Think back...way back to kindergarten....now preschool...farther...BLANK! Why can't I remember anything before that? If anything, a 2 or 3 second image of a place I cannot recognize but know is real. Did the Men In Black zap me with their memory eraser pen thing when I was 4 years old?
I did some googling and found a few sources that say our memory starts to develop at the same age for everyone, 4 or 5 years old. Yes, there are some fakers out there that say they remember being in their crib, looking up. Personally I'm glad I can't remember all that time spent under my mom's shirt (gag).What does this mean for kids under age 4? After I read about this phenomena I exclaimed to Foster Mom, "Darn, we wasted a trip with M to Disney!" Why did we spend the money, lose the sunglasses in the McDonalds' toilet on the way, and deal with excited pee spurts as we approached the gate if she's never going to remember it? Haha! If I knew she wouldn't remember, I would have spent all my time in line for splash mountain instead of waiting for an hour in the sun to see Tinkerbell.
All joking aside, even though memories of events may not transfer into adulthood, some feelings, abuse, and skillz just might. It's creepy and cool all at the same time. It's like you're in Robot mode for the first 4 years of your life, then when you're older and you look down to see some rust on your heart, you think, "Hey, what happened? Why do I feel so itchy-crusty?"
At the same time, as foster parents, we certainly don't see our 4 year old kid as a Robot. M laughs, cries, creates, remembers her bio fam and old friends, toys, and even BabyGirl the mystery dog. I guess Foster Mom and I can't play too many pranks on M's developing memory. It's cool though, because the memories we're saving up of her acting priceless are fully locked in.
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