Left handed preference - AIBU to try to change his mind?

[CoffeeDog]

We have been drawing/writting/colouring this morning.

DT2 has been holding pencils in his left hand (DT's are just 3). When my DD was first learning to hold pencil's my mum would be forever swopping from her left hand to her right hand - she is now right handed, and has neat handwriting.
She said she did this to make her life easier and to make sure she has neat handwriting.

DT1 only holds pencils in his right hand.

AIBU to think its not a big deal anymore what hand he holds a pen in as long as he enjoy's drawing/writing? or should i be constantly trying to get him to change hands?

No, you do not mess with a child's handed-ness. It might have been the way in your mum's time, but it's considered very bad practice now.

Why?

Leave it!

Your Mum didn't make her right handed

It's all to do with one side of the brain....you or your Mum can't change that fact.

God, no! I am a leftie, as it my son. Your mum was wrong to do that, imo.

In my Mum's time (she'd be 82 if she was alive)

Some kids had their left hands tied behind their backs in school to prevent them writing with them

Just let it develop naturally - our DS has a LH preference (despite both parents being RH) ... we let it develop naturally and now try to assist to make it easier for him now he's writing. Bought him a LH pencil & pen (grips adjusted) to help him by reducing some of the frustration and my inability to show him how to hold a pen properly.

The way the brain works is incredibly complex, but this simplified explanation will give you some understanding of where our left-hand dominance comes from. The brain is "cross-wired" so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and vice-versa and hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side - which is why we say that only left-handers are in their right minds!

Read this link OP

I did ask her not to but she watched her for 15hr a week while i was at work then, and would do it anyway saying DD would thank her when she is older :)

I have the DT's all the time, we have got some 'workbooks' from poundland that they love to sit down and write in scribble and both are getting better at holding a pencil i love the fact i can sit at the table and drink hot tea

My mother did this to my brother i.e. made him swap from left hand to right. As a result of this he developed a stammer and if took about three years of expensive speech therapy to fix it. He still stammers now when hes stressed. It is now well documented that changing hands is both harmful and unnecessary.

I am a leftie too and have had no problems being a leftie.

Absolutely not. Let him find his won way. Your mother was very very wrong.

Yes I heard that WorraLiberty, really strange.

I don't think it's possible to influence a childs hand preference is there? Some kids are naturally ambidextrous, I pretty much am too.

Just out of interest, are they identical twins? I think I read somewhere once about identical twins sometimes being like a mirror image, where one favours the right and the other the left. I may be talking bollox though!

In answer to you question, leave him to it.

Leave it. My fifteen year old dd is left handed, she has beautiful handwriting. There is nothing wrong with being left handed, it's stupid ideas because the latin for left is sinister.

I did ask her not to but she watched her for 15hr a week while i was at work then, and would do it anyway saying DD would thank her when she is older

But she does know now that she had absolutely nothing to do with it, right?

I am a leftie and I can write perfectly neatly, there's absolutely no need to try and change him to a right handed person.

Don't even go there!! I am left handed and am complimented on my writing all the time. I am a teacher, so it is important for me to be legible too.

I have seen the screw-ups that occur forcing someone to change their handed preference. One boy I knew had a terrible twitch, and when his GP was talking to his mother one day, she mentioned how she had worked so hard to "help" him be right handed. The doctor suggested that actually the boy be allowed to do as he pleased. Within three weeks of starting to relearn writing, this time with his left hand, the twitch was gone. The boy was 14 years old, and I knew him in about 2001-2. I was aghast that people still think this way.

Anything Left-handed is a great resource for anyone with LH children. Google it today!!!

Leave him be.
He will naturally use his more dominant hand.
Worra. I've heard that too, it's awful

My DS2 is right handed and has nice writing

My DS3 is left handed and has beautiful writing

My DS1 is pretty much ambidextrous and can't write nicely at all...no matter which hand he uses

No- being a leftie rocks (I'm not one- gutted). Big advantage in sports

I am watching DS hoping for leftieness

Please insist that your mum does not do this - it is not only pointless, but stressful and harmful.

Yes, you do have to work harder to have neat handwriting, and scissors/tin openers are a nuisance, but thats it really. Anyway, it is what you are and can't be changed. Tell your mum its not the 1950's anymore!

Leave him to use which hand he prefers and don't interfere. What your mum did with your DD was very wrong.

Actually thinking about it now, my DS3 (9yrs old) hasn't had trouble with anything due to being left handed...apart from me teaching him to tie his laces.

I have up and got my left handed MIL to teach him since I figured it was her 'fault' anyway

I was forced to hold my pen in the right hand. I can write right handed now as an adult more so than less but hold my pen completely wrong. I also do everything else left handed except write. Let your child be what they are meant to be. It's very confusing otherwise!

*gave

...I mean about the hands tied behind the back.
This thread is moving quickly, and I'm very slow.