The reason that the children were brought to Narnia is found near the very end of VDT.
"Dearest," said Aslan very gently, "you and your brother will never come back to Narnia."
"Oh, Aslan!!" said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices.
"You are too old, children," said Aslan, "and you must begin to come close to your own world now."
"It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"
"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan.
"Are--are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund.
"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought into Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there." VDT, The Very End of the WorldThe children are brought to Narnia so that they can know Aslan better.
As for their remembering, the movies got it wrong. In the books their experiences in Narnia fade like a dream. Just like their time in England fades like a dream while they are in Narnia. The longer it is, the more dream-like it becomes.
So they lived in great joy and if ever they remembered their life in this world it was only as one remembers a dream. LWW, The Hunting of the White Stag"I wonder, was it really the hall," said Susan. "What is that terrace kind of thing?"
"Why, you silly," said Peter (who had become strangely excited), "don't you see? That was the dais where the High Table was, where the King and the great lords sat. Anyone would think you had forgotten that we ourselves were once Kings and Queens and sat on a dais just like that, in our great hall."
"In our castle of Cair Paravel," continued Susan in a dreamy and rather singsong voice, "at the mouth of the great river of Narnia. How could I forget?"
"How it all comes back!" said Lucy. PC, The Ancient Treasure HouseIt was like meeting very old friends. If you had been there you would have heard them saying things like, "Oh look! Our coronation rings--do you remember first wearing this?--Why, this it the little brooch we all thought was lost--I say, isn't that the armor you wore in the great tournament in the Lone Islands?--do you remember the dwarf making that for me?--do you remember drinking out of that horn?--do you remember, do you remember?" PC, The Ancient Treasure House"Oh bother, bother, bother," said Susan after she had thought for a moment. "I remember now. I took it with me the last day of all, the day we went hunting the White Stag. It must have got lost when we blundered back into that other place--England, I mean." PC, The Ancient Treasure HouseIn a moment she had bent the bow and then she gave one little pluck to the string. It twanged: a chirruping twang that vibrated through the whole room. And that one small noise brought back the old days to the children's minds more than anything that had happened yet. All the battles and hunts and feasts came rushing into their heads together. PC, The Ancient Treasure House"But, Peter," said Lucy, "look here. I know I can't swim for nuts at home--in England, I mean. But couldn't we all swim long ago--if it was long ago--when we were kings and queens in Narnia? We could ride then too, and do all sorts of things. Don't you think--"
"Ah, but we were sort of grown-up then," said Peter. "We reigned for years and years and learned to do things. Aren't we just back at our proper ages again now?" PC, The DwarfI don't think Edmund would have had a chance if he had fought Trumpkin twenty-four hours earlier. But the air of Narnia had been working upon them ever since they arrived on the island, and all of his old battles came back to him, and his arms and fingers remembered their old skill. He was King Edmund once more. PC, How They Left the IslandEven Lucy was by now, so to speak, only one-third of a little girl going to boarding school for the first time and two-thirds of Queen Lucy of Narnia. PC, The Return of the LionThat was probably a quote overload. Anyway, the above quotes show how the children change as they travel back and forth. When going from Narnia to England, they lose their abilities, their experiences, even their full memories of Cair Paravel. When going from England to Narnia, those abilities, experiences, and memories come back and what they have gained in England fades. Whichever way they go, they know they were in the other place, but the specifics are more in the subconscious. Because they are in the subconscious, they do not have the negative effect that the movies and most of fanfiction apply. They of course want to go back, but they aren't struggling, angry teenagers who can't cope with life as a schoolkid (I'm not fond of the way the movies portrayed the Pevensies, can you tell?
).
And their time in Narnia makes them work harder at some skills in England.
Lucy thanked her stars that she had worked hard at her swimming last summer term. VDT, The Picture in the Bedroom When she couldn't swim for nuts at home during their last adventure.
"Hast any skill with the bow, maiden?" said Tirian.
"Nothing worth talking of," said Jill, blushing. "Scrubb's not bad."
"Don't you believe her, Sire," said Eustace. "We've both been practicing archery ever since we got back from Narnia last time, and she's about as good as me now. Not that either of us is much." LB, How Help Came to the KingThe movies also got wrong what it means to be a king in Narnia.
Aslan asks Frank a series of questions when Frank is unsure if he is qualified to be a king.
"Can you use a spade and a plow and raise food out of the earth? ... Can you rule these creatures kindly and fairly, remembering that they are not slaves like the dumb beasts of the world you were born in, but Talking Beasts and free subjects? ... And would you bring up your children and grandchildren to do the same? ... And you wouldn't have favorites either among your own children or among the other creatures or let any hold another or use it hardly? ... And if enemies came against the land (for enemies will arise) and there was war, would you be the first in the charge and the last in the retreat? ... Then...you will have done all that a King should do." MN, Digory and His Uncle Are Both in Trouble"For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there's hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land." King Lune, HHB, Rabadash the RidiculousPeter as High King should have known both what Aslan told Frank and what Lune told Cor. His time away from Narnia should not have made him power-hungry because being a King has nothing to do with power. Yes, he ruled Narnia, but that doesn't mean he lorded it over Narnia.
And if read all that and it didn't make sense please tell me. Sometimes what I think out in my head doesn't make much sense to anyone else.