Is it normal to not remember anything before you were 6 years old?

Hello, any thoughts, stories? I've been trying to bring up memories of my childhood but I can't remember anything before I was six. Even my daughter has memories from as early as two! I am concerned that maybe something happened to me during that time frame that is being blocked.... Trying to fight my depression and anxiety, trying to find answers...

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Yes this is absolutely normal, some people have wider spans of memories and some have short, doesnt really depend on your age. Your daughter must be young that is why she remembers alot and it might be natural. I to be honest am pretty young but I dont even remember anything before I was like 13 or 12 whereas my sister, she even remembers tiny little details of every memory even the color of the shirt. It is normal really and you've got nothing to worry about

Thank you so much for your reply deeD

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I don't think it is abnormal at all. It seems kids can remember back further but as we get older we forget. I think five is the age for me and most people as adults.

I have heard hypnosis can bring it out. I think the memories are still there we just cannot call them up at will.

Avatar , have you got anything like dyspraxia, dyslexia etc ?? The reason I'm asking is because I have severe dyspraxia and I struggle to remember things older than a couple of years. There are one or two things but most of school /college is a blank hole and there are specifics like names and faces that I just can't manage at all..social media sites are a nightmare because people get in touch I have no idea who they are or why I know them but it seems really rude to ask.

i don't think many people can remember before schooling - and not much at that. i remember when i was like 4yo and my dad was shaving and he touched my nose w/ his shaving cream - but before that, not much. i remember the 1st day of school (but i never went to kindergarten and my BD is late in the year, so i was only 5 then) - ran around a lot. when i was a baby, around 2-3yo, i supposedly got my leg stuck in the crib and caught in a screw and don't remember a thing of that - even though i have a 2" scar from it to this day (never took me for stitches) - tho i sometimes heard stories of that awful night since i was supposedly covered in blood. so - maybe nothing is 'blocked' - maybe you just don't remember cause your mind wasn't remembering yet.

Hi barmum,
Thank you for your input ️I'm sorry to hear that you have severe dyspraxia, have you sought medical treatment?

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I think that's normal. I have "memories" from before 6, but I don't remember them myself, I just remember knowing they happened, if that makes any sense. Like, I can't think back to picture and even minorly remember what actually happened, but I'll know it happened via photos and stories, etc.

I hardly remember anything prior to age 8. And those few things I do remember, I'm not sure if I remember them because I actually remember them, or because my parents told me about them when I got older.

My problem is I can remember clearly the strangest things from my early childhood but I can't remember what I was doing 5 or 10 minutes ago.

I don't think it's abnormal. In my case I remember some things vividly from a very early age (around two years old) but most of the things that have occurred in the past couple years I don't remember that well, it's sort of a defence mechanism. :P

Thank you everyone for your posts
The other thing that is bugging me is that I used to have a great, vivid memory of everything that happened, recalling even dates, clothes I was wearing, etc....until I started taking celexa two years ago, I've noticed a steady decrease in my memory, to the point that now I hardly remember what I did two days ago! It's frustrating and scary sometimes! Did anyone experience a loss of memory ability due to use of an antidepressant??


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I remember very little before being in the first grade. I guess some remember very well before age 6, but I get the feeling that the vast majority do not.

My sister is 10 and half years older than me. She told me one time that she would hope that all of us will someday be in Heaven and it will be like the old days. Personally for me, as far as I can remember after age 6, I would hope that Heaven will not be like those years. Maybe times in my family must have been very happy before I was six years old, but after, I remember as being unhappy. We didn't have a real close family, and me, my brothers and sister have gone our own ways as adults.

Hi will19,
I can totally relate to what you say about being unhappy and not having a close familiy . I personally think that the best and happiest years of my life were the shared moments with my best friends when I was 18..

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Hi Avatar, Dyspraxia is like dyslexia in that it's an additional learning need so there isn't really any treatment for it but to be honest I wasn't diagnosed until I was over 30 and had gone back to uni so I tend to think I managed 30 odd years not knowing it was there so it's not that big a thing that I know now. Plus the old name for it was clumsy child syndrome and on my better days it does give me a bit of a chuckle to be able to say that I am clinically still a clumsy child but thank you for being so nice about it x
As far as the medication issue goes, I know that one of the things I found on seroxat was that it made me feel mentally very fuzzy which did affect my ability to concentrate and remember things so it may be worth discussing what you're getting with your prescriber

6 years is very near to the average point at which childhood memories can be reliably recalled, when the phenomena of childhood amnesia ends which is on average around 5 years of age. Perfectly normal!

Re: more loss of memory over time, I can testify that at my advanced age (omg, I'm middle-aged.. when did this happen?), I remember fewer things than I could when I was 10 and 20 years younger, and while I too wonder if various outside factors have impacted my recall (and don't doubt it), it would be hard to sort that out from the simple fact of memory loss happening due to getting older, due to thinking of those things less often, and due to there being ever more memories over time for the brain to manage. I find it helps to hang out with old friends who are happy to remind us of embarrassing events from our youth that we tried to forget

Thank you everyone for your answers, I feel less preoccupied .

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