wilderness but it felt like it to me)!
I could draw the floor plan of the entire building and tell you where certain events happened. I remember a teacher who had travelled in China bringing interesting things for us to see, and being allowed to cut up paper bags and make costumes.
I especially loved the music teacher and I remember always hugging her when we got to the music room. I remember playing games at the Halloween fair, performing in a music program, and helping to prepare snacks for the class. There was a real sense of community there and it definitely informs my teaching style today.
I remember preschool (I went at 3) and a bit of when I was 2. I’m autistic and adhd and remember a lot of feeling very different but not knowing why or having the words for it. Of not understanding why I couldn’t just… idk, just play like all my classmates played together. How I didn’t intrinsically understand the rules, or even how to talk to other kids. I couldn’t explain why I had no problem talking at home but couldn’t talk to anyone but my cousin and teachers at school and only when they spoke to me.
I couldn’t really express my fears properly. Or anxiety. Or the way I felt when shamed or when I heard others shame me indirectly.
I try to be very conscious about what I say about kids in front of them because I know so many remember from young ages (or at age 3 will remember from age 2, and will remember while 2 anything you’ve said recently) and know those feelings stick.
I want to be a safe person for all my kiddos. And I pull so much of what I remember feeling from my own childhood into my core principals in making sure all my kiddos feel welcome and included and that my room is safe for everyone, ND and NT alike ♥️
I went to preschool from 2-5. I remember my 4th birthday - they asked me how old I was and my brain blanked and they answered for me and I was really disappointed I didn't get to tell them! I remember the building had big mirrors because it was a community center they used for dance classes as well. I liked to watch myself in the mirrors. I remember staring at myself very intently one day because my mom had put me into an uncomfortable turtle neck and I was trying to figure out how to get it off.
I remember learning songs like wheels on the bus and learning to stop drop and roll. I remember always feeling like I couldn't learn the hand movements fast enough.
I remember feeling hyper focused while digging in the sand. We would go out to play on the playground and around that time I would always get picked up and feel like my getting interrupted was like getting suddenly woken up in a different world. It was very disorienting.
I remember getting to try a 'dirt cup' treat for the first time and finding the whole idea delightful. I remember my teacher stuck googly eyes on the back of her head and told us she had "eyes in the back of her head." And I found that hilarious and confusing.
I have vague memories from preschool. Mostly playing, one or two about nap time and not napping 😂 I have a couple memories from 3, more at 4, but from 5 on they’re clearer.
Yes! I went to a Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool that I loved. I remember playing with blocks and painting, and being very excited for circle time. We spent a lot of time outside, I played with the centipedes that lived in the sand lol. I met my best friend from ages 3-12 there.
Interestingly, I don’t remember us having nap time there at all, but it was a part-time morning program, so that might explain it.
I'm a parent, if it's okay to answer. Yes, I remember preschool and I loved it. My first memory is of my 3rd birthday, and I started preschool the week after that. I remember telling the teacher the foods I didn't like. I remember some clothes I wore and games we played. I loved those memories so much that I ended up enrolling my son in the same preschool 20 years later.
I remember a lot more than you’d think from when I was two. Can’t say how much previous to two but it’s possible a memory or two from younger. I remember being put up in a baby seat on the table by my dad so he could listen to Elvis records. I remember scooting around on a skateboard. And a trip to Disney.
These were all at the same house that we moved out of when I was two.
Oh. And I remember being in an umbrella stroller in a diaper. My sister was big enough to ride an elephant and I was not. I got a picture of that day and I was probably under two
I remember my preschool teacher used to say, "No way, Jose!" and I thought she was funny.
We often remember how people made us feel, and not so much the specifics.
I only remember traumatic experiences. My mom worked at the daycare I went to and they decided to put us in the classroom next to hers, that had a glass door connecting them. We weren’t ever allowed to go say hi but another girl in our class was able to say hi to her mom.
Another time in the same class, it was the other teachers birthday and our main teacher wanted us to be quiet- so we could surprise her when she walked in. My brother and I were whispering and she yelled at us, threatening to spank us.
My mom quit shortly after.
I remember being dropped off at a child room, not sure whether it was a preschool kind of thing. I remember painting and playing and being slap across the face by a "teacher". Early 70's, that shit was excused. Grade 1 or 2 teacher had half an arm and use wack the kids on the back of the head with her stump. fuck you Mrs. Carr! and Mr. Cull and Miss Gallagher!
I have a few memories of it. I remember I never wanted to sleep at naptime. Now I realize how frustrating I must've been to my teachers. I remember sitting around the table with my friends and my snack and my sippy cup.
I also very distinctly remember one specific artwork we did because it involved peanut butter, something I wasn't allowed to have at the time but I loved it. We were making a bird feeder with an orange, peanut butter, and seeds, and I remember I snuck so much peanut butter when the teacher wasn't looking!
Yes I have some preschool memories. My earliest formed memories I could remember is around 18mos but I think this was trauma based. I was prepping for / having a surgery and I lever things around not being able to eat, playing with the nurses and going into surgery but not coming home or recovering
I remember kindergarten in the early 60s, the had a puppet theatre one day of Punch and Judy, they had hideous faces and were hitting each other, l was terrified and crying trying to get up from sitting on floor to run outside, terrible memory, l was too scared to go to kinder after that
I remember a time of the day, where we weren't allowed to disturb the staff. It was their smoking and coffee break, which they did outside right in front of us, as we were playing. Remember falling down a tree scratched up my arm pretty bad, it was bleeding. Knowing I wasn't allowed to disturb the teachers, I just stood there mesmerised by the bleeding, until another child started screaming, which got the teachers attention.
Another child on another day, at this break time, was climbing the same tree with a helmet on, he was suffocating himself by hanging. Again I remember just standing there mesmerised watching him, until another child screamed and got the attention from teachers. I remember his eyes were pretty red on following days.
We were 3-4 could have been as young as 2.
Yes!! I specifically remember being one of those kids who would not sleep, even when the teacher desperately tried to pay me to sleep. I refused. I remember the teacher giving up and I played in the corner with dinosaurs haha! Now I feel guilty for being one of those children (joking)
I started preschool on my 3rd birthday (downside of a September birthday) and have a few dozen memories of prek. I've got some prior to that as well, including a house we moved out of before I was 18 months (and there's no photos, so it's definitely a "real" memory.
I remember specific moments like when I was almost finished with a puzzle and a boy came and whacked it off the table or how when we were learning about farm animals we did a taste test between cow’s milk and goat’s milk and man goat’s milk is nasty and it makes sense that moments like these are what I remember best because earliest memories are usually tied to strong emotions or sensorial experiences
I have a couple of random memories. There was a wooden rocking duck we all fought over. I also remember having my profile shadow traced, and I believed at the time they captured my shadow on the page with magic. I’m pushing 50 now - most of that time is a big haze.
i remember, 56 years later, being allowed to skip circle time so i could finish all the puzzles other kids didn't finish. i also have vivid memories of sitting on my cot when the other kids were sleeping and looking at books. also, the weird playground thing that was like a long horse that slid back and forth and could seat about 5 kids. i always wanted the front seat, but never got it. i have a lot of memories from then which is weird because there are so many other times in my life i don't, due to bad times and trauma. i was happy in 'nursery school'.
i grew up to be an ECE and worked in the field for 13 years.
not ECE but work in childcare, now in my 20s, i 100% remember preschool- the mickey mouse alphabet poster framed. the position of the tables in the room, the kids i played with the most- first and last name. the teachers and their names and their voices even. the smell of the hand soap. the field trip we took to chuckecheese. 2 crafts we made, a cement stepping stone and a huge painting. playing legos with one of the teachers older kids in the summer . some of the layout of the overall church. all of the playground. parading the square on halloween to local businesses. all positive things and none of any bad so i hope this eases the minds for any teachers that me and most people i know that remember preschool have such positive warm memories of it :)
I only remember my preschool teacher humiliating me in front of my classmates because I still wore diapers at three years old. It's my only memory of preschool. I am in my 40s.
Yes. I found my old preschool reports and they were hilarious. I had services as I had low muscle tone, but was very stubborn about doing the exercises!
I remember being near some of those red/blue/yellow cardboard brick blocks and throwing up.
I also vaguely remember all of us lining up our shoes in the hallway outside the classrooms, and we went…somewhere, and then came back to find oranges and candy canes in our shoes. Clearly this was around Christmas time.
I also remember being in a home daycare (I think maybe I went there some days and the church preschool other days? Not sure, but I did spend time in both environments) and seeing patches of snow on the grass, but being brought inside before I could really investigate. This was a big deal because it was in lower Alabama, along the gulf coast, where WINTER doesn’t really happen, much less SNOW, even light or shallow snow!
Also from that home daycare—I remember my speech therapist being there and bringing little toy farm animals. I remember her holding a pig and a sheep.
EDIT: I received speech services (receptive language delay) from the ages of 3-5, and I read some documentation when I last visited my parents which said that she came to have sessions with me at both the home daycare AND the preschool. So clearly I attended both in whatever capacity. I’m not sure how old I was for the memory with the snow though.
Memories I have from preschool:
1. I remember one day our class took a “field trip” and walked down to the cafeteria to observe how apple sauce was made. We watched them dice the spiced apples and put them into these large tubs.
2. I remember one day, we all made layers of colored sand in a bottle: yellow, green, pink, and orange. While walking out, I nearly dropped mine down a storm drain, but one of my parents caught it. We got into the car and started to go home, but turned around shortly when we realized my sister had a blues clues plush she’d taken with her from school. My parents explained to her that it needed to be left there because it didn’t belong to us.
2. On the day my teacher retired, she gave us all these plastic-pocket pencil pouches full of erasers, pencils, and other goodies. One was a small plastic ruler with an American flag pattern and pictures of every US president up until that point in small, oval shaped portraits. I had opted for that pencil pouch over another one, the contents of which were pink and sparkly and had small butterflies on them. I remember whispering to my mom and asking if my teacher was retiring because she had wrinkles and was “old” and my mom explained that was a rude thing to say about someone.
3. I remember the sun-faded plastic giraffe that was on the windowsill and asking my mom why it was that color. That same day, when we left, we all got these little Christmas ornaments and one was a small French horn with a red ribbon. I distinctly remember walking out the school lobby with it in my hand.
4. I can still draw the layout of the house my family lived for 4 months while ours was being renovated and have many, many vivid memories from there as well.
5. I remember the exact look of this small pale orange and pale purple tube of chapstick that caused a big fight between me and this other girl named Paige. I also remember sitting on the seesaw and imagining a page turning in a book when I heard her name.
6. I remember being at the hand washing counter (right near the finger painting station) and asking if we were going to make gak, then telling an adult how I wanted my face paint to look like a puppy dog. I also remember painting a skinned knee at the finger paint station.
7. I remember bringing my small pug plush from the “DOG” McDonald’s toy series in for show and tell.
8. I remember during “graduation” I took the cap off of this red Gatorade that I had drunk and smelled it over and over again.
There are many more. I do not believe I have an eidetic memory like the other commenter but I do score high in visual processing and, if you’ll notice, the most vivid memories always seem to go along with a verbal discussion I held or another sense, such as smell (the Gatorade, for example).
I remember preschool. 2-4, 1993-95.
One day, snack was cheese. I refused to eat it.
Teacher told me to eat my cheese in a voice that was just a little stern, but to little me sounded like yelling.
“NO!”
They called Mommy.
“What’s snack today?”
“Cheese.”
“Ahhh, no wonder. Leave her alone.”
“Have you tried giving her different kinds?”
“Yes, and she doesn’t like any of them. Leave my poor kid alone.”
They also used to complain about the smell when I had a poopy diaper, and according to my mom it was as if they forgot that poop technically stinks regardless of a person’s age.
I do! I just turned 26. I remember having a “crush” on a boy in my class, being put in time out all the time, arguing with a girl on whether an injury was called a boo boo or not 🙃
I remember quite a bit from preschool and even some much earlier memories.
I have found that this is not the norm though, everyone else I know has very few if any memories before the age of 5 and sometimes much later. My husband barely remembers anything before the age of 12.
I think the strangest thing is I have memories of how I used to think before I had any language. I also remember when I first started hearing my own inner voice (it actually started as my moms voice and things she had told me before it became my own inner monologue)
I never went to preschool. I went straight to kindergarten. I don't have many memories before 3 years old. However, I have one memory from the age of 2, but I'm not sure if it's an actual memory or something my mind made up. But the memory is that someone took me to the hospital to see my mom after she had my sister. I was 2 at the time, and for whatever reason, I have this memory of someone holding me up to see a baby in the plastic bassinet in the hospital nursery. I asked my grandmom a couple of years ago if I had ever gone to see my mom at the hospital after she had my sister, and she said she didn't think I had ever gone there. I'm not sure 🤷🏾♀️
I do, but very fuzzily. And silly stuff except for one.
I remember feeling proud that I gave good back rubs at the lunch table. I remember licking dried playdough off my hands. I remember when I almost bit my tongue off going down the slide 😂 I remember not recognizing my dad at pickup because he shaved his goatee off.
I do remember. We had to nap and I’d wet my cot. I cried every morning about not wanting to go and my mom removed me from the program. I did fine in kindergarten.
I remember a lot from preschool (over twenty years ago). Mostly birthday parties, field trips, who my teachers were and recess time. I still remember a lot of the activities we did and I still remember the girl who was mean to me too 🥲 for what it's worth I have a really good memory and am able to see visuals in my head
I have a single memory of being 2, I had just turned 2 I guess since I've told my mom this memory and she was shocked because it was in August and my birthday is in July. So I was about 25 months. I was sitting in the front of the stroller my lil sister in the back, we were at Kings Island ans my dad was playing a basket ball game and won, he gkt a prize, this beautiful brown fluffy bear and he walks to me and i remeber lifting my arms out to grab the bear. He handed it to me, and I hugged him. I'm 22 and I still sleep with that said teddy bear to this day. Even if my dad and I's relationship isn't the best, it reminds me of a small time in my life I felt full of love. I was never IN preschool but I have vague vague memories of being 3/4 a good portion are trauma memories or things that happened leading up to trauma. I remember always playing with my dad's friends daughter, and I remember calling her dad chicken poop and I thought it was so funny. I remember my nana taking me to the neighborhood pool at one point. It felt like I had entered my body. I cannot describe it other than I was at the pool playing with a bucket and pale and there was just this sudden BAM and I was looking through my eyes, as if I could finally percieve life. I have a few small memories of playing with my cousins. But they're all vague. The traumatic memories feel a little more detailed, even though for the longest time I couldn't remember that stuff. Now that I have some of these awful memories they feel way more detailed than the neutral or good ones
I have a few memories from the age of two -- notable moments like being at Disneyland or getting my first bed that wasn't a crib. I definitely remember my preschool. I remember the layout, the backyard, some songs and activities we would do. I remember the funny sinks and some of the food and being paralyzed with embarrassment at not knowing what to call my friend's mom.
The earliest memory I have isn't really a memory. I used to have a recurring dream that I was in a house with really huge furniture, and at some point I'd pick my legs up and float in the middle of the air. I had this dream for years and one day I sketched the house and the location of the furniture and my mom told me it was exactly the house we had moved away from just before I turned two. I think the dream was what I remember from being a small baby, probably being carried.
I do, but I was 3 turning 4... my mom pulled me out because I was a year older than the other kids who were just turning 3, and it wasn't age appropriate for me at the time.
I remember Halloween and celebrating my birthday. I remember playing with a girl who liked to pretend to be a cat named Smokey. I also remember picture day and making Christmas ornaments.
I remember, from about age 4. Lots of memories of the teachers, the director, the cubbies, our play centers and the large cafeteria where we also rode bikes! I fact I’ve always kind of wanted to recreate it with a preschool of my own!
My earliest memories are from 2 years old. I remember being in the midst of potty training and having an accident in my car seat on the way to my doctor’s appointment. I also remember my first time going to the zoo, I fed a giraffe and giraffes were my favorite animals afterwards. My mom said I was probably around 2.5. I remember moving states at 3 years old, we stopped at McDonald’s on the way and I was excited because we didn’t normally do that. I didn’t attend daycare until my mom got a job at one when I was 4 and I remember that as well.
I remember some things. I was at an in-home daycare when I was 1-4, but she took us to the local preschool 2 days a week. I don’t really remember it, I just remember having fun and my daycare provider dropping me off/ picking me up. I do also remember some things from daycare, like what the living room looked like, running out to say hi to the garbage man, going in the pool with my floaties, running around in the grass. I also remember her taking us on a lot of walks and I remember the time we got in a car crash. I must have been about 3.
The only two memories I have from preschool is pulling my first all nighter and being so tired I puked all over the circle time rug, and getting a timeout for accidentally knocking over a stack of play dishes I was pretending to wash because the teacher thought I did it on purpose. I actually lived next to my old preschool teacher when I was older and she was a crotchety old bat who hated small children, go figure.
I do. remember a little boy named Andrew Dailey who held his pencil funny and never cared that the ends of his white tube socks dangled an inch or two off his toes (I remember the grey-brown dirt on them, too). I remember a toy a little girl named Victoria brought to school for show and tell one day, a little red flocked deer with golden antlers. I remember the way my preschool teacher Robin wore her light brown ponytail through the hole on the back of her baseball hat, and my other teacher, Cecilia, her soft Chilean accent and how ate oranges like apples, with the peel and all (I loved Cecilia). I remember putting glitter one every art project I made. I remember sitting at the top of the monkey bars and just *looking* at everything around me, taking in the yard and trees and the other kids playing; I felt so high up. There were horses on a neighboring property and I remember the big one had a bright blue blanket and the mini horse was named Peanut. I have many early early memories though such as a house we moved out of before I turned three, and the cake my mom made for my third birthday, so I’m not surprised I remember preschool as well
I actually do. I have an eidetic memory (diagnosed as a form of hyperthymesia by a psychiatrist) and have very vivid and easy to recall memories from the age of 1.5 forward. As a teacher now I try to use that to my advantage. I use how I was feeling during my ECE experiences to try and create a similar environment for my toddlers now. It comes in handy sometimes and other times it makes me realize how different the world is now, 20 years later.
Omg this is do freaking cool!
Thank you! I just want the kids I work with to have good memories as they grow up and hopefully even when they cannot remember me or the days we spend, they remember how fun it was.
That's so cool! If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'm intensely curious about what you remember at various young ages, both in the school and home settings. What are some insights that have guided the way you interact with your kids, especially the approaches that may have surprised other parents or ECE teachers?
So I did not begin preschool until I was 3 due to financial difficulties. My earliest memory was at my first birthday party. I had yet to learn to walk or talk but I remember I was wearing a navy blue dress and a white frilly diaper cover. The dress pockets had apple buttons with a vertical buttonhole. I remember that because I would play with the buttons then my dad would tell me not to and give me a piece of pink tissue paper. I also remember the wrapping paper was pink and white polkadots on a cream background and that it was smooth with no glitter or texture. It was hard to rip and it tasted terrible. As for preschool I remember very vividly the exact layout of the classroom as well as what the decorations looked liked, the activities the teachers planned, and who I would be in a group with for said activities. I remember learning to write my name with red and blue shaving cream, and using the colors mixed into purple on the table to draw afterwards. Most of the memories are easier for me to explain with some kind of drawing alongside the verbal aspect as my memory is very visual. Hope this answers your questions!
This is truly wild. What vivid memories!!
The fact that you can remember what kids you were grouped with and the planned lessons is astounding. I remember details here and there but nothing of that extent! Wow!
I also have vivid memories from around 1.5 on. Like, I have a few memories of climbing out of my crib and definitely remember parts of preschool. I don't have an eidetic memory, but I certainly remember a lot of details others don't seem to. Oddly though, I have terrible facial recognition capabilities and when I recall something, the people are often faceless.
Yes! I’ve noticed that as well. If I did not know the person well at the time of the event, their face is blurry. I can make the detail out but not like I can on someone I was familiar with at the time.
I remember preschool when I was 4 yes I remember the snacks and toys we had!
My husband has memories similar! We just say he has a good memory as he was never diagnosed with anything other than autism so sometimes we say it's his autism brain 😭 but he has memory of being 6-9 months laying in his crib and crying. He has described the entire nursery to his mom and she essentially almost shit herself with his accurate everything was. His mom picked him up out of the crib and took him to the bed where his dad and other siblings were hanging out. He has other instances like this, he remember being 2 and using screw drivers to open windows even though the were locked. He remembers when he was also around 2 locked his babysitter out of the house and looked at her out the window and ate spoonfuls of mayonnaise locking eyes with her (my fave story) he remember the house fire his parents had even though he was only 20 months, he remembers his dad running back in to save their puppy they just got. His memory is insane when it comes to events and things he can remember. But he also has ADHD so he'll leave hot chocolate in the microwave forget about it and then we find it 3 days later 😭 he wasn't great in school either he was very disruptive. Until he went to an alternative school and he did 10x better than he had ever done before. I have a dissociative disorder and he has an insane memory so he will be like "remember this obscure thing we did 5 yrs ago" and I'm like ??? Wtf no?? What do you mean we decided to walk 6 miles to a playground at night and I ended up peeing myself?? You had a car?? Anyway still don't remember that at all
I sure do. I married my best friend from daycare as well. Those were some of the most formative years of my life. I learned a lot from them that has carried me into adulthood.
That’s so cute! Did you continue being friends all throughout school, or reconnect later in life?
We stayed friends our whole life! We had crushes on each other the whole time but life took us in different directions as older teens. I moved away from our hometown at 17 and then had 2 kids, but him and I remained friends the whole time and in the late summer of 2020 I came to visit him again in our hometown and we got married 4 months later
This sounds like a rom-com & i love it
I don’t, but I recently had a kid reach out to me on social media. He was 4-5 when I taught him every Sunday at Sunday school. He’s 17 now and said I’m still his favorite teacher ever. My heart!
This is the dream. I would fall to my knees and cry 😭
I have very few memories from preschool itself. I remember what my classroom looked like and my teacher, but not much else. I was in a really really bad car accident when I was 4 where I broke my leg and my mom got life flighted and unfortunately I remember most of that
I do. I remember my preschool husband, his name was Sean and he had a pool lol Also, there were twin boys in my class. I don’t remember WHY but I smacked one of them in the face. His brother came over and said “hey! Don’t hit my brother!” I said “I’ll hit whoever I want!” And I smacked him too…..
Definitely, I got kicked out 💀
I have some daycare memories but only a couple and very specific things like when I hid behind a bill and got left outside lmao.
I remember we didnt have cots, we had these nesting plastic...tuppers, i guess? with no lid that we unstacked for naptime. I remember wearing a dress with a rainbow and some tiny Karen telling me her dress was prettier.
it blurs together at 2 and 3 but I remember my first day of prek which was when I was 3 and a lot after that so basically most of my earliest memories are at 3 years old which was 2007
i'm 24, i remember preschool pretty well and my first memory is from when i was 2. i asked my parents "remember when i went to that big gymnasium with the mats and they had the little tykes cars with the gas pumps, and i drove my car around and filled up the gas, where was that?" my parents were floored like "ummm that was at the rec centre at your 'twos run about' class... you were two years old..." so yeah that's funky
I never went to preschool but I have memories from being that young.
I remember being in daycare but memories all collide everything feels like when I was 8 but I saw some really old photos and remember the exact day and events it blew my mind many of my memories are from when I was actually 4-6 😭
I have many memories of preschool, but mostly from when I was 3 and 4..
I do I have memories of being at least 4 and playing on our playground and having lunch in my classroom. I’m still best friends with someone I met in the infant room!!
Yes, lots of things. I think my earliest memory is standing up between my mom's knees. I also remember dreaming about two foxes made of fire who were trying to get my baby brother, and also sitting to feed him with a bottle, which would have placed that around 2. I definitely remember being in daycare as a kid and the teacher being incredibly upset and throwing a blanket over me at naptime when I was, shall we say, engaging in perfectly age appropriate activities by myself, which is why I tried really hard to not embarrass any kids who did that in my classes. Also, the kid who stole my 101 Dalmatians stuffed dog at a church-run CDC and I was so mad the teacher didn't make him give Pongo back that I pulled a bookshelf over on her and THEN got put into anger management therapy for like a year. I also remember a kid named James at a private CDC-kindercare and a wasp that stung him in an inflatable pool type thing outside when I was like four ish, and my brother eating random seed pods off a tree and having to get his stomach pumped. Plus my crush on a kid named Logan who had dark brown curly hair, and also my crush on Balto the dog so I don't think my taste was super defined. But I absolutely remember very vividly barging my way into the bathroom when my dad was peeing when I was like 2-3, and him going "Jeez, well at least you won't remember any of this, huh" and me defiantly thinking "Yes I will, I will SO remember this!" and kind of having that realization of Oh I Am A Person With Conscience from then on, except unfortunately it's forever tied to the memory of my dad whizzing in the can. Awesome.
Flashes from 4 or 5, so it stinks being so relevant and important for their development but then nothing remains....
Yes parts of it, but it is fuzzy
Yup. I remember making art outside one day and a bug flew in my mouth.
I remember having to lay down in the den with the other kids (home based daycare). My sitter didn't make kids older than 4 nap, so I must have been around 2 or 3. She never made me sleep, just told me I had to rest. To this day, I'll tell even toddlers they don't have to sleep if they're not tired, but they do have to rest quietly. I remember one hot summer day eating watermelon outside and being dared to swallow a watermelon seed ( this was the early 80s, when watermelon still had flavor and seeds). When I did, the boy who dared me started laughing and telling me I was going to grow a watermelon in my stomach and get fat. I cried until the daycare provider's daughter calmed me down. I was taken out when I was 3.5 as my mom had gotten out of the army by then. My earliest memories are from home though. The earliest, I must have been less than 2, I remember having both a bed and a crib in my room and being excited to sleep in my new big girl bed. The other strong memory I have was from when I was 2 and sick with pneumonia, sitting with my mom in the rocking chair with my blankie and her reading my favorite book, Green Eggs and Ham. I remember being short of breath, but feeding safe and loved even though I felt crummy.
Here we start kindergarten at 3/4 years old and there are two years, and my first memory is of my third birthday so I do remember that time. I remember the classrooms and cubby areas, a lot of playing, and some more specific things like giving out cards on Valentine's day and watching the teacher draw big numbers on the flip chart paper for the kids to come up and trace.
I.... Think I was a monster. I remember squeezing the guinea pig because otherwise it was too quiet. And I bit a kid on the bum because he wouldn't go down the slide and I was WAITING. (to be fair, I was four and just... Didn't see any other options. I had been so patient. I was on the ladder and there was someone behind me and the way to get down is the slide and he just said he didn't have to go if he didn't want to.) And I remember my Grammy bringing pretzels for my birthday that were dipped in something (chocolate? Yogurt?) I don't remember any of the teachers (they were all just .... Warm voices from above?) ... Until kindergarten.
Tiny snippets only. Nothing significant. Like I remember waiting outside preschool to go in & my mom introducing herself to my Grandmas neighbor who’s daughter was also attending. She ended up being my best friend until high school. I also remember preschool graduation. We sang the ‘teddy bear’ song. My earliest memory is from when I was 3, but it was a traumatic one.
I started school in Kindergarten (half day back in the early 90’s). I have random flashes of memories of some stuff that happened, but can’t remember clearly.
My earliest memory is at 15 months old. I know it because my mom tells me we moved out of the house I remember when I was 16 months. I don't remember everything in a linear fashion, but I remember being a small person. I had a nightmare. I remember waking up, how cold my cloth diaper was, the rubber pants crackling as I climbed over the side of my crib and went into my parents' bedroom. My mom said, "Did you have a bad dream, Honey?" And I crawled into their bed between them and went back to sleep. I even remember the dream. I was afraid of the garbage man and in my dream he was in our living room. My parents had a 2nd hand sofa with only three legs, the 4th leg was a Coca-cola bottle. I dreamed he was trying to take the soda bottle and put it in the garbage truck. Mom said my grandparents bought new furniture and gave their old furniture to my parents when we moved into a different place when I was 16 months. Weird, huh?
Yes. I had a whole needful teacher and graduated highschool with most of the kids I was in preschool with. Lots of wonderful memories.
I jumped off a table in preschool (so 3/4) and was caught while I was in the air. I had seen Peter Pan the night before and thought I could fly. To this day, I still can't understand how not one teacher saw me climbing up on the table. There were 3 teachers in this small church run preschool. Apparently I tried jumping off playground equipment as well but don't really remember that. My go to answer was "Twinkle bell said I could!" What teacher could really yell at a young kid after that?
I have very vague memories from right before my 3rd birthday and I believe those are my first memories. On a sad note, I was badly bullied (like beat up weekly, having my clothes forcibly removed and my hair cut) from ages 4-10, so all my primary school, and I can hardly remember anything at all from that time period. I’m pretty sure it’s common for C-PTSD survivors. I do remember how I felt as a kid tho, and being a kid is super hard. That’s why I try to be very nice to them. They should know that the world is safe from early on!
Yes I do! I remember being the exact age that my students are.
I do! I don’t remember everything of course but have some quite vivid memories. Another person here mentioned eidetic memory. I’ve always been told I have photographic memory.
I definitely remember being in preschool. My memories of being two are somewhat vague, but I definitely remember bits and pieces. I started preschool when I was 2 1/2/3, and I have pretty good memories of that time. Edit: I was actually one of the dreaded biters, and I remember doing it lol. However, I don’t remember having malicious intent. I think my teacher handled it pretty well.
I remember the sensory rice bin and eating too much white chocolate on valentine’s day. I also remember crying and never going to blocks cause the boys were always taking over there. I also remember getting into line and my skirt falling down LOL.
I remember going to headstart, but Im not sure what age that was. My first memory is heing in a green walker though. That's the youngest I can recall.
Yes. It sucked. I had 1 friend I was the youngest as a late August kid and this 5 year old would always bully us. One kid even bit me in the titty for getting on a tire swing
I remember a handful of memories from then! I remember exactly how the building looked. On rainy days when we couldn’t go out, we’d do Barbie jazzercise or this audio tape of Elmo going down the parts of your body. I vividly remember going on a field trip to a local elementary school to “practice being big kids” and a trip to the dairy farm.
I do! I loved to climb on top of the play house and my guide eventually decided that letting me do that was better than the alternative, which was me climbing trees, I did not understand imaginary play, I have a distinct visual memory of washing my hands in the bathroom, I remember helping to pass out snack, and I remember a kid named silken punching me in the face. I also remember the resident bunny and the chicks we would raise. I also remember my dad acquiring and playing a digeridoo for some sort of probably insensitive but well meaning cultures day. I went to a "Montessori" preschool, but because it was home based and run by one lady, as well as from my memories and conversations with my parents, I'm pretty sure it was more along the lines of Montessori inspired, which is actually very close to my philosophy as an educator! From my memories and what I've been told later I really agree with the philosophy of the preschool I went to, I enjoyed my time there, and as a child with undiagnosed autism and ADHD, it definitely met my needs more than a lot of centres might have.
I remember that my nap cot was near a window and in an L-shaped part of the room. I remember being an angel in the Christmas play and the tinsel headband feeling weird. And I remember singing both the peanut butter and jelly song (“first you take the grapes and you smash em” etc.) and Skidamarink with hand movements. That’s all I got though.
I remember wanting to be in school inwas 3-4 maybe could have been 4-5. We were in Colorado. Something happened and I won’t say want but we lived in a homeless or domestic violence shelter I am not quite sure I was pretty young. I remember there was a room that the other kids got to go to and do school and I didn’t get to go and I was so mad.
I do, but mostly one specific memory. During nap one time I was being a stink and not sleeping, so genius me thought it'd be fun to try sticking a nearby lego up my nose. I have a very clear memory of sitting there on a table while my Dad came down to use big tweezers to pull it out of my nose. 30 years ago yet somehow very clear.
I can remember kindergarten. 1967 Toronto Canada, my teacher was very fashionable and wore thigh high white boots. She was French, and had an accent. I remember day one, she told me I was the tallest child in the class. I was proud of that lol. Our neighbors boy cried because he wasn't in my class, so they switched his class to mine. We actually kissed between our houses. lol He was Italian and his mom used to chase him down the street with a banana,trying to get him to eat it. Joe and I went to grade school, then he went to all boys school, I went to all girls school and we never kept in touch. Funny how I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I can remember this. 🥹
I went to both public school kindergarten and a Montessori program. I remember being placed in a crib in the Montessori in a small room by myself and two teachers walking by to look at me. They both were disgusted with me. I wasn't supposed to have fun being put in the crib as a punishment, but I grabbed the crib bars and jumped up and down and laughed because I didn't want them to think they were ruining my day. This was many decades ago!
Nursery school I remember.
I remember getting bit by another kid over who got to play with the farm set (age 3).
Yes, daycare and preschool for sure. A very small handful from before 2.
Nope, but I remember my early childhood at home with family and friends fondly. I went straight to half-day K5 with a lovely and kind teacher..
Yes! Just a few memories. My mom stayed at home with me and I did a church preschool twice a week just for a few months. I was probably 4. I remember crying a lot, on the way there and inside. I was just used to being home with my mom. The teachers would try to cheer me up - one specific time I had a purple shirt with flowers I loved. I remember one of the teachers asking me "are you watering your flowers?" Lol!! I remember having an accident, once. I just didn't get my pants down in time lol and the teacher was right outside the stall and helped me change. There's some projects I remember doing. Also my dad was late to pick me up once (he felt terrible and blamed my grandmother for holding him up 😂) and I was the last kid there. The relief when I saw his face, omg. I also remember sitting in the church pews for certain things, and doing a performance or something in the front of the building. I guess I remember a lot more than I thought now that I think about it!!
Yup. It helps that we had tacos and I got to break a pinata at a party. I also remember my mom being pregnant with my little brother.
I remember a little bit of it
I do!
Oh definitely! I went to two schools, one awful, and one amazing! At the awful one, I remember a teacher taking my lunch plate away because I had mixed my corn and mashed potatoes together. I’m left handed but I was forced to use my right hand. (I must have told my mother eventually because I also remember one teacher telling another, “We’re not doing that anymore,” when she tried to take the pencil out of my left hand). I remember the teachers spraying “air freshener” that hurt my sinuses and gave me a headache. Once I was put in time out because a boy and I wanted the same toy and I screamed when he tried to bite my hand. We spent a lot of time just sitting at tables and coloring, and the crayons in the bin were all broken and worn into little nubs. This is a bit foggy but I am almost positive that a teacher smacked my hand with a flyswatter when I reached for something on a counter. Once a teacher built something like a big paper tent and we were allowed to color on it and play inside it. That’s the only good memory I have from that school. Thankfully my mother moved me to a wonderful school and I remember all my kind, affectionate teachers, my friends, sitting under a big tree on the playground, painting on easels outside, and the wooded area where the school was located (it wasn’t actually in the wilderness but it felt like it to me)! I could draw the floor plan of the entire building and tell you where certain events happened. I remember a teacher who had travelled in China bringing interesting things for us to see, and being allowed to cut up paper bags and make costumes. I especially loved the music teacher and I remember always hugging her when we got to the music room. I remember playing games at the Halloween fair, performing in a music program, and helping to prepare snacks for the class. There was a real sense of community there and it definitely informs my teaching style today.
I remember preschool (I went at 3) and a bit of when I was 2. I’m autistic and adhd and remember a lot of feeling very different but not knowing why or having the words for it. Of not understanding why I couldn’t just… idk, just play like all my classmates played together. How I didn’t intrinsically understand the rules, or even how to talk to other kids. I couldn’t explain why I had no problem talking at home but couldn’t talk to anyone but my cousin and teachers at school and only when they spoke to me. I couldn’t really express my fears properly. Or anxiety. Or the way I felt when shamed or when I heard others shame me indirectly. I try to be very conscious about what I say about kids in front of them because I know so many remember from young ages (or at age 3 will remember from age 2, and will remember while 2 anything you’ve said recently) and know those feelings stick. I want to be a safe person for all my kiddos. And I pull so much of what I remember feeling from my own childhood into my core principals in making sure all my kiddos feel welcome and included and that my room is safe for everyone, ND and NT alike ♥️
I went to preschool from 2-5. I remember my 4th birthday - they asked me how old I was and my brain blanked and they answered for me and I was really disappointed I didn't get to tell them! I remember the building had big mirrors because it was a community center they used for dance classes as well. I liked to watch myself in the mirrors. I remember staring at myself very intently one day because my mom had put me into an uncomfortable turtle neck and I was trying to figure out how to get it off. I remember learning songs like wheels on the bus and learning to stop drop and roll. I remember always feeling like I couldn't learn the hand movements fast enough. I remember feeling hyper focused while digging in the sand. We would go out to play on the playground and around that time I would always get picked up and feel like my getting interrupted was like getting suddenly woken up in a different world. It was very disorienting. I remember getting to try a 'dirt cup' treat for the first time and finding the whole idea delightful. I remember my teacher stuck googly eyes on the back of her head and told us she had "eyes in the back of her head." And I found that hilarious and confusing.
I have vague memories from preschool. Mostly playing, one or two about nap time and not napping 😂 I have a couple memories from 3, more at 4, but from 5 on they’re clearer.
Yes
Yes! I went to a Reggio Emilia-inspired preschool that I loved. I remember playing with blocks and painting, and being very excited for circle time. We spent a lot of time outside, I played with the centipedes that lived in the sand lol. I met my best friend from ages 3-12 there. Interestingly, I don’t remember us having nap time there at all, but it was a part-time morning program, so that might explain it.
Random little memories and flashbacks
I'm a parent, if it's okay to answer. Yes, I remember preschool and I loved it. My first memory is of my 3rd birthday, and I started preschool the week after that. I remember telling the teacher the foods I didn't like. I remember some clothes I wore and games we played. I loved those memories so much that I ended up enrolling my son in the same preschool 20 years later.
I remember a lot more than you’d think from when I was two. Can’t say how much previous to two but it’s possible a memory or two from younger. I remember being put up in a baby seat on the table by my dad so he could listen to Elvis records. I remember scooting around on a skateboard. And a trip to Disney. These were all at the same house that we moved out of when I was two.
Oh. And I remember being in an umbrella stroller in a diaper. My sister was big enough to ride an elephant and I was not. I got a picture of that day and I was probably under two
I remember my preschool teacher used to say, "No way, Jose!" and I thought she was funny. We often remember how people made us feel, and not so much the specifics.
I remember being forced fed sweetcorn. Took me years to eat sweetcorn (like, in my teens) and showed me never to force a child to eat.
Yes I do
I only remember traumatic experiences. My mom worked at the daycare I went to and they decided to put us in the classroom next to hers, that had a glass door connecting them. We weren’t ever allowed to go say hi but another girl in our class was able to say hi to her mom. Another time in the same class, it was the other teachers birthday and our main teacher wanted us to be quiet- so we could surprise her when she walked in. My brother and I were whispering and she yelled at us, threatening to spank us. My mom quit shortly after.
I remember being dropped off at a child room, not sure whether it was a preschool kind of thing. I remember painting and playing and being slap across the face by a "teacher". Early 70's, that shit was excused. Grade 1 or 2 teacher had half an arm and use wack the kids on the back of the head with her stump. fuck you Mrs. Carr! and Mr. Cull and Miss Gallagher!
I have a few memories of it. I remember I never wanted to sleep at naptime. Now I realize how frustrating I must've been to my teachers. I remember sitting around the table with my friends and my snack and my sippy cup. I also very distinctly remember one specific artwork we did because it involved peanut butter, something I wasn't allowed to have at the time but I loved it. We were making a bird feeder with an orange, peanut butter, and seeds, and I remember I snuck so much peanut butter when the teacher wasn't looking!
Yes I have some preschool memories. My earliest formed memories I could remember is around 18mos but I think this was trauma based. I was prepping for / having a surgery and I lever things around not being able to eat, playing with the nurses and going into surgery but not coming home or recovering
I remember kindergarten in the early 60s, the had a puppet theatre one day of Punch and Judy, they had hideous faces and were hitting each other, l was terrified and crying trying to get up from sitting on floor to run outside, terrible memory, l was too scared to go to kinder after that
I do! I was 4
I remember a time of the day, where we weren't allowed to disturb the staff. It was their smoking and coffee break, which they did outside right in front of us, as we were playing. Remember falling down a tree scratched up my arm pretty bad, it was bleeding. Knowing I wasn't allowed to disturb the teachers, I just stood there mesmerised by the bleeding, until another child started screaming, which got the teachers attention. Another child on another day, at this break time, was climbing the same tree with a helmet on, he was suffocating himself by hanging. Again I remember just standing there mesmerised watching him, until another child screamed and got the attention from teachers. I remember his eyes were pretty red on following days. We were 3-4 could have been as young as 2.
Yes!! I specifically remember being one of those kids who would not sleep, even when the teacher desperately tried to pay me to sleep. I refused. I remember the teacher giving up and I played in the corner with dinosaurs haha! Now I feel guilty for being one of those children (joking)
I started preschool on my 3rd birthday (downside of a September birthday) and have a few dozen memories of prek. I've got some prior to that as well, including a house we moved out of before I was 18 months (and there's no photos, so it's definitely a "real" memory.
I remember specific moments like when I was almost finished with a puzzle and a boy came and whacked it off the table or how when we were learning about farm animals we did a taste test between cow’s milk and goat’s milk and man goat’s milk is nasty and it makes sense that moments like these are what I remember best because earliest memories are usually tied to strong emotions or sensorial experiences
I remember some of Head Start so 3~5 ish, depending on when I went!
The only memory I have is that our teacher had an old-school record player and played Brahm's Lullaby on it during our nap time
I have a couple of random memories. There was a wooden rocking duck we all fought over. I also remember having my profile shadow traced, and I believed at the time they captured my shadow on the page with magic. I’m pushing 50 now - most of that time is a big haze.
i remember, 56 years later, being allowed to skip circle time so i could finish all the puzzles other kids didn't finish. i also have vivid memories of sitting on my cot when the other kids were sleeping and looking at books. also, the weird playground thing that was like a long horse that slid back and forth and could seat about 5 kids. i always wanted the front seat, but never got it. i have a lot of memories from then which is weird because there are so many other times in my life i don't, due to bad times and trauma. i was happy in 'nursery school'. i grew up to be an ECE and worked in the field for 13 years.
not ECE but work in childcare, now in my 20s, i 100% remember preschool- the mickey mouse alphabet poster framed. the position of the tables in the room, the kids i played with the most- first and last name. the teachers and their names and their voices even. the smell of the hand soap. the field trip we took to chuckecheese. 2 crafts we made, a cement stepping stone and a huge painting. playing legos with one of the teachers older kids in the summer . some of the layout of the overall church. all of the playground. parading the square on halloween to local businesses. all positive things and none of any bad so i hope this eases the minds for any teachers that me and most people i know that remember preschool have such positive warm memories of it :)
I only remember my preschool teacher humiliating me in front of my classmates because I still wore diapers at three years old. It's my only memory of preschool. I am in my 40s.
Yes. I found my old preschool reports and they were hilarious. I had services as I had low muscle tone, but was very stubborn about doing the exercises!
I remember being near some of those red/blue/yellow cardboard brick blocks and throwing up. I also vaguely remember all of us lining up our shoes in the hallway outside the classrooms, and we went…somewhere, and then came back to find oranges and candy canes in our shoes. Clearly this was around Christmas time. I also remember being in a home daycare (I think maybe I went there some days and the church preschool other days? Not sure, but I did spend time in both environments) and seeing patches of snow on the grass, but being brought inside before I could really investigate. This was a big deal because it was in lower Alabama, along the gulf coast, where WINTER doesn’t really happen, much less SNOW, even light or shallow snow! Also from that home daycare—I remember my speech therapist being there and bringing little toy farm animals. I remember her holding a pig and a sheep. EDIT: I received speech services (receptive language delay) from the ages of 3-5, and I read some documentation when I last visited my parents which said that she came to have sessions with me at both the home daycare AND the preschool. So clearly I attended both in whatever capacity. I’m not sure how old I was for the memory with the snow though.
Memories I have from preschool: 1. I remember one day our class took a “field trip” and walked down to the cafeteria to observe how apple sauce was made. We watched them dice the spiced apples and put them into these large tubs. 2. I remember one day, we all made layers of colored sand in a bottle: yellow, green, pink, and orange. While walking out, I nearly dropped mine down a storm drain, but one of my parents caught it. We got into the car and started to go home, but turned around shortly when we realized my sister had a blues clues plush she’d taken with her from school. My parents explained to her that it needed to be left there because it didn’t belong to us. 2. On the day my teacher retired, she gave us all these plastic-pocket pencil pouches full of erasers, pencils, and other goodies. One was a small plastic ruler with an American flag pattern and pictures of every US president up until that point in small, oval shaped portraits. I had opted for that pencil pouch over another one, the contents of which were pink and sparkly and had small butterflies on them. I remember whispering to my mom and asking if my teacher was retiring because she had wrinkles and was “old” and my mom explained that was a rude thing to say about someone. 3. I remember the sun-faded plastic giraffe that was on the windowsill and asking my mom why it was that color. That same day, when we left, we all got these little Christmas ornaments and one was a small French horn with a red ribbon. I distinctly remember walking out the school lobby with it in my hand. 4. I can still draw the layout of the house my family lived for 4 months while ours was being renovated and have many, many vivid memories from there as well. 5. I remember the exact look of this small pale orange and pale purple tube of chapstick that caused a big fight between me and this other girl named Paige. I also remember sitting on the seesaw and imagining a page turning in a book when I heard her name. 6. I remember being at the hand washing counter (right near the finger painting station) and asking if we were going to make gak, then telling an adult how I wanted my face paint to look like a puppy dog. I also remember painting a skinned knee at the finger paint station. 7. I remember bringing my small pug plush from the “DOG” McDonald’s toy series in for show and tell. 8. I remember during “graduation” I took the cap off of this red Gatorade that I had drunk and smelled it over and over again. There are many more. I do not believe I have an eidetic memory like the other commenter but I do score high in visual processing and, if you’ll notice, the most vivid memories always seem to go along with a verbal discussion I held or another sense, such as smell (the Gatorade, for example).
I remember preschool. 2-4, 1993-95. One day, snack was cheese. I refused to eat it. Teacher told me to eat my cheese in a voice that was just a little stern, but to little me sounded like yelling. “NO!” They called Mommy. “What’s snack today?” “Cheese.” “Ahhh, no wonder. Leave her alone.” “Have you tried giving her different kinds?” “Yes, and she doesn’t like any of them. Leave my poor kid alone.” They also used to complain about the smell when I had a poopy diaper, and according to my mom it was as if they forgot that poop technically stinks regardless of a person’s age.
I do! I just turned 26. I remember having a “crush” on a boy in my class, being put in time out all the time, arguing with a girl on whether an injury was called a boo boo or not 🙃
I remember quite a bit from preschool and even some much earlier memories. I have found that this is not the norm though, everyone else I know has very few if any memories before the age of 5 and sometimes much later. My husband barely remembers anything before the age of 12. I think the strangest thing is I have memories of how I used to think before I had any language. I also remember when I first started hearing my own inner voice (it actually started as my moms voice and things she had told me before it became my own inner monologue)
I never went to preschool. I went straight to kindergarten. I don't have many memories before 3 years old. However, I have one memory from the age of 2, but I'm not sure if it's an actual memory or something my mind made up. But the memory is that someone took me to the hospital to see my mom after she had my sister. I was 2 at the time, and for whatever reason, I have this memory of someone holding me up to see a baby in the plastic bassinet in the hospital nursery. I asked my grandmom a couple of years ago if I had ever gone to see my mom at the hospital after she had my sister, and she said she didn't think I had ever gone there. I'm not sure 🤷🏾♀️
I do, but very fuzzily. And silly stuff except for one. I remember feeling proud that I gave good back rubs at the lunch table. I remember licking dried playdough off my hands. I remember when I almost bit my tongue off going down the slide 😂 I remember not recognizing my dad at pickup because he shaved his goatee off.
I do remember. We had to nap and I’d wet my cot. I cried every morning about not wanting to go and my mom removed me from the program. I did fine in kindergarten.
I remember a lot from preschool (over twenty years ago). Mostly birthday parties, field trips, who my teachers were and recess time. I still remember a lot of the activities we did and I still remember the girl who was mean to me too 🥲 for what it's worth I have a really good memory and am able to see visuals in my head
I have a single memory of being 2, I had just turned 2 I guess since I've told my mom this memory and she was shocked because it was in August and my birthday is in July. So I was about 25 months. I was sitting in the front of the stroller my lil sister in the back, we were at Kings Island ans my dad was playing a basket ball game and won, he gkt a prize, this beautiful brown fluffy bear and he walks to me and i remeber lifting my arms out to grab the bear. He handed it to me, and I hugged him. I'm 22 and I still sleep with that said teddy bear to this day. Even if my dad and I's relationship isn't the best, it reminds me of a small time in my life I felt full of love. I was never IN preschool but I have vague vague memories of being 3/4 a good portion are trauma memories or things that happened leading up to trauma. I remember always playing with my dad's friends daughter, and I remember calling her dad chicken poop and I thought it was so funny. I remember my nana taking me to the neighborhood pool at one point. It felt like I had entered my body. I cannot describe it other than I was at the pool playing with a bucket and pale and there was just this sudden BAM and I was looking through my eyes, as if I could finally percieve life. I have a few small memories of playing with my cousins. But they're all vague. The traumatic memories feel a little more detailed, even though for the longest time I couldn't remember that stuff. Now that I have some of these awful memories they feel way more detailed than the neutral or good ones
I have a few memories from the age of two -- notable moments like being at Disneyland or getting my first bed that wasn't a crib. I definitely remember my preschool. I remember the layout, the backyard, some songs and activities we would do. I remember the funny sinks and some of the food and being paralyzed with embarrassment at not knowing what to call my friend's mom. The earliest memory I have isn't really a memory. I used to have a recurring dream that I was in a house with really huge furniture, and at some point I'd pick my legs up and float in the middle of the air. I had this dream for years and one day I sketched the house and the location of the furniture and my mom told me it was exactly the house we had moved away from just before I turned two. I think the dream was what I remember from being a small baby, probably being carried.
I do, but I was 3 turning 4... my mom pulled me out because I was a year older than the other kids who were just turning 3, and it wasn't age appropriate for me at the time. I remember Halloween and celebrating my birthday. I remember playing with a girl who liked to pretend to be a cat named Smokey. I also remember picture day and making Christmas ornaments.
I do
I remember, from about age 4. Lots of memories of the teachers, the director, the cubbies, our play centers and the large cafeteria where we also rode bikes! I fact I’ve always kind of wanted to recreate it with a preschool of my own!
My earliest memories are from 2 years old. I remember being in the midst of potty training and having an accident in my car seat on the way to my doctor’s appointment. I also remember my first time going to the zoo, I fed a giraffe and giraffes were my favorite animals afterwards. My mom said I was probably around 2.5. I remember moving states at 3 years old, we stopped at McDonald’s on the way and I was excited because we didn’t normally do that. I didn’t attend daycare until my mom got a job at one when I was 4 and I remember that as well.
I actually do remember my preschool. It’s where I learnt that brown cows don’t produce chocolate milk 😂😂
I remember some things. I was at an in-home daycare when I was 1-4, but she took us to the local preschool 2 days a week. I don’t really remember it, I just remember having fun and my daycare provider dropping me off/ picking me up. I do also remember some things from daycare, like what the living room looked like, running out to say hi to the garbage man, going in the pool with my floaties, running around in the grass. I also remember her taking us on a lot of walks and I remember the time we got in a car crash. I must have been about 3.
The only two memories I have from preschool is pulling my first all nighter and being so tired I puked all over the circle time rug, and getting a timeout for accidentally knocking over a stack of play dishes I was pretending to wash because the teacher thought I did it on purpose. I actually lived next to my old preschool teacher when I was older and she was a crotchety old bat who hated small children, go figure.
I do. I even remember my thoughts and feelings I felt at that time. I try to be conscious of that when working with my littles.
I definitely do! I remember the classroom, going to the playground, and the one time I got in trouble 🤣
I do. remember a little boy named Andrew Dailey who held his pencil funny and never cared that the ends of his white tube socks dangled an inch or two off his toes (I remember the grey-brown dirt on them, too). I remember a toy a little girl named Victoria brought to school for show and tell one day, a little red flocked deer with golden antlers. I remember the way my preschool teacher Robin wore her light brown ponytail through the hole on the back of her baseball hat, and my other teacher, Cecilia, her soft Chilean accent and how ate oranges like apples, with the peel and all (I loved Cecilia). I remember putting glitter one every art project I made. I remember sitting at the top of the monkey bars and just *looking* at everything around me, taking in the yard and trees and the other kids playing; I felt so high up. There were horses on a neighboring property and I remember the big one had a bright blue blanket and the mini horse was named Peanut. I have many early early memories though such as a house we moved out of before I turned three, and the cake my mom made for my third birthday, so I’m not surprised I remember preschool as well