ABSTRACT
As adults, we tell stories about past happenings in our lives for a variety of reasons: to entertain others with our triumphs and disappointments, to inform others of our version of events when the facts are in dispute, and to recreate with others the emotional bonds of a shared history. Twenty-four White, middle-class, two-parent families with children aged 3;6 were recruited through county birth records in the Atlanta, Georgia, area for participation in the study. At all memory interviews, experimenters first aided parents in event selection. Experimenters helped parents select events that had only occurred once and that parents had participated in with children. Events such as birthdays or Christmas were excluded because they tend to be routines even by age 3;6 and children have trouble recalling a specific instance. All memory interviews were transcribed in full in preparation for coding. Then, two coders marked the beginning and ending of discussions about each event.
