From a sample of 419 college students, 750 written recollections were obtained regarding their parental and nonparental childcare experiences. Vignettes were sorted and coded according to five emerging themes: emotional valence, play, TV, educational activities and holidays/birthdays. Several significant differences were found in remembered experience between parental and nonparental care. Emotionally positive recollections were significantly more prevalent in parental care. Emotionally negative recollections were significantly more prevalent in nonparental care. In addition, within context, emotional parental care memories were more often positive while emotional nonparental care memories were more often negative. Regarding the other four themes, memories of educational activities, play, and holiday/birthday celebrations were more often related to parental care. There were no between-context differences in rates of recall for TV--related memories. Across contexts, play memories were most prevalent. (Contains 5 tables.)