Introduction
Being children, people do not always think about their memories as there are many things which happen and at the same time there are not many events which deserve remembering. There is an opinion that children’s memory is better as their mind is clear and opened for new knowledge. Growing older people start thinking more, they get more knowledge and they are to remember a lot of things, therefore, their memory becomes weaker, still some childhood recollections remain.
Thinking about personal memories, I understand that most of them are some bright events which impressed me greatly. Most of the events from my childhood have been forgotten. I see how my parents tell some stories from my childhood, but I do not remember such situations. I began to think about the reasons why people remember some episodes from their childhood which seem rather ordinary, but may forget some bright recollections.
For example, I do not remember my first day at school, I do not remember most of my birthdays, but I remember the day when I went to the kindergarten for the first time and when I got acquainted with Mary, a girl I never saw after that day. What are the reasons and the process according to which children’s memories remain in human brain? I am inclined to think that we remember not events but emotions, and if an adult remembers an event from his/her childhood, it is obvious that this very situation has impressed him/her greatly.
Childhood and memories
Human memories are unstable and limited. People may remember something and when this recollection becomes unimportant it is forgotten. Human brain is flexible, the processes which occur there are not studied up to the end. Dwelling upon children and their memories, it is possible to say that most of them are based on emotions. All the recollections I have from my childhood are impressive. Some of the emotions are positive, others are negative, however, they are strong.
Trying to remember an ordinary day from my childhood where nothing happened, I understood that it is difficult for me. Moreover, it is hard for me to remember what I ate a couple of week on breakfast. Why? I suppose the reason is because it is unimportant.
Children’s memories are based on personal feelings and emotions and it is by no means correct. I remember the day when I was about 4-5 years old. I was playing in the yard, as usual. One girl came to me, she was of my age. She asked whether I would like to play with her. Why would I reject? We shared some toys. I do not remember exactly what they were. She was very serious, however talkative and funny. She told me that playing with children may be a very complicated thing, sometimes impossible. I remember that I was surprised, but I was too small to think about it and we continued playing. When she left that day I never saw her again.
When I was a child that day was interesting for me, nothing more. This episode appeared in my mind several years ago when I saw a TV program about children with rare diseases. There was a boy whose skin was covered with hematoma. He had a disease when even a touch made him feel terrible pain and a place of touch was covered with numerous hematomas. This was the moment when I remembered my childhood and that episode with a girl. I remembered that surprise and inability to understand I experienced, that specific feeling of ignorance. Now, I felt the same feeling. I do not know what it means to be unable to play with others, and this was exactly the feeling I experienced in childhood.
Recollecting childhood memories in an adult age, we usually do it through emotions. When we hear some songs from cartoons we usually remember the time when we saw these cartoons. A man is able to remember through smell, sound, and touch. I am sure that most people have ever experienced that feeling when some situation in the present helped them return to their childhood. All these recollections appear through emotional condition. First, we remember the emotion and then the surrounding environment appears in memory.
The importance of memories
Memories are very important in the life of people as they help adults know that all the actions leave imprint. No matter how much time passes, all what we do, feel, and think today will leave its recollection. The situation with that girl was very important in my life. I did not realize it up to the time I saw that TV program and understood that the feeling of fear to be unable to play with others followed me the whole my life.
When I got acquainted with people I tied to spend as much time with them as possible. I always spend my free time with my family and friends I am really afraid of the situations when I will be limited in dealing with them. I have never understood why I felt in such a way, and now I see what the reasons is. All our actions and situations in childhood impress us greater than we may think.