What Are Your Earliest Memories/Experiences With Coins?

Really cool stories! I love this thread!!
I remember my mom hoarding any and all silver coins she came across here in Canada. My dad was a restauranteur and mom sometimes handled the cash register. She found lots of coins that she chose to keep in little plastic bags that were tied in a knot. She kept her hoard tucked away and hidden with her valuable gold jewelry.
She often looked at and admired her findings and told us these coins will one day be very valuable!
That was my introduction to coins. When mom passed away in mid 2021, I told my sisters that I'd like to keep mom's coins. They both agreed as they had absolutely no interest in them.
My sister and brother in law are also restaurateurs in Florida, and they too hoarded every coin that they found interesting since 1979. When they heard that I was very interested in coins, they gave me everything they saved. Which was about 8 large plastic (Costco sized) peanut jars which were almost full.
Since mid 2021, I've looked at, organized and researched most of the coins I have. Many are multiple coins of the same denomination and year. So, I've amassed about 12-14 3 inch binders of 2x2s.
I've added a few coins to my collection such as the 2021 Queen Elizabeth collection from the UK, a couple of coins from coin roll hunting in Chicago, a couple of rolls of black toonies and as of last week, at my first coin show in Montreal, several large Canadian cents.
I'm loving every minute of this hobby but I must say, it's starting to take up quite a bit of space.
I'd like to eventually sell or trade some of my duplicates, but I fear I might miss something, as I don't know much about varieties and errors yet. I don't want to sell any coins that may have a greater value than what I am aware of.
Just taking in as much knowledge as I can, for now anyway!

I was born in 1992, and my early childhood coincided with Russia's wild 90s, where coins were plentiful and worth nothing.
However, I have only scant memories of the time before the reform of 1998, when 1000 old rubles became 1 new ruble, and coins were worth something again.

And it's the reform that shows up in one of my earliest coin-related memories: I was at my best friend's house in southern Moscow, and the two of us collectively counted up a large-seeming jar of pre-reform coinage.
Then we proudly announced the result: one and a half new rubles (i.e. 1500 old rubles, or about $0.25 by exchange rate before August 1998).

I don't recall how my collecting started. I know I noticed at some point that there were multiple dates of some new coinage; this might have been in 1998 or 1999. We had a lot of pre-reform (and even earlier Soviet) coins at home and they were fun to play with in various ways.
I remember that in February 2002 my dad brought me some 10 kopek coins dated 2002 (i.e. newly minted), and they were really shiny and pretty to look at! I think I played with them (sporadically) for months. I'm not sure what happened to them later.

The first coin I consciously remember collecting was a badly corroded 20 kopek from 1932. I think it must have been in 2000 or 2001; I'm not exactly sure when.
I've seen a picture of then-contemporary coinage in a math-for-children book by Yakov Perelman set in the 1930s, so when I saw the old coin on a table and decided to check out what this weird black circle was, I recognized the design pretty quickly despite the corrosion.
So I asked my dad if I could keep it and he agreed. (He later told me that it was an unsuccessful attempt at cleaning a coin that started out even uglier.)
And keep it I did; that black circle was still in my collection when I had to leave my home in Moscow in September/October 2022 (so over 20 years later), and I guess it's probably still somewhere in the albums in there and I might yet see it again some day.

Is dsking a married couple sharing the same account?

DiscoLover82, there are many young numismatists that participate here on the Forum. But the hobby needs more!
PS - look up the song "Closet Disco Dancer" by The Red Elvises.

My memory of the following event is not very good. Some of the details are fleeting but I do remember generalities of it (somewhat). Maybe I remember it at all because it taught me to be skeptical.

When in my early teens I happened to have found (somewhere) what I believed to be a valuable coin. How I came to believe that is not remembered because I was certainly not a coin collector. I was lucky to have any pocket change at all!

It was just a penny. Well, not just any penny but one born in a special year with a specific parentage. I had in my possession a 1914 D. But to whom do I bring it so I can collect my new fortune?

As chance would have it my barber was very interested in coins. How I came to that knowledge is lost to time. But I was hopeful he could help me. I had no way to closely examine my treasure. But he would.

His examination was over rather quickly. The news was not to be good. He likely said something to the effect "I'm sorry but your penny is worth just 1 cent. You see, under the loop it's obvious that your penny's date has been altered by filing away the third letter to turn a 4 into a 1. Your penny is really a 1944 D." I would learn this is not an uncommon manipulation of a 1944 D penny.

I wish I had the foresight to keep that penny. It would likely be one of my favorite possessions. But alas, no. All I have is the (vague) memory of that day. "If it's too good to be true..."

Indeed. Would be a nice conversation piece. At least you still have the conversation.

I remember being about 5 yrs old, swallowed a coin, don't recall denomination. Doctor had me go number 2 in a bowl, mom had to check it for a few days til the coin passed. No, I didn't keep it LOL.

I can imagine!