Kids often get bent out of shape by things in their childhood. It’s part of growing up, and part of the job of a parent to spot these things and figure out what to do about it.

I've got plenty of memories from about the age of 5 - almost all of them scary or embarrassing for little me. And I'm nearing 40. When I was 16 could I still remember stuff from the age of 3? I wouldn't be surprised.

I remember loving ducks and trains for some reason when I was about that age. But I don't have a lot of specifics.

I can remember being in my parent's bed on a moonlit night, them asleep, being scared at the shadows of the trees on the windows. The shadows looked like monsters.

This happened in a small town we moved from when I was 4 or 5.

Strangely a lot of these memories were "un-indexed". I had no association to recall them with until my son was about that age and when he had similar experiences I recalled mine.