What It Means To Dream About Your Childhood
Have you ever had a childhood dream where a person or object morphed into something new? This moment in your dream can sometimes be confusing but it actually has a deeper meaning! As you may already know, your dreams can play an integral role in understanding your feelings and reveal how you feel about people in your past or present life. When interpreting dreams, we first analyze the dream’s symbols to draw conclusions about the overarching theme and meanings. Finding answers about your childhood memories can be explained with dream symbols. Check out the dream submission below before reading about its meaning!
Morphing Memories
“I had a dream where I was at my school and I was looking for my brother and I found him in an arcade room (is not there in the real school) and then I ran down the hall to catch up with my friend and she was wearing my backpack and when I try to grab her she didn’t turn around and look at me (at this time it was the end of the school day) I went outside to a crosswalk and my brother was there riding a bike but when he was across from me he turned into my stepmom she crossed and a saw scratches on her face ( it was dark and stormy at this point) and a flash of lightning lit her face up and when I looked there were no more scratches ( it stayed that way) then as I was crossing the road she wasn’t there and after I crossed the road I put on roller skates ( now it is sunny) and I went down the way I usually walked home but then it turned into a street from my childhood and then it turned into the way to my moms house (there was a turn and on that turn there was train tracks) (in the dream I knew that when she was taking me to school she showed me how to get to her house) I was going down the turn and there was an intersection (like a yield intersection) and I couldn’t control where I was going and I ended up going to a park that was surrounded by trees but there was like a fence separating the trees in the park/playground then I met a kid there and then we started talking while we were on the playground then the dream ended there”
Submitted by Autumn Luna
Dream Symbols
School
Dreaming about school represents the lessons you’ve learned in life. These dreams can also represent insecurities that have yet to be resolved from your childhood. You may have had anxiety about your ability in school, which still affects you now. Bringing a backpack to school represents carrying emotional baggage + responsibilities that are weighing you down. A school hallway is a symbol of exploring oneself. You’re beginning a new life path, but you do not yet know what is to come from this journey. If you dream of a school while you are still in school, it is likely just a reflection of your daily life and stressors.
Childhood
Dreams about your childhood can point to feelings like growth, vulnerability or dependence. Living through your childhood in your dream is an indication that you have some childhood anxiety that has not yet been resolved in your adult life. However, you may also be dreaming about things from your childhood because you wish to go back to a time that wasn’t so complex. Seeing your childhood home in your dream reflects significant parts of yourself that developed while you lived there. Memories from your childhood appearing in your dream could be a reminder from your subconscious to pursue passions you had in the past.
Shape Shifting
A pretty common, but rather confusing element in many of our dreams is morphing or shape shifting. Sometimes we turn into a different person or an item turns into something else in our dreams. Dreams like these deal with the changes that are taking place within us or in our lives. If you dream about shape shifting, you are probably beginning to see yourself through a different lens or you’re gaining a new perspective on something. Our dreams give shape to life changes (big and small!) through morphing elements. Shape-shifting is your dream's way of showing that you or someone else close to you is going through a transformation.
Mother Figure
Dreaming of a motherly figure does not necessarily represent your mother or a motherly figure in your life, but rather a relationship in your life that may currently be conflicted. Seeing your mother in a dream typically represents the shelter, comfort, guidance + protection that mothers offer. You may be having a hard time with becoming your own person + want the comfort of a mother, which is why she would be appearing in your dream. However, seeing your stepmother in your dream is typically a negative symbol. Stepmothers can represent that there is a strong figure in your life who has hurt or disappointed you.
Changing Weather (Storm/lightning/Sunshine/sunny day)
The weather is a common dream symbol that typically points to the intensity of our emotions. Weather changes represent our ability to turn emotions on and off, pushing ourselves to feel only certain emotions. Dreaming about a storm indicates strong feelings of sadness and anger or it reflects chaos or conflict in your life. Dreaming of a sunny day, however, shows that you’re feeling optimistic and gaining clarity. Your subconscious may be telling you that embracing all of your emotions, even the less favorable ones, will ultimately lead to positivity + happiness. There may be changes happening internally or in your life, but it’s okay to express your feelings fully.
Getting lost
Getting lost in a dream represents trying to navigate unfamiliar or challenging situations in your life. Dreaming about being lost typically reflects anxiety. You may be feeling confused + frustrated because of this, as you do not know why you are feeling anxious. Or you may be lost and looking for something to complete yourself, which can point to feelings of insecurity or inadequacy. On the flip side, being lost may also show that you’re tired of your everyday routine and looking for ways to escape. Spontaneous and adventurous people often dream about being lost, as it points to their desire to explore and discover new things off the beaten path.
Park/Playground
Dreaming that you’re at a park reflects your public self and how it’s growing or changing. This symbol can also reveal how you see your growth from a public viewpoint. Depending on the context, parks can also show that you’re feeling calm, relaxed, comfortable and at ease in your life. However, this symbol can also show that you want a temporary escape from reality and your daily responsibilities. The subconscious also uses this symbol to encourage us to spend more time in nature, freeing ourselves of what others think about us and reconnecting with our innocence and playful side.
Dream Meaning
This dream shows that the dreamer is facing many changes in her life at the moment. The dream has the symbols of family, school + being at the park, all large parts of your childhood, which is a sign the dreamer is facing a lot of anxiety.
It is likely the dreamer had anxiety about her abilities in school + it still has an impact on her to this day, which explains why her dream started at the school. The dreamer’s friend was carrying the backpack through school because of the emotional baggage she has been carrying with her since her childhood. Her friend would not give the dreamer her bag because she wanted to rid her of all of her baggage. Running through the hallway is a sign in which the dreamer would like to become her own person, but something from her past might be weighing her down. The arcade the dreamer saw in the school is a sign that the dreamer wants to relive an event that brought a lot of joy to her. The dreamer’s brother may be avoiding many of his problems at the moment by doing things he enjoys to distract himself, which is exactly what the arcade was representing.
The scratches on the face of the dreamer’s stepmother disappearing may be saying that the stepmother (or whomever the stepmother is representing in the dream) is two-faced + a toxic person to have in your life. Because the change of weather is so rapid, it shows that you may have suddenly changed the way you thought about something, likely the change in thought being the way you thought of the person your stepmother was representing in the dream. The storm shows that you have recently been shocked by the way this person is treating you. You have not yet expressed your emotions with this, which is causing a storm to erupt in your mind. The sun is shining to let you know that it will be okay if you let your emotions show. Your feelings matter + it is okay to let others know how they make you feel.
Seeing the street from your childhood but it appearing differently is a sign that there is something you wish to change from your childhood. Because you got lost in a familiar place, this is a sign of anxiety in your life. Losing control of where you are going is a sign that you feel something slipping away from you. This could be a job, relationship or situation; likely one that has gone under a lot of change in recent times.
It is no coincidence the dreamer ended up at the park, as she clearly needs an escape in life. The park served as that for her. All of these changes are causing so much anxiety in your life + all you need is to get away. The person you were talking to at the park is representing a person who you feel incredibly safe with + can tell all your problems to. The park was a great escape + the dream was able to end as she felt free from all of these changes.
Change can be scary, but the way this dream ended shows that these changes are going to end up being positive ones.
Transformation Dream Theme
Transformation can be an extremely confusing element in your dream, but it is a super common symbol to occur in your dream. Whether we turn into a different person or an item turns into something else in our dreams, these dreams typically deal with changes happening in our lives or within us at the moment. Change is something that is bound to happen over time in order for growth to occur. If your perspective on something has recently changed, this could also be a cause of this symbol occurring. Our dreams give shape to life changes, no matter the size, through morphing elements.