Why your childhood memories may not actually have happened.

[JDPriestly]

82. I have several siblings. When we get together, we talk about our childhood memories.

Each of us remembers something different. Interestingly, one of my sisters had a very traumatic experience. I was present but not involved, so I ran to get my mother. I can still see the event in my mind. My sister who was involved, who suffered the most trauma before and after the event does not remember it as clearly as I do. When we talked about it many years after the event, she did not remember that I was the one who ran for our mother. I remembered very clearly not only what happened but what I told my mother in order to get help.

I remember some things that happened in my childhood very clearly, but others I do not remember at all. Having siblings give me the opportunity to check some of my memories to see if they are true or not.

By the way, psychologists have ways to determine whether a child is telling about an experience he or she had or whether a child is repeating a story that has been told to the child. They can videotape a child in certain kinds of play for example and then watch the tape and listen to the child. They have ways to determine whether the child has been coached or not. I don't suppose they always work, but I suspect that the courts rely on the opinions of experts who are psychologists and social workers.