People Recall The Minor Childhood Experiences That Ended Up Impacting Their Entire Lives

The Feels

The positive memories stay with us forever.

Design Inspiration

"i went to my older sister's friend's dad's house once when i was a preteen or young teen and i really liked it. took me years into living on my own to realize i'm subconsciously mimicking the interior decorating of that place lol"

– hawksthatareblack

Crayon Lady

"I'm the oldest of many kids, and that meant that all of my stuff was always getting wrecked by my younger siblings throughout my childhood. For some reason, I imagine just the goodness of her heart, when I was around six we had a neighbor lady who was friendly with my mom (we moved all the time when I was a kid so we didn't always have relationships with our neighbors) and she kept a box of unbroken crayons and some unscribbled-in coloring books at her house for me and would let me come over and just sit at her coffee table and color all by myself sometimes. I was too young to thank her adequately or even realize how unusual the kindness of her gesture was, but it has always stuck with me. I have crystal clear memories of the quiet of her living room and the joy of crayons that nobody had broken or torn the wrapping off of, and the crisp pages of the coloring books that nobody but me ever colored in."

"I still think about her sometimes and hope good things are happening for her. I am always trying to live up to the memory I have of her and pay her kindness forward."

– invisiblenorms

Better Score

"When I was moving states, my history teacher took me aside after class and showed me over to the computer where he showed me all my grades. He was like 'Oh, this is a B? Nah, I think it's an A' and upped like all my grades a little bit, just because. I don't even know how I reacted or what I said, and it's not like my grades were bad, but the sheer kindness shown by him to do that for really no reason, it impacted me. I like to at least try and pass on some of that kindness from day to day."

– Sewayaki-Kitsune

Encouraging Father

"My Dad telling me 'you can do this, I know you can'. For the life of me I can't recall what I was doing, but the memory of him saying it is clear as can be. I call that memory up when stuff's going sideways. Never underestimate a praise."

– amanda77kr

How To Cross The Street

"When I was a young child, maybe 5 or 6, living in a fairly urban place, my grandfather taught me how to cross the street. We had a park across the street, so we were often crossing it. He held my hand and reiterated over and over that you always have to look both ways. Even when the street is one way, you never know when some crazy person may come barreling down the road the wrong way. Not looking both ways is a mistake that can ruin (or end) your life."

"I don't remember specifically learning to tie my shoes, or how to cook pasta, or how to brush my teeth - all those things I just know how to do without recalling being taught and those activities don't trigger any specific memories. But I have always remembered crossing the street over and over with my grandfather and the life-or-death nature of the lesson he taught me."

"My grandfather is long since passed away now, but every time I cross a street I think about him."

"And I always look both ways."

– dalovindj

Getting Physical

These Redditors share the memories relating to their physical experiences.

Body Image

"When I overheard one piece of a conversation when I was 7 years old. My aunt was talking on the phone to her relative, and I heard her say 'and now I have to babysit this fat 7 year old', I don't remember anything else. That led to disordered eating and me counting calories from age 7 to about age 14. I still have body image issues, though I don't think it can all be contributed to that one event. But it was certainly the first thing that ever caused me to think of my body negatively."

"The gag is... I was nowhere near fat, I couldn't even be described as a little chubby. My aunt has issues with food and her health and body image and projected that onto me. She watched me for a good part of my childhood while my parents worked and I was always so scared to ask for a snack when I was starving. I would get terrible migraines from playing outside in the summer that would be fixed by eating but I always felt so judged for doing so. I remember another thing that stuck with me was once I wanted some pretzels before my mom picked me up and she said 'Jesus, do you want your a** to be as big as the house?!' Like wtf... I was in the 3rd or 4th grade then. Its f*ked up now that I'm remembering it."

– sanoanxa

Locked Knee

"Got my knee hurt while playing on the street (my knee bent the oposite way and came back to place). Came home crying, my mom sent me to buy some stuff to the supermarket, no excuses, yelled at me for supossedly faking it, I went (supermarket was about three blocks away) and was crying in pain on the way back, so much that my friends carried the bags for me when they saw me. I was so afraid that I asked them to give me the bags when we reached the door, gave the bags to my mom and went to my room."

"Years later, senior year of highschool, same knee pops. Spent a week in bed, couldn't do any exercise for 3 months."

"Second year of college, same knee pops. Now it is a week in bed and the entire summer with a full leg brace and crutches."

"Now my knee can get 'locked' if I try to bent it the wrong way."

"To this day she says it never happened. That and other similar stuff."

– kotran1989

Bad Aroma

"I tried to give myself superpowers."

"When I was 5 I decided I wanted to be a rowdy rough boy. I mixed all the liquids from the fridge with all the spices from the cabinet. I then grabbed every chemical bottle I could find and poured it all into a bucket. Right before drinking it I decided to smell it first and I inhaled as deep as I could. I passed out almost immediately and fell forward onto the bowl. The noise alerted my father who rushed in to find me passed out. I woke up several hours later unable to smell. Most of my ability to taste is gone as well."

– Levosity1

Scars

As much as uplifting memories stay with us forever, so do the negative ones.

Traumatic Ribbit

"Cousin threw a frog at me when we were little and it got stuck in my shirt. Have been terrified of frogs ever since."

– Tay_phay

Not The Favorite Child

"My sister was killed in a car accident. The following day I overheard my dad tell somebody on the telephone 'No, unfortunately it wasn't [my name].'"

"I've slowly been disconnecting myself from them. They have no idea I know."

– c419331

The Day Childhood Died

"One day my father took away my toys."

"I know this sounds basic but I was about 5 or 6 and out of nowhere my father and 6 brothers came into my room with tubs and took away everything I owned. They took my toy box, stuffed animals, the posters off my wall, my barbie blanket and of course any coloring books really anything you can think of. It killed me inside but I thought if I was good and stayed quiet I would eventually get them back. I'm sad to say I never did. That day I think my childhood died and I turned into a shell for the next 10 years of my life."

– basic_suburban_mom

It's amazing how a small detail from the past can have lingering effects in life.

I was traumatized after watching the movie Jaws. Ever since then, I've been afraid of the water and going to the deep end of pools.

As an adult, my cynism took over my fear of being devoured by a giant shark. But my distaste for the beach remains.

I'll go to the woods any day as long as I don't hear any dueling banjos playing in my vicinity.