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 Leave him be. I dont actually believe that your mum changed the the use of DD's hand preference from left to right.

I didn't know with two of my DC's whether they were right or left handed until the age of about 4 or 5. DS especially.
They would use both hands in equal measures for drawing/colouring before finally settling on thier right hands.

I think you will find alot of children are like this.

My Dad and brother are both left handed never had any problems and they both have neat handwriting

I disagree with Richman that being a leftie "rocks". In my experience it doesn't, it was/is a pain in the behind most of the time. I was always in demand as a tennis doubles partner though

My mother did this with my brother and he now uses both hands for different tasks which he actually finds a little confusing, and has terrible handwriting because he wasn't allowed to focus on improving his handwriting but rather on which hand was right to use. He uses his right hand because of habit, find's it difficult, but can't change back to the left.

My DD (6 months) is showing signs of being left handed and I would never try and change this.

ddo not try to force a child to change their handedness

that's just lunacy!

My Mum (92) used to be hit by teachers at school for being left-handed.

My son used both hands to start with, but it now left handed.

Leave well alone and let him find his own path!

I can write with both left and right hands.... I broke my wrist/arm ALOT judo as a kid i even did my mock GCSE with my left hand. I can still just about tie my shoelaces only using my left hand :)

The weirdest thing is my twin sister is left handed ..... My mum had no real opion in that as she is dislexic sp? so that was all right??? I am too can't you tell ;)

by the way, your mum was fucking bang out of order to do that to your dd.
she would have most likely had neat left-handed writing if she's been taught properly in her correct hand.

what the fuck is wrong with your family?

My father is a leftie and has the neatest handwriting I have ever seen, and he writes in English and Arabic perfectly. Arabic is incredibly hard to write and he not only writes it perfectly, but can write on unlined paper as if writing on lined paper with perfect ease and it is actually quite something to see him do.

Which hand you use to write has little to do with your writing skills IME.

My left-handed Grandad was forced to write with his right hand. It gave him a stammer which lasted well into adulthood.
Rather bizarre thing for your mum to do!

Don't worry about it, if he is left footed as well he will be in demand if he is good at football!

I was left handed and in the early 80?s (so not that long ago) made to sit on my left hand during lessons so I had to draw and write with my left. I can remember feeling a bit silly and different from the class at the time but it worked and I?m now a right hander. (I still eat with my knife and fork in different hand though as the dinner ladies didn?t correct me)

My son is left handed and does find writing difficult as to add finger spaces he has to go over the other hand. Left handed children often sit at a funny angle when writing and if sat to the right of a right handed person while writing bump each other all the time. When showing them how to write it is easier for them to learn if you demonstrate this in your left hand.
IMHO I wish my son was right handed just because it would make writing easier for him though I would not try to make him change if a child has a natural preference and they are trying to learn to write and draw improving their fine motor skills they will feel like you are making it unnecessarily difficult for them and become disheartened and frustrated.

nickelhasababy - There is not an awfull lot right with any of them sadly

Waspie re tennis.

I know it can be a pain. My sister is extremely left handed and still has to buy left handed can openers/ scissors etc.

However, if you are a footballer or cricketer it is useful. Better get them practicing their spin bowling OP.

Factoid: they know how many left handed cavemen there were by examining axe heads, so they know that the proportion of LH people has been consistent over time

sorry for shouting coffeedog, but i got very upset that your mum would do such a thing. :(
i'm glad you don't agree with her.

I'm left handed, and have beautiful handwriting, if I do say so myself

Both of my dc are right-handed. I was really hoping for a leftie, I've always liked being a bit different

Why is right handed deemed better? My hands look pretty much the same on the outside, who decided right is better? Does anyone know?

hollie - try learning again with your left-hand. i bet you find it easier.

also, your DS having to learn finger spaces is rather bad practice from his teachers- you should talk to them about it.
we sit at a funny angle in order to pull the pen across rather than push. holding the paper at an angle in front of the body helps no end.

Richman - I think if you can master the hand eye co-ordination then sport is great as a leftie. If you've been rather muddled as a child by not being allowed to do an action as you naturally would then it can become very confused. I still often pick up a tool (anything from a cricket bat to a screwdriver!) and have to try it out in both left and right hands to see which feels most comfortable.

I feel your sisters pain - I can't use a can opener; even if it's a left handed one.

I definately wield an axe left handed though

My Dad used to be a leftie or ciotóg as they are known in Ireland. When he was in primary school in the 1940's the nun would wallop him on the wrist to turn make him stop. He said it was pretty ferocious.

Trying to dissuade a leftie from writing with their left handed is seriously outdated stuff.

madmouse - probably witch hunters.
lefties were cleverer and more intuitive, therefore must be witches.

I'm stunned that someone would even ask this question in 2012. I don't know what your mum was thinking.

clever and intuitive I like it!

Strange thing is I knit right handed as my mum could not teach me any other way, and I hold scissors in my right hand which puzzled me until I realised I turn the paper I'm cutting rather than move the scissors!

ds is a lefty now because cerebral palsy affects his right hand side. I think he was born righthanded though.

my mum and dad are both lefties.
so most things were easy to learn.
my mum knits and crochets righthanded because that's how she learned, so that's how she taught me,.
(the lady who taught her was quite upset that she couldn't teach her left-handed, but she just couldn't work it out)

madmouse in some cultures, the left hand is basically "unclean" as it's used to wipe your arse, so you would never eat with your left hand for example. Again, this just reflects the fact that there are more right handed people as it assigns the weaker hand to bum wiping and the stronger to more difficult tasks. However, that is why lefthandedness is frowned upon in these cultures.