Top 10 Unforgettable Childhood Memories That Last Forever

The human brain has the most complex structure among the living organisms. We carry about 100 billion neurons on our shoulders, and once one dies, it never grows back. Isn’t it amazing that we can remember things we did 20 or 30 years ago? The part of the brain that stores our memories is called the hippocampus, but long-term memories are spread in different areas of the brain, which is why we can only recall fractions of our childhood experiences.

America has about 73 million children between 0 and 17 years old and almost 4 million babies come into this world every year in the US alone. Have you ever looked at their childhood years only to realize how differently you grew up? They will only see a black and white TV in a museum. Our childhood games are shadowed by video games, too. Kids are addicted to technology and parents have a hard time controlling their screen time. Children don’t meet face to face anymore; they play online. Social media plays an important role in their daily routine, also. One thing we and our children probably still have in common is the fact that most of our childhood memories are gathered at school. With an average of 6 hours in a school day and 180 days in an academic year, children spend a lot of time mingling with students of all ages - 1,080 hours a year (12.3%), not including the time spent doing their homework or the time dedicated to extracurricular activities.

At RealEstateAgent.com, some of us are glad to be out of school, while others would give anything to be students again. Fortunately, those who want to become real estate agents don’t need a college degree! Just 90-hours of pre-license education before taking the real estate agent state license exam. So, choosing a career in real estate could get your kids out of the educational system sooner than you think.

We have also asked some of our real estate agents about the real estate transaction with the most powerful impact on their lives. Selling their childhood house and moving to a new place turned out to be among the most overwhelming life events. But they offered to share with us their unforgettable childhood memories, so we have compiled a list from the 10 most frequent answers.

Latest studies have revealed that childhood amnesia starts at the age of 7 when most of our infancy becomes a random selection of images that don’t make sense. Some of us are lucky enough to have black and white images or color images well preserved in thick photo albums. But do you realize how many memories today’s children get to keep? I don’t have a newborn baby photo shoot. I don’t have my first steps captured in a video. I don’t have my first words recorded either… But even if I had a hard disk full of images, how often would I skim through them? Once a year? So, the most valuable recollections are those that remain engraved in our long-term memory.

 

Childhood foods and flavors

You can’t forget the taste of your favorite food and the smell that filled the house during holidays. Even though males seem to dominate the food industry, mothers are irreplaceable in the kitchen. They know best how to bake those perfect cookies, brownies, and the apple tart. Other childhood desserts that we all crave for as adults are rice pudding, pancakes, and doughnuts, for sure. But don’t you agree that vegetables and fruits used to taste better back then? It must be due to our parents’ gardening techniques that relied on natural fertilizers. Nowadays, organic gardening is picking up and you should join the movement, too.

Do you remember the first dish you cooked all by yourself? Let us guess… It must have been your favorite childhood food. Macaroni and cheese? Or chicken nuggets, because they were easy to throw in a pan and fry quickly? Now, as adults, we would love to cook like our mothers and we try to recreate the same recipes over and over again as if our children should have the same memories…

 

Childhood memories with neighbors and friends

I had to move from my childhood apartment when I was about 12 years old. Whenever I pass by it, I can’t help looking up. I get nostalgic from time to time… But I never get too close. I could only see that the new owners have replaced the windows. Most of our old neighbors still live there, and even some of their children, who used to be my friends. We used to play hide and seek, hopscotch, blind man's buff, and cards or board games. We enjoyed the thrill of playing Monopoly, planning to become the most successful real estate investors. None of my childhood friends chose a career in real estate, but it’s not too late for a career change.

Nevertheless, we owe part of our accomplishments and what we have become to our childhood neighbors and friends. The neighborhoods where we grew up and the private or public schools we attended have carved not only our personality but our destiny as well. We will always cherish the house where we’ve accumulated our unforgettable childhood memories.

 

Childhood memories from summer breaks

Probably some of the best memories are the sunny days of summer spent with the family, traveling and discovering new places. I have no idea how we ended up in our hotels before the digitalization of the travel industry. My parents didn’t book our rooms through Airbnb, for sure. My dad used to have a road map instead of a GPS Navigator. We would get lost or make detours, but it was so funny. We also used to spend less time taking photos and preparing for them. I think we all used to be more natural, enjoying the moment, the presence of each other, the undivided attention… Family trips are unforgettable.

Camp experiences have also been important for us, as kids. Most of us made new friends at summer camps and overcame our fears and insecurities. We returned home completely transformed! Every year, about 14 million children and adults attend camp in the U.S., so half of these are reportedly 90-99% full.  

 

Tree swings and tree houses

We used to make toys out of raw materials such as a wood stick or a pile of stones. I never complained about my toys. I think that helped us improvise. Simple toys pushed our creativity, forcing us to invent dozens of new games for the same toy. But nothing was more relaxing than a tree swing. Swinging is soothing even now when I’m all grown up. Despite the fact that I’ve never had a treehouse, I would love my kids to have one. I still have to find the perfect tree, though. I think treehouses are a great introduction to real estate for children, and I’ve even seen business people taking them to the next level and renting them to tourists. Treehouses are some of the most romantic getaways.

 

First time getting paid for your work

Nobody can forget the joy of getting paid for fulfilling simple chores around the house. You might have received only a few cents or a dollar for taking out the garbage or for doing your bed, but it made you feel useful. Most entrepreneurial skills develop during childhood years, but parents must allow their kids to push their limits and try out their business ideas. We all learned from our mistakes after all. The road to success is paved with errors. And sometimes, those errors cost money. But that’s how kids learn to save money and plan their resources if they want to get serious about their business. Starting a business is important, for sure. So parents should decide whether children should buy their first home before starting a business or a real estate investment. If buying a home proves more important, then parents should encourage their children to save for a down payment and prepare for a long mortgage as soon as they start earning a regular income.

 

Childhood pranks

Whether at home with siblings or in a summer camp, pranks are a cheap way to have loads of laughter. From easy and soft jokes with toothpaste and toilet paper to more elaborate pranks that required some basic knowledge of physics and calculus, kids would get the giggles only imagining the outcome. The best pranks are recounted for many years.   

 

First innocent love

Charles Dickens once said: “A man is lucky if he is the first love of a woman. A woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man.” There are no statistics about how many relationships one goes through before settling down. However, it is said that you can never forget your first love. Today, Americans tend to postpone the day they say “I do!” so they end up getting married later. For example, in 2018, men got married at a median age of 29.8 years, almost three years later than in 2003, while women got married at 27.8 years of age, which means a delay of 2.3 years since 2003. Besides, cohabitation tends to be more accepted - in 2018, 8.5 million unmarried opposite-sex couples lived together, which will have great implications in the way Americans buy real estate.

 

First pet

All children love pets, but only 68% of US households have a pet. Furry friends boost children’s psychological wellbeing and the bond between the child and his first pet is absolutely unique. Having to say goodbye to a pet is also a traumatic event that leaves scars in his memory. The first pet is more like a bosom friend. Children will soon find a cool pet name and take their responsibility of taking care of that pet seriously. If the dog is sick, they are sick too. If the dog is happy and frolicsome, they are happy, too.

 

Natural catastrophes or political events that occurred during childhood

Have you been living in one of America’s worst cities for natural disasters? Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes or wildfires, all have a lasting impact on a child. Extreme weather can be frightening. It seems that we are equipped to remember traumas in great detail, according to Margaret McKinnon, a psychologist who evaluated all the passengers from a flight that had to make an emergency landing and shared her research in an article published by BBC.

Children can never forget political decisions that had painful consequences for them and their families, either. For example, the Holocaust has left unforgettable childhood memories in the memory of people like Anne Frank.   

 

 

First move

Natural catastrophes and changes in political regimes can lead to a change of residence, but that’s not always the case. People move for various reasons and we have already talked about how to make moving less stressful, especially for children. In my case, I was not at home when my parents moved all our belongings to the new property so it was quite a smooth move. But I can’t forget my childhood home - it will always have a special place in my heart because most of my childhood memories are tied to it.

 

Every day our children get a new chance to add unforgettable childhood memories. As they make new ones, we tend to forget ours. Remembering childhood memories becomes a tough task as we get older, so let’s share them with our children, or write them down somewhere. You will probably not have a famous biography published and sold in millions of copies, but your loved ones will always enjoy reading them. What are your top 10 childhood memories? Feel free to share them with our readers in a comment.