eli5: how is it that human doesnt remember anything from first several years of their life?

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We took our now 3,5 years old son for a trip to USA last fall … so he was 2,5 years old that time. We live in Europe. Next week i am traveling there again so i spoke with him about me traveling to USA and he started asking me questions about places we were last year. Also he was telling me many specific memories from that trip last year and was asking me about specific people we have met. That is not surprising, it was last year. But how is it possible, that he will not remember anything from it 15 years from now if he remember it year after? I mean, he will not remember he was in USA at all.
I would understand that kids and toddlers keep forgetting stuff and thats why they will never remember them as an adults. But if they remember things from year or more ago, why will they forgett them as an adults?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

My parents took me to Florida when I was about 2 years and 9 months old. I vividly remember being on the plane, seeing Spaceship Earth in Epcot for the first time and being in absolute awe, being in an animal park where a parrot landed on my stroller, my brother holding a baby crocodile in my face when I woke up from my nap in said stroller and the rain coming down horizontally in Disney World because of strong winds and being absolutely soaking wet. I remember being scared shitless of the pool vacuum at our rented house, thinking it was going to eat me alive.

Now, in my mind I can remember all of this but I know there are hundreds of photos from that trip that I’ve seen hundreds of times. Can I really remember them or do I just recall them from stories and photos? I guess there’s not really a way of knowing for sure.

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