My earliet memory happened when I was about 3 or 4 years old at my first day of headstart (something I went to before preschool). I remeber it because the teachers had to hold me back from my mom while she left and I was kicking and screaming because I didn't want her to go. But after a few minutes I was fine and I adjusted after the firt day. I believe I am still that same person in the sense I can often get scared of some new situations but I learn to adjust very quickly and am back to myself in no time.
Being left by your mother is something that is very traumatic for little kids, especially if it hasn't happened before. I don't remember going through this myself, but I remember when my sister was about 2 or 3 and starting preschool, she used to scream and kick the teachers and she wouldn't let go of my mom / our nanny. It was really hard to drop her off at school. When we would pick her up after her short day at school, she would be really angry with us all day for leaving her there. Her teachers, however, would say that once we left, she was totally fine and happy. This isn't my earliest memory, but it's one of my earliest memories (age 6 or so). I remember being really frustrated that I couldn't calm my little sister and let her know that school was fun.
One of my earliest memories is of crying my first day of daycare. I must have been three or so. It was the daycare center at my dad's office and even though I knew he was right upstairs, and I was used to him being away because I had a nanny at home, I was really freaked out. I think it's the combination of the absence of the parent and also the completely new environment that makes an experience like that so traumatic.
