K.C.
my husband and I talk about this every time we go to visit either set of our parents. All they talk about is how good we (and our sisters) were as children, and it honestly makes me feel bad about my 2 year old. But whenever we are with them, either they are visiting us or us visiting them, nothing is normal for my daughter, so of course she is going to have a couple more "meltdowns." We always try to tell ourselves what a bright, loving, wonderful little girl we have. Sure she gets frusturated easily, but she is highly inteligent and we think it is upsetting when she can't clearly communicate with us.
I'm sure it is more selective memory as another poster mentioned. What parent would want to focus on the negative about their child? I'm sure when our daughter is grown and with children on her own, all we will remember is the wonderful things she does. Not how she yells "Never Mommy" when I ask her to sit down.