Your Earliest Childhood Memories???

[SayidSomal]

I am doing this little essay on developmental psychology – childhood development – in it - is sub section on ‘Infantile Amnesia’ – a common inability of adults to remember the earliest years of their childhood. all the supposedly ‘scientific’ researches involves nothing more than asking grown up adults “what is your earliest childhood memories?’ – then as usual theorising about it till the cows come home. Hence I decided to do a little research on SOL nomads – couple things interest me; in a recent research in new Zealand – they done two experiments:-

• Cross-cultural i.e. differences in adults’ earliest memories as defined by they ethnicity/race. – they basically found that Maoris had the earliest memories followed by white New Zealanders and Asians basically could not remember any thing. - in my opinion - Asians were truthful - Moaris biggest liars

• Gender - nothing new here – as usual girls had the earliest memories and to add insults to injury – theirs was more vivid than those of the boys.

here it is for further info

 

Now I am interested in finding out about the SOL nomad’s earliest childhood memories – please pinpoint the age as accurately as you can – I am not interested in reading about you learning to ride camels when you were two (I know that is a lie) – also there is this phenomenon of stories being told to you morphing itself on to memory – so please distinguish – stories told to you and your actual memory – that no one else knows. Bad or good – it can be single thing as pointing to something or crawling and putting xaarwalwaal in your mouth

[Juxa]

my first memory is being 4 and loving to read the thursday xidigta kacaanka newspaper, well i liked the cartoons.

 

ps: when asking for favours, be polite, riding camels age 2 is plausable

[Curly]

lol... funny you should say that last part... my mother never believed I remembered things like the layout of our house when I was two, she'd always say someone must have told you...but they're just far too vivid.

[N.O.R.F]

Going to Xamar with my parents and losing our bags

 

Apparently I was only two but I remember our cousins' house in great detail.

 

See waaye?

[NGONGE]

On Sunday, as I was watching Slumdog Millionaire with my old man, he chuckled to himself and said “I used to be like those little urchins when I was a kid”.

 

“You were a street kid?” I incredulously asked.

 

“Yes” He replied.

 

“Where were your parents?”

 

“At home. Mother always chased me around the streets and tried to bring me back”

 

“How old were you?”

 

“I was a street kid between the ages of eight to twelve. Best four years of my life”.

 

“ How did you live?”

 

“ Oh, I did all sorts of things. I helped old ladies carry their shopping for a price. I sold phoney souvenirs to British tourists and I even rode a taxi bike”.

 

“A taxi bike? What is that?”

 

“A bike that doubled up as a taxi. It had a side seat where the passengers would sit”.

 

“So you were not really a street kid. You were an early pioneer of what the westerners refer to as child labour”.

 

“No. No. I was a street kid. I never lasted in any of these jobs. I just did them to feed myself for a day or two and then quit”.

 

“Did you ever get in trouble?”

 

“I got into lots of fights and was also arrested many times”.

 

“But they let you off on the same day, right? You didn’t go to jail, did you?”

 

“Oh I did, for weeks at a time. It drove my mother insane”.

 

“Why did you do it?”

 

“It was fun. In fact, I remember a day when I was loitering around the local court – this was a habit of mine, to see which of my friends was being sentenced that day – I saw Cumar Qardhaas standing in line and scratching his head”

 

“Cumar Qardhaas? You mean the old man that lives in West London? Cabdi’s father?”

 

“Yes. He lived in West Cadan back then”.

 

“What was he arrested for?”

 

“There was this posh factory in the outskirts of town. All the street kids used to go there to sneak into the canteen and have free dinners or lunches. However, if you were ever caught, you were taken to court and sentenced to a few weeks in prison. Everyone was caught at one point or another”.

 

“So he was going to be sentenced for a couple of weeks in a young offenders centre?”

 

“ Nonsense. He was going to prison. Real, big boy prison”’.

 

“Was he crying? How old was he?”

 

“Same age as me, nine or ten”.

 

“What happened then?”

 

“He begged me to take his place in the line so that he could sneak out and go tell his mother the bad news and give her whatever little money he had collected that day”.

 

“Eh? You make it sound like it was a supermarket line!”.

 

“It sort of was. All the offenders had to stand in line and wait for their turn to see the judge and get sentenced. There were only a couple of policemen keeping guard and it was easy for kids like us to switch places without being noticed. We all looked alike anyway, with faces that were full of scratches and heads that were dry and dusty”.

 

“So did you take his place? Did you not worry that he will not come back?”

 

“Yes I took his place. I was not worried because I knew that if he didn’t come back I would go after him and beat the hell out of him”.

 

“So what did he do?”

 

“Well, I waited in line for ages and there was still no sign of him returning. The line kept moving until it was my turn to see the judge and there was still no sign of Cumar. I finally had to shout that it was not me who was under arrest and told the judge the whole story. He asked me if I knew Cumar’s house and sent me with a couple of policemen to retrieve him.”

 

“And did you? Or did you trick them and take them to the wrong address?”

 

“Wrong address? I took them right to his house, son. Worse still, when we got there, the front door was wide open (as was the habit in those days) and we could see him sitting on the floor and happily chatting to his mother as they eat some rice”

 

“Ha ha!”

 

“The police stopped me from strangling him there and then”.

 

“What was his mother’s reaction?”

“Oh she hated my gut. She kept on cursing me and asking why didn’t I give the police the wrong address and why am I helping them send her son to prison”.

 

“ Heh. The poor woman had a point, I suppose”.

 

“What point? I was going to go down for a crime I didn’t commit, you hollow piece of wood”.

 

“But seriously, is this all true?”

 

“Are you calling your father a liar? Why don’t you ask Cumar, I bet he fondly remembers those two weeks in prison and probably still blame me for them”.

 

disclaimer:

Names and some detailes have been changed to protect the (not so) innocent.

[Kamaavi]

^If that does not fall in the line of learning to ride camels which I doubt, from my professor's point of view, you got a photo type memory when you can remember what happened as early as the first 18 months fetus hood. Two years old Somali kid is tried as an adult according to theory of nomadic life survival.

 

Somali ababay abaari ma layso qudha waagii la yiri ayaan xasuustaa

[Malika]

LOL@Ngonge,Sayid wants to be able to analyse everyones memory then argue if theorist like Freud,Adler,Erikson etc, were right in their perception of when and how psychological development took place.

 

Sayid,it seems that a few of those whom responded remember something whilst at aged 2,what does that mean?

 

Stages of development?

 

ps,I clearly remember being fed Quarkers Cornflakes,I was around 2-3 and had chicken pox..This memory is awaken every time I have cornflakes,something about the taste perhaps.

 

Also remember when we[i aged 4] moved to a new neighbourhood,my brother and I spent the morning peeking into people's home's through their windows..fascinating stuff,especially of the house next door,a Hindu old man had lots of 'God statues' all over his bedroom.

[Juxa]

^^ they excel in the art of been-sheegid

[NGONGE]

Malika, the child care theories? That stuff seems to be following me everywhere. Only the other week I had to write a report on it for something the Mrs was doing. I was sat there writing about Muslow's needs (didn't even know they applied that to children) and bloody Piaget and even that American linguist that all young university students and left wingers are fond of (what was his name again? I despise him).

 

Come to think of it, you people that work with children lead very dull lives, don't you?

 

P.S.

I may just choose my childhood memories with you in a bit. I was actually having this discussion with my Mrs when we were writing those reports. She reckons I'd make an interesting case for those theorists.

[Malika]

^A lot of these theories,shape up the 'educational provision for children [0-19]'..Just look at the language used on your childrens school reports you will see the link to Maslow,Piaget,Vygotsky etc etc.

 

kaa aniguu igu iga yabiyee waa Freud with his fixation of sex,and how it supports development of a child..

 

anyways,lets not hijack Sayid's thread..

[Sherban Shabeel]

I think my earliest memories are from when I was two.

 

P.S. Lovely story ngonge

[SayidSomal]

^you weren't riding a camel - were you?

 

people the average earliest memory is about 3 years and half - besides - all agreed that age was difficult to pinpoint - prior to that age. i remember many things when i was young - but the most vivid of all was my circumcision when I was six(traumatic experience – especially when you were asked to look at none exist airplane) – all the other memories I do not know what age I was – even when I was bit older.

 

ps: when asking for favours, be polite, riding camels age 2 is plausable

i thought you said - i was the politest (even thought I heard blackest) reer qardhood you ever seen. As for learning to ride camels by the age 2 being plausible - I say unto you – more plausible is you never ridden a camel Somali style (bare back)

 

p.s - your earliest memory is believable compared to the others here - except Malika's.

 

Sayid,it seems that a few of those whom responded remember something whilst at aged 2,what does that mean?

It means that the words; remember plus camel & ride are trigger words for psychological forces buried deep inside the subconscious Somali brain to create the most vivid memories. i wonder why the Xaarwalwaal(dungbeetle) didn't create trigger same effect??

 

I clearly remember being fed

Quarkers Cornflakes

,I was

around 2-3

and had

chicken pox

..This memory is

awaken

every time I

have cornflakes

,something about the

taste

perhaps.

Now that is something i can work with - thank you malika. second one is good too - but' i'll make it out as if someone else said it

 

Come to think of it, you people that work with children lead very dull lives, don't you?

there is never a dull moment in working with children - hence i am being little grumpy seating in the office analysing twaddle written by dead or dying white men. when ever i am presented with one of their quotes - i retort with either an agreeing extention statement or disproving one and attribute to it - non-existent reer qardhood or muslim author - with expressive grind that says - "your not the only ones with experts in psychology or sociology"

[Juxa]

lol@blackest, seriously inaad mardhaw iscadaynayso labo iskuma heyso.

 

besides you call when u want something, typical reer qardhood

 

i remember alot, i was curious child and loved nothing but sitting with the adults. i think children were not allowed to stay and dhagaysid sheekada dadka waaweyn, flying shoe will hit you but i always managed to stay silent and listen

[Baluug]

My earliest memories are from age 3 when I ate cat food just to see how it tasted, it was awful I also remember one time I cut my own hair.

[MAXIMUS POWERS]

My earliest memory was when I was four. I dont remember much of life before 2000.

 

According to research memories are always shifting. Each time we remember something, its a recollection of the last time we remember that particular memory.