June 19, 2008
A Journal of Memories
When I try to recall the first few years of my existence, some fuzzy images appear in my mind. , These include the first home in which I lived in Maryland, the sweater that I left at the Catholic elementary school I attended, and my paternal grandfather taking me to a store to buy a toy.
As I read recently about early childhood memories, it seems that I am not alone. “Few people can remember events in their lives before three or four years of age. Developmental explanations for childhood amnesia focus on the young child’s cognitive limitations.
A particularly promising explanation for childhood amnesia is the social interaction hypothesis. Adults use language to model and teach the child what autobiographical memory is, how to use it and why it is important. Accordingly, autobiographical memory emerges after the appearance of language, as narrative memory is constructed through parent-child conversations about the past. Parental responsiveness to children’s needs, including engagement in supportive talk about past, present, and future events, influences this autobiographical memory.
Narrative memory first appears at about age two when children begin to talk about the past, but early memory narratives are sparse and usually fail to preserve the causal and temporal structure of complex events.” (Source: http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=lw926)
One major reason why we, as Lydia’s parents, invest time and energy into Lydia’s blog is that it chronicles her early childhood experiences. One day, when she is old enough to read it, Lydia will be able to see what those years were like.
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