Looking back over the years, a handful of decades-old photographs trigger some things. So do certain smells and sounds. Your mum might tell you how you ate so much cake on your first birthday that you were sick for a week. You don’t remember it but every time she tells that story, the thought of pink icing leaves you queasy.

For a parent, too, the feeling of sharing a significant moment with their very young child, knowing they are unlikely to remember it, is bittersweet.

It’s called childhood amnesia and according to global research it means that toddlers won’t recall specific memories until they turn three, at the earliest.

Today, those memories are more poignant, as it’s not just your mum telling you about “the time you turned one”. There’s now an Instagram album dedicated to the occasion. A Facebook video of you blowing out the candles that has been shared by a dozen of your closest family and friends. It’s recorded. Remembered. Evoking smells of burning candles, the feeling of buttercream on your finger — sensory recollections that evoke nostalgia and emotion.

INGRAINED IMPRESSIONS

This generation of children will remember more than ever before — because technology leaves them little choice, says RMIT psychology lecturer and brain researcher Amy Reichelt.

“It’s really interesting how much technology is changing how people remember events, and particularly now, when there is a whole generation of people who have never known a life without the internet,” she tells Saturday Extra.

“Now with so much social media, people will be able to look back and show their kids, ‘look, this was you when you went to the beach and this happened’. 

“Although they can’t remember it first-hand, it becomes part of who they are and becomes ingrained in them.

“We have photographs from when I was a kid but we haven’t got the videos of things like baby’s first steps.

“Nowadays, having smartphones and being able to take a video of anything at any time, people will look back much more and understand what happened.”

Reichelt says there are a few theories behind why infantile, or childhood, amnesia occurs in a youngster’s brain.

“One is to do with neuro and language development. From a neurological perspective, the infant brain is undergoing a lot of development during this time and rapid developmental change is occurring,” she explains.

“That fast turnover of neurons and brain cells means events can become pruned away, so the brain is refining itself during this period.

OTHER GREAT SATURDAY READS

NSW PREM GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN GOES INTO BAT FOR STATE’S FUTURE

GEORGE LUCAS INTERVIEW: ‘CHEWBACCA WAS MY POOCH’

DAVID SPEERS: CITIZENSHIP BLEWUP IN SHORTEN’S FACE LIKE A TRICK CIGAR

THE WOMEN FIGHTING BACK AGAINST REVENGE PORN

“Also, you need language to express a lot of your memory, to say that events have happened to you, so without having a full repertoire of language it cannot be expressed.

“That’s why there are oppressed memories — events that happen in childhood but can’t be expressed. Those things can affect people emotionally later in life.”

Social scientist and Sydney mother-of-two Ali Walker says we now record most aspects of our lives, rather than just immersing ourselves in memories of them.

While these records will aid a child’s recall of certain events, when it comes to memories they will remember how they felt.

“If mum was happy or anxious, and dad was relaxed or disinterested, the child internalises that feeling and then associates the feeling with the event,” Walker says.

“For example, mum was so happy decorating the Christmas tree and that made me happy, therefore I love Christmas.

“Or, mum was so stressed on her way to work, therefore work must be stressful.

“It’s lovely for children to look back on their happy memories, but it’s also important to keep the focus on the event, rather than recording the event, because this teaches the child to prioritise the photo over the experience.”

Walker, a researcher at the Centre For Social Impact and author of Get Conscious: How To Stop Overthinking And Come Alive, says that while it was commonly believed children don’t remember anything before they are three, events and memories were still important as everything that happens makes them who they are.

“We lay down these memories as pathways in our brain. We don’t consciously recall the detail of the first three years, but they are the most important three years of our lives.”

Mother-of-two Amie Harper loves cooking with her children Pipi, four, and Jimmy, almost two, because that’s what she recalls of her own childhood.

“Those moments in time that we spend with them shapes who they are.

“It’s such an impressive time,” Harper, who is a nutritionist, says.

“Zero to three is when they become who they are, and I love being able to record that for them. I’ve got a cookbook for children and that is based on Pipi.

“It follows her progress from baby to toddlerhood, and we spent a lot of that time in the kitchen together.

“I want my children to remember our family time together and how important that is — the simple stuff that I remember growing up, like going to a gelato shop for a treat.

“Reading bedtime stories and singing lullabies — these things are a legacy to give to our children.”

CREATING A LASTING LEGACY

Social researcher Mark McCrindle says that recordings of a child’s journey through life can even start before their birth with 3D ultrasound videos.

“Then the birth is usually recorded and all the moments after. This generation is the most recorded and analysed,” he says.

“Their favourite playlists and shows are downloaded — it’s all there and it won’t be hard for them to go back and relive that favourite song or video.

“Technology is certainly assisting children to remember more of their lives pre the age of three or four.”

He says technology would continue to evolve and delve into the realm of virtual reality.

But McCrindle also predicts a kick back against it, with parents vowing to be more present, and reverting to printing select photographs “old school” just like their parents did.

“Today you not only have children featuring in memories, they are also recording clips themselves — not as a subject but as a producer of content,” McCrindle says.

“Virtual reality and holographic or 3D recordings will emerge but at the same time we will see a counter-trend.

“With people so saturated in recording everything — almost filtering the moment through the lens instead of living it live — there will be a technology windback.”

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Castlecrag mother-of-three Monica Huxley says she and husband Robert had established traditions for their young family in order to create lasting memories and a strong family bond.

“Every year as a family we visit Dural Christmas Tree Farm and wander the fields for the perfect tree for our home,” she says.

“We all select the tree, tag it and it’s then delivered at the beginning of December. Then we decorate it together.”

Setting aside one day a week is another of the Huxley’s practices.

“Sunday is family day. We are all so busy with work, school and after-school activities, so it’s a family tradition of mine, from my childhood, to spend Sundays together.

“On that day there are no play dates and lots of family time to chill out, to reconnect and enjoy each other’s company.”

Like most parents, she also records memories for her kids to look back on.

“We take photos and videos with our phones these days, and with these photos I create a photo book for each year.

“It’s like a yearly family album, like our parents did with photo prints,” she says.

“Every second year I also make a photo book for Father’s Day.

“The kids love picking which of them is the baby with their dad, or laugh at how funny they looked covered in paint or squeezing Dad’s face.

“I hope our kids will remember everything we do for them — the trips to the zoo, swims at the beach and ice creams after school.”