When We Were Younger...

3) seems to be the only found in the search I made at literaturepost.com:

The Little Warrior by Wodehouse, Pelham Grenville

Even as a child she had loathed being under obligations to strangers or those whom she did not love. "Thank you, dear," said Mrs Mariner, when Jill's voice ...

Home as Found by Cooper, James Fenimore

I was much abroad, even as a child, and owe some little skill in foreign languages to that circumstance." "So my cousin has informed me. ... It might be just the most frequent of all three.

I'd say they are all correct, but with a different meaning.

1. When he was a child, he used to like drawing - but he no longer does

2./3. He's liked drawing eversince he was a child.

I'm inclined to hear all of them with the same meaning. But the first seems less idiomatic. I can't hear myself saying it.

CJ

Oh well, you're the Calif, Jim!

CalifJimI'm inclined to hear all of them with the same meaning. But the first seems less idiomatic. I can't hear myself saying it.

Hi CalifJim,

Are you absolutely sure? One of them is ungrammatical... Which one and why?

Which do you find ungrammatical? (Or what does your book say, if that's the source of your question.)

CJ

In terms of popularity, there is no contest:

At Yahoo:
382 for "When only a child"
1,520 for "already as a child"
298,000 for "even as a child"

Englishuser
Hello,

Which one is correct?

1. When only a child he liked drawing.

2. Already as a child he liked drawing.

3. Even as a child he liked drawing.

In English only: 3. Even as a child he liked drawing.

Even back as a child is acceptable as well.

1. and 2. are direct word-for-word translations from different European and non-European languages

2. Already as a child he liked drawing. is maybe possible in a Sci-Fi novel, when we speak about some kind of a robot or something that was made in form of a child and had advanced human features.