Rousseau opens with two firm assertions: Confessions will provide the absolute truth of his life, and he is unlike any other man. Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712. His mother died from a postpartum infection a few days after giving birth to him, and his father was a successful watchmaker. Rousseau explains that his parents were highly infatuated with one another, and Rousseau felt his father always held his mother's death against him. However, his father also showed great affection toward Jean-Jacques, his youngest son, and the two spent hours reading together. Rousseau’s older brother did not have the same relationship with their father. After enduring several beatings, Rousseau’s brother ran away, never to be heard from again.

Rousseau was plagued by illness in childhood, and his aunt cared for by him. He credits her with influencing his passion for music. After a violent altercation with an army captain forced Rousseau’s father to leave Geneva, Rousseau and his cousin Bernard were sent to a commune in France called Bossey to further their education. Rousseau enjoyed this part of his life, but he feared disappointing the mistress of Bossey, Mademoiselle Lambercier. The child admired her, and—although he did not want her to know this for fear that she would think poorly of him— her punishments sexually aroused him.