How to help a left-handed 3 year old?

[WhereIsBlueRabbit]

We are starting to think that DS (aged 3) might be left-handed. It's difficult to tell, and he does seem fairly ambidextrous in some ways (he will colour with both hands, for example), but we (and childcare) think he is showing a preference for the left.

Is there anything we should be aware of? Anything that may be useful to know about further down the line? DP and I are both right-handed, as is everyone in our immediate family, so no experience of this! I know about left-handed scissors but is there anything else it would be useful to know about?

I'm a leftie, personally I think that it's better to learn to use right handed scissors as it's so rare to have left handed ones available.
Also check that if they are using pencil grips, your child gets a proper one - they always gave me a right handed one upside down which was not the same!

As a leftie (DS1 is too) the things that still catch me out are:

• ticket barriers you need to hold your ticket in your right;
• safety switches in fume hoods (niche!) are in the very top left corner where a right handed can naturally reach up across themselves but a leftie can’t;
• I write hook hand and the back of my hand would kill after exams, I wish I’d been taught to angle the paper but it’s too late now; and
• some potato peelers are only sharp on one side.

Don’t tell him which hand to use, let him figure it out. A good chunk of us lefties are to some degree cross-dominant, that is we still do some things like a rightie. For instance, I use ordinary scissors in my right hand and hold bats/racquets like a rightie.

I don’t agree with teaching him to eat like a rightie (unless he does so naturally) so he doesn’t “embarrass himself”, only the snottiest of people would get upset by people moving cutlery so they could eat comfortably. After all, I don’t mind righties moving the cutlery that I have laid out for them.

I am left-handed and so is my sister (in a right-handed family). I am also very left-footed and left-eyed (e.g. if looking through a telescope or aiming in archery I would close my right eye and use my left). I learned the guitar with a left-handed strung guitar as a child.

I do prefer to use right-handed scissors though, maybe just because I was taught to use them as a child. And I use a computer mouse right-handed too.

When I was teaching primary I always clocked which children were the lefties on the first day of a new class and made sure they were sitting where they wouldn't bump elbows. The lefties probably found it easier than the rest of the class when I was demonstrating handwriting joins on the board!

The main thing I would say is that when your leftie DS is learning to write, watch him extra carefully for pencil/pen grip, and try not to let him develop too much of a "hook" hand position. My sister did a lot of mirror writing as a small child but I didn't. Also using fountain pens at senior school was awful because of smudging ink, but don't think kids have to use them anywhere now.

The only thing in our house I struggle with now is the pie slicer - it's only serrated on one side so can only be used right-handed. I refuse to buy a left-handed pie slicer as I think they are ridiculously expensive so just use a knife!

My eldest is 5YO and left handed. Youngest is 3 and still deciding. DH and I are both right handed. My mum and brother are left handed, so I kind of guessed it was a possibility with our boys.

The only issue I've noticed is that DS struggles writing things the correct way around sometimes. He will write letters and numbers like a mirror image, back to front. But that's about it.

BlackStoneCherries
Agree with you wholeheartedly.

Both my boys, 20 and 17 are left handed, I've always set the table left handed for them.

Me! I'm right handed but mostly hold my knife in my left, and often swap the cutlery around when I'm out eating.. I really couldn't give a toss if people think it's wrong
I also wear my watch on my right, as it just isn't comfortable on my left it feels wrong!!

Thank you everyone! This has been a fascinating insight.

We think DS is still deciding and we are careful to let him choose regarding how he holds things - he still happily crayons with one in each hand. It's more that if he is left-handed, I just want to be aware of what options there might be for stuff that could make his life easier. Things like making sure he sits on the edge of the table at school so as not to knock into the arm of the right-hander next to him - I would never have thought of that.

Thanks again for all your suggestions!