This week’s Friday Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Maggie Ellison. She asked our writers,
“What is one of your favorite childhood memories?”
Read on to see what some of our World Moms had to say…
Dr. Lanham of Arizona, USA writes:
“My favorite childhood memory is sitting with my grandfather on my grandparent’s front porch in Indiana while it rained. We would have a soda, sit in the swing and watch the rain fill up the lake across the street. I’ll never forget it!”
Salma of Ontario, Canada writes:
“I always had part-time jobs as a kid. So my best memory…opening up my own back account when I was 10. I remember having to fill out the deposit slips, and feeling as if I was a big grown up.
After the first time (my mom helped) my sister who was 8 at the time, and I would do our own banking.”
Alison Lee of Malaysia writes:
“When I was around 9 or 10, my sister and I would go to the wet market every weekend with my Grandmother. We would stay over at her house on Friday night, and be up bright and early the next day to go to the market. I loved the sights and sounds of it all, still so vivid in my memories.”
Polish Mom Photographer of California, USA writes:
“My parents were born and grew up in a very small village on the North-East side of Poland (they moved to the very South-West of Poland after my dad got a job over there)… So, me and my siblings didn’t have any family (besides us) near us. The only time when we would go back to the places/families that my parents had to leave was the summer break time. And it was always fantastic. I was waiting for those two months for the entire year. We lived in a city, so going to the places when sounds of cows, horses, tractors would wake us up every morning was something so different and great. We would have warm fresh milk every morning. Everything was homemade and home grown. I used to watch my aunty making her own whit cheese, kefir, sour cream. The most beautiful memory that I have is the one of fresh baked bread in a stone stove. When it was still hot me and my cousins would eat it with fresh made butter and our aunty would yell and us that our stomach will hurt from eating that warm bread. She was right but we couldn’t stop – it was sooo delicious!!! I would always cry when we had to leave them!!!”
Jill of Illinois, USA writes:
“Vacation! Maybe this memory is particularly strong because the sun is finally shining high here in Illinois….
We always took a summer-vacation-road-trip. My parents would pack and prepare for a few weeks before we took off. New pajamas, cashing in the vacation-change jar, loading up fun snacks into the cooler.
Chilled Barq’s root beer and sharp cheddar cheese. Hotel pools with diving boards and hot back seats. Radio up and everyone smiling. Relaxing, celebrating time as a family.”
ThirdEyeMom of Minnesota, USA writes:
“My favorite childhood memories were mostly of all the wonderful family vacations we took together. We used to pack up all five of us and our Irish setter into our good old diesel, wood-panel station wagon and drive everywhere! We drove from Minnesota to Wyoming, Montana, Canada, Mexico, Florida, Arizona, California and every winter to Texas which took two straight days and nights of driving. We fought like hell, had to get out and walk behind the car a few times, but overall these are memories I’ve kept with me my whole life and instilled a great love and passion for traveling, being adventurous and a deep connection with my family! We still enjoy traveling together even today, yet now we fly!”
Polish Mama On The Prairie of Illinois, USA writes:
“Picking mushrooms in the Maryland hills with my mother, brother, and several Polish families we were friends with. The pine trees smelled heavenly. The sun was filtered through their branches down toward us.
The trees would separate us out a bit. You could look to your right and left and see fellow Poles with their heads down, looking for that telltale bump in the brown pine needles on the forest floor. The adults would take turns looking up to check on us kids, who were all transported to a fairy tale in our imaginations.
Krasnoludki could be hiding in any little hole in the forest.
Finding a mushroom that was ok to eat, showing it to an adult and hearing that we were doing a great job, putting it in our little red buckets, pure heaven.
I can’t explain how much I love forests, pine trees and ferns but they take me back to so many wonderful moments like that.”
Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“One of my favorite childhood memories took place on St. Maarten when I was about 6 years old. My mom and I were walking on the beach. As we got closer to these huge rocks, I saw one of those big conch shells just sitting on the rocks. I was so excited, I just started running toward it without saying anything to my mom. I remember her yelling out to me, wondering what on Earth I was doing. When we got closer, she saw it, too and understood immediately. The shell was empty, so I was able to take it. I had my mom carry it back on the beach for me because I thought I would get into trouble if I took it. I was so happy with my huge seashell!! It was better than gold! I still have my conch shell to the day and use it as a door stopper most of the time.”
FireCrystals of India writes:
“During my summer vacations in Kuwait, we would come down to India every alternate year. And my favourite childhood memory was exploring the paddy fields and streams behind our home with my cousins. We would have breakfast and then set off to the fields. My grandfather would be out there farming or irrigating the land, while we romped about getting in his way and trying to fish in the streams. Then we would go back for lunch. Next, we would again return to the fields by around 4 and continue our quests. It was exhilarating to be there in those days.”
Courtney Cappallo of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“Two memories popped in my head. The first was walking the Rehoboth Beach, DE (USA) boardwalk with my father. He would by me boardwalk fries, pizza, roast beef sandwiches and ice cream. I remember feeling so special that it was just him and me. He allowed me to eat whatever I wanted.
My second fond memory of my childhood is that after every doctor’s appointment where I required getting a shot, my mother took me out for a milkshake. I loved that one-on-one time with her and I loved that she treated me to something so tasty!
Two simple memories, but the physical time that my parents spent with just me meant so much, especially since I am the youngest of three children. Alone time with my parents was something I always treasured!”
Eva Fannon of Washington State, USA writes:
“Thinking about this question has reminded me of how lucky I am to have so many precious childhood memories. It’s hard to pick just one! In all of the ones that come to mind I am surrounded by family (parents, my grandmother, aunts, uncles and/or cousins) and involve food (think of a grandmother’s delicous baking) or the outdoors…beaches, woods, walks. I only hope that my kids can one day say the same!”
Dee Harlow of Mexico writes:
“My favorite childhood memories have to be my “mommy and me” moments. My mother would routinely take me shopping with her to Bamberger’s and afterward we would go have lunch together in the store cafe. It was such a grown up thing for me to do. I didn’t have to sit in a booster seat or anything. I would walk around the store with her like a big girl, sit in a grown up chair, and order off the grown up menu. I loved it!
Another is when I was older and my mother taught me how to sew sequins and pearls onto dresses. She was (and still is) a very talented wedding dressmaker and I got to stay up late sewing hundreds of teeny tiny little pearls and sequins onto the dresses she was making. I felt useful helping her meet her deadline and I loved handling all the beautiful materials and fantasizing about the wedding that was about to take place. While working on one particularly pearl-laden dress, I remember thinking that this must have been the heaviest but most beautiful wedding dress in the whole world!.”
Kyla P’an of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“For one week every summer, since my father was a small boy, our family has gone up to a fishing camp at a remote lake in Ontario, Canada. Mornings and evenings are spent out on the lake fishing and the afternoons (when the fish aren’t biting) are spent swimming, reading or playing on the shore. There are just 12 cabins (which, when I was young, had no plumbing or electricity, instead you had to use an outhouse, bathe in the lake and use kerosene lamps) and a main lodge, where everyone takes their meals and gathers when they’re not out on the lake. There are no TVs, no internet or cell phone access. Instead there are jigsaw puzzles, games and quality time with one another as entertainment. I loved it when I was young, before technology occupied so much of our time, and now that I’m older, and so much busier, I am even more excited about it. We haven’t been back in five years, since the birth of our first child but are going this year. I can’t wait to share it with my kids for the first time..”
MamaRobinJ of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“One of the first things that comes to mind is my dad driving us to school in the mornings. We live on the coast and he used to drive up to the top of a hill where there was a lookout. We could see the ocean for miles, and way in the distance there were freighters and we’d count them. I’m not sure what it was about freighters that he liked in particular, but now I still think of my dad whenever I see one.”
What about you…what is one of your favorite childhood memories?
And do you have a question you would like to pose to our WMB writers? If so, email us at wmbsidebareditor@gmail.com to see what they have to say.
Don’t forget to come back on Sunday to take a peek at next week’s travel World Moms Blog itinerary!
– World Moms Blog
Photo credits to Eva Fannon http://www.flickr.com/photos/evafannon/. These photos have a creative commons attribute license.
Alison (Malaysia) — what’s the wet market?
Dee — I remember “Bambergers” department store!
This post is fantastic! I love how every single response is so uniquely nostalgic!
As for me…
I had a childhood friend who lived on the creek, which was bike riding distance to my house. We used to spend hours out on her row boat or her sailboat. I was probably about 8 or 10 years old.) We would row to this little sandy park, and then get out and play on the swings. I would always come home DRENCHED in my clothes (why didn’t I bring my bathingsuit?) because we would manage to find ways to knock each other off the boat. We laughed A LOT!
And one more…
I spent my summers as a kid often at the horse race track with my dad. He taught me about stats through horse racing. He also told me things like UK horses were better on turf, NY horses ran well in the mud, KY horses were exceptional, etc. All of these stats and facts and records of the jockeys went into picking each horse. One summer, I was on fire. I even caught a horse that paid $120. News of my hot picks picked up around some of the ” track regulars”, and I always felt so proud when people would come up to my dad and ask “who does the the kid have for this race?” As a mom now, I think back and say “Why was that kid spending so much time at the race track???”
Sorry Jen! In Malaysia, a ‘wet market’ is how we refer to what’s similar to farmer’s markets in the States. I’m not sure why it’s referred to as ‘wet’, but when I was a child, I thought it so because the area where they sell fish? The floors were always wet! As were the place where vegetables were sold!
Thanks, Alison! 🙂
I love all the different answers to this simple question. Nice to meet you all!
I love all of the answers and all of our new writers! My fav childhood memory its spending weeks in the country at my Granny’s house with my cousins. My cousin, Fran, was the same age as me and we would have all kinds of adventures in the woods and by the creek. We spent hours playing Scrabble, Boogle and Uno with our Granny while listening to George Jones records.
My Granny died when I was 16 & Fran was killed in a car wreck when we were 22. I cherish those memories now so much.
Love the memories! So many different ones. The road trip ones are so familiar to me too – we did that a lot. And I just got back from one with my own husband and child too!
I remember Bamberger’s,too!!! Didn’t they get bought over by Macy’s?
Loved reading all the memories!!!
What a great range of stories. My favourite memory is being at the beach on white, white sand with my sisters and cousins – all naked, brown as berries and digging in the sand, swimming and having a blast.
What a great topic! My favorite childhood memory is when my brothers and I made a tent from our bunk bed!!! The door was made from the blanket. Will never forget it!!