You can take a kid to an experience, but you can't make them remember it.

[netmouse]

I don't remember being 2. or 3. But it still sometimes catches me off guard when Rosie doesn't remember something from then, either. She's just 4. It wasn't that long ago!

Brian brought up the Eclipse this morning, and I was telling her about solar and lunar eclipses, using acorns to demonstrate the orbits involved.

"You've seen a solar eclipse," I said. "Remember? We went over to Steven and Laura's, where they had the chickens? And Steven set up a telescope and projected the shape of the sun on a big board?"

Nothing.

"And before that we went to a big field where there were lots of people, and you got to look through a telescope?"

Nope.

If I show her pictures, she might remember then. But right now? A big blank. I'm sure it's in there, informing her understanding of the universe. But all we can do is keep giving her these experiences. We can't control which ones will get recalled.

Comments

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

Memory is a fascinating subject. We know from research that much of what we think we remember is partially or totally fabricated. The brain is still organizing itself at age three, and while those kids will remember routines and familiar people, incidents are hazy at best. I'm highly skeptical of anyone who claims memories before age 4 or 5.

Rosie is one of the brightest children I've observed. Her social and communicative abilities were advanced at age three. If she can't remember that lends more support to the idea that retrievable memories just aren't there before that age.