When my son was four years old he frequently told me stories that began with "When I was an old man.." Each time we had these talks he would repeat certain details - how he lived in a cabin in the woods and that he had a dog and a boy. Occasionally he would go a bit further and reveal a little more detail. Sometimes I would gently ask him questions, but I was afraid to make too big of a deal of it or to pressure him for more information.
Once I asked my son if I was at the cabin. He said yes and then hesitated before adding, "but you weren't Mommy then."
I heard these stories over the course of six months or so, and oddly, he almost always brought the subject up when we were alone in the car together. Eventually he stopped telling the stories altogether as though he had forgotten all about it.
I, too, apparently told my parents some strange tales when I was about three years old. The things I said were related to an aunt who had passed away less that a year before my birth. I learned of this from my mother and older brothers when the topic somehow came up at a family gathering ten years ago.
Strange stuff - I'm not sure how I feel about my son's revelations or the things I said when I was small. It seems that children have a need to speak about these memories in order to work out issues from their pasts.
Once I asked my son if I was at the cabin. He said yes and then hesitated before adding, "but you weren't Mommy then."
I heard these stories over the course of six months or so, and oddly, he almost always brought the subject up when we were alone in the car together. Eventually he stopped telling the stories altogether as though he had forgotten all about it.
I, too, apparently told my parents some strange tales when I was about three years old. The things I said were related to an aunt who had passed away less that a year before my birth. I learned of this from my mother and older brothers when the topic somehow came up at a family gathering ten years ago.
Strange stuff - I'm not sure how I feel about my son's revelations or the things I said when I was small. It seems that children have a need to speak about these memories in order to work out issues from their pasts.