Left handed people

[ItchyScratch]

Do you know today is
‘International Left Handers Day’

I am not left handed but all 3 of my kids are (which I find weird!)

Do you have any tales to tell as a left hander?
Are you proud to be one or is it a nuisance?
Did you grow up in the era when it wasn’t allowed 😳

Proud leftie here

None of my kids are though weirdly

Had the usual problems growing up but adapted and used my right hand.

I'm 43 and my dp is 49. He is also a leftie but went to a remote village school where he was forced at the age of 5 to write with his right and it caused him no end of problems.. stutter, dyslexia and ended up leaving school early. He still writes with his right now but poorly and holds a pen awkwardly. He does everything else with his left though

I'm 59 and a proud left-hander. My husband is mid 60s, ditto, although he's a bit less strongly left-handed than I am. Both our mothers were left-handed but neither of our children is.

My mum was forced to write with her right hand. I don't think my mil was, surprisingly, as she was born during WW1 and my mum was about 15 years younger.

It’s crazy to think people were forced to write with their right hand as if it mattered.
I’m sure a leftie once told me they would have been caned if they carried on using their left.

DH and I are both lefties but neither of our kids are. Bloody weirdos.

I'm a leftie, and two of my sons are. I admit I am quite proud of it. I love reading those lists of prominent left-handed people.

I grew up in a time when it was acceptable, but went to a school were it was frowned upon. Apart from that it has never had a negative effect on my life. I think it's made me more adaptable because I've learn to use use right handed people things like, scissors, knives, etc. I also love it when I meet another leftie and we have that moment when we both silently acknowledge that we are members of the same gang.

I love being a leftie! I grew up where it was ok to be left handed but there were no left handed things about. People look at me like I'm bonkers when I open tins with a tin opener, peel veg and cut things with scissors. I know things are available for us to use now but I've got so used to doing things upside down and twisted around that I can't use those new fangled leftie things

My son is a leftie, very obviously from about 9 months old, now almost 2, and we aren't. Any advice from the adult lefties? Any left handed gadgets we need to know about for when he's older?

Ooo, lefties, what do you wish your right handed parents knew, and what piece of equipment is most crucial to have a leftie version of?

DD is a leftie, and has sen, so I'd like to make sure the left thing isn't an additional pita. I've bought leftie pencils and pens, but what else helps?

Tia.

We've got leftie scissors, of course. But she won't use them, just uses her right hand, because she has to at school. It means hey cutting is dreadful.

I'm a leftie, my dad is a leftie, DD is a leftie and DNephew is too. Must admit I'm quite proud of that! With both kids it was very clear even in babyhood that they favoured their left hand.

Me and dp are lefties so is dd.

I can't use left handed scissors, prefer to use right handed scissors, does that mean I hold them upside down ??

We are a family of lefties here.

I'm used to adapting, but I get irrationally annoyed with train barriers as the card readers are on the right, so lots of changing hands or leaning over.

It’s crazy to think people were forced to write with their right hand as if it mattered.
Try sitting next to someone of the opposite handedness at school - you clash elbows. Of course the world is so much more advanced and understanding these days. DC don't do writing any more, they type to computer keyboards. Have you noticed which side the numberpad is on?

@ItchyScratch

It’s crazy to think people were forced to write with their right hand as if it mattered. I’m sure a leftie once told me they would have been caned if they carried on using their left.

My Mum was left handed and a girl, so doubly a disappointment.

She was forced to be right handed.

Obviously her brother, 18 months younger, was allowed to be left handed.

Im another 59 year old left hander. I went to a really strict, Victorian type primary where the teacher took my pencil out of my left hand and put it in my right. My DM went into school and they didn’t do it after that. I struggle with are scissors. I can’t use left handed ones as they just don’t cut properly when I get hold of them so I end up with a blister on my thumb joint from stuffing all my fingers into the thumb hole. The other was when we had to use fountain pens at primary school and I smudged over each word with my fist as I wrote across the page. School was a problem as they wouldn’t make any concessions other than using my left hand to write. So they started my sewing off from right to left, smacked me when I kept going the wrong way in country dancing and constantly made me re-write my smudgy work. I hated primary school.

I was never provided with anything left handed until high school, by which time I'd got used to using right handed scissors, etc. I'm mid forties and suffered at infant school due a dinner lady making me eat with a knife and fork right handed. It took me ages to eat and I missed out on a lot of things with my friends and no one noticed what was going on. I hated that woman - I was too young to realise what was going on and stand up for myself.

Proud leftie here too. 4 DCs but only one of them is a leftie. My grannie was a leftie but she was made to write with her right hand. There are a lot of lefties in my mums side of the family....oddly though both my mum and dad are right handed and both me and my brother are left.

As a right hander with 3 left handed kids it’s interesting to read all of the left handed birth patterns you have in your families.

And it’s nice to see you’re all proud!

Well done for being able to use all of the right handed made items because I doubt I’d be able to.

I believe it’s only 10% of the population who are lefties!

@ItchyScratch

It’s crazy to think people were forced to write with their right hand as if it mattered. I’m sure a leftie once told me they would have been caned if they carried on using their left.

My dad was caned for writing with his left hand.

Trying to change handedness can cause severe psychological issues. It’s inate and should be thought of as trying to change eye colour. (I know someone who has attempted it with her child in the last 5 years. )

I’m a proud leftie and once worked in an organisation where 50% of the staff were as well. Was so nice not to have to switch the mouse and phone over every time I sat at a desk.

Hate that the 11% of the population who are lefties have to make do with products designed for right-handers, eg cameras/camcorders, mobile phones, notebooks, chequebooks.

I have a left handed bread knife - it’s amazing.

I've got left handers in my family, including a grandfather who was forced to write with his right hand.

I am classed as mixed handed. I'm not truly ambidextrous, as that is when you can do everything with both hands, but I can write with both hands. There are some things I do left handed and some things I do right handed, with my right hand being the very slightly more dominant hand.

It's weird stuff, though, eg, I can't whisk with the right hand.

My mother could also write with both hands, but in her case, it was because she broke her right arm a couple of times as a kid, and the school insisted she still complete her schoolwork, so she had to learn to write left handed.

Neither DC is left handed, but I was prepared in case they were. I think the best left handed stuff I had was information on writing left handed, to avoid that cramped hook hand style. Which boils down to tilting your paper, in some cases quite a lot. I know a left hander who basically tilts her paper at nearly 90 degrees, writing down the page, effectively. She reckons it stops her wrist aching.

Lefties, too.

64, but never forced to use right hand at school. Only 2 things I can do with my right - peel potatoes and use toilet paper (the holder was screwed to the wall on the right).

Have a brilliant fountain pen from Lamy, much better than any other left-handed one I've had.

Left-handedness is an increased risk factor for auto-immune disorders, according to the book Thyroid Power, and I've got hypothyroidism.

@ItchyScratch

As a right hander with 3 left handed kids it’s interesting to read all of the left handed birth patterns you have in your families.

And it’s nice to see you’re all proud!

Well done for being able to use all of the right handed made items because I doubt I’d be able to.

I believe it’s only 10% of the population who are lefties!

11% on last count.

Certain industries have higher numbers - lefties tend to be more creative so more musicians, artists etc are left handed than is “normal”

Not much choice but to get used to using right handed stuff - we have to do it pretty early!

I like being a leftie and do thing a higher proportion of us are creative/arty. I've found that I wallpaper and paint anti-clockwise round a room. Seems natural to me, but is weird if you're working with someone right handed.

Lefty here too. Ring binders and spiral bound books often annoy me - I can't write to the edge very well. None of my DC are left-handed my DB is though and my DF.

Left handers get more hand ache when writing than right handers, because we have to push the pen rather than pull (it’s the opposite in cultures who write from right to left).