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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Left / Right handed

32 replies

smellyfeet · 18/05/2011 15:27

At what age does this settle? DD is 3 and has always had a preference to left hand, now draws and writes about 90% of the time with her left.

OP posts:

Em3978 · 18/05/2011 15:33

DS is 3.3 and only just decided on right. For so long he's been 60% left handed and now he's 90%ish right.
Lots of lefties and a couple of ambidextrous in my side of the family (none in DH's) so I'm not surprised that he's still deciding.

ShowOfHands · 18/05/2011 15:51

DD was obviously right-handed from the off. She always, always, always favoured her right hand and by the time she was drawing/using cutlery etc at 18 months you could see she was right-handed.

Stricnine · 18/05/2011 17:36

Left hander here - she showed definate preference from quite early on.. as soon as pencils and crayons were offered - curiously though it's not for everything - she uses scissors right handed, plays tennis right or left (very confusing!), but generally has a 'left handed mind'... it's not a definate cast in stone, must be one thing or the other though so try not to influence. (I am ambidextrous with most things, but was pushed to be right handed, back in the day)

Original poster

smellyfeet · 18/05/2011 19:57

Thanks, we try not to influence but sometimes when she's struggling to eat yogurt with her right hand we do suggest to her that she uses her other hand and she's all good.

I secretly wanted to be left handed when growing up and I think I might be projecting onto DD

OP posts:

Oblomov · 18/05/2011 20:11

ds2(2.5) is left handed. didn't want him to be, to be honest, but he clearly is. funny because i always wanted ds1(7) to be, and he wasn't. i thought he might be because many of dh's family are. but then I realised that being right handed makes life easier. and I know thats sad, but it is true. anyway it doesn't make any difference because theres no changing ds2, thats for sure. no problem !

davidtennantsmistress · 18/05/2011 20:14

DS always has been a leftie, he eats with his fork in his right though, but has never held a pencil in his right. he's 5.5 now.

good job dad & dp re as well so can help him.

mumcanIaskaquestion · 18/05/2011 21:04

DD's are right handed. DS is 2 and is most definatly (sp) left handed. I would say from a very early age has been left handed. I blame DH family for being defective .

RainbowShite · 18/05/2011 21:08

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

Whyriskit · 19/05/2011 10:46

DS1 had a preference for his right hand from very early on. Not sure about DS2 yet (9 months). Lots of LHanders in the family, including me, so it's a possibility. I'd kind of like him to be a leftie!

KnittingRocks · 19/05/2011 10:50

Bit of a sense of humour failure Rainbow?!

at secretly wanting to be LH smelly! Left handers are well known to be vastly superior beings of course - both my boys have had their right hands tied behind their back since birth to ensure this superiority is passed on .

RainbowShite · 19/05/2011 12:09

Not really. I can't imagine someone on here describing someone with a disability as defective, so why should I have to put up with it? My lefthandedness is genetic, I have no more choice about it than the colour of my skin. Until very recently children including my grandparents were beaten if they wrote with " the wrong" hand and it was considered sinister and abnormal.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 19/05/2011 12:12

DD has been left handed since the word go, loads of lefties on both sides of the family so not surprised.

The father of one of her little friends was telling me that he was forced into using his right hand growing up in Australia in the 70's and 80's. Even now he uses his right hand. I was . I knew that happened years ago but so recently? It's awful.

Charleymouse · 19/05/2011 12:20

I had lefty tendencies and was made to be a righty, (early 70s, god I am old) my writing is appalling and scrawly and I hold my pen in a unique fashion that I have only ever seen one other person do.

Just get scissors etc for lefties and let her get on with it.

KnittingRocks · 19/05/2011 15:38

I'm left handed too Rainbow, but I really can't get that worked up about someone's joke about being defective (and it clearly was a joke!). It's hardly comparable with a disability is it?!

I started school in 1976 and was reprimanded for writing with my left hand and had my pencil moved into my right hand until my mum found out and went ballistic!

Being left handed can be a bit of a pain but we're better catered for now then we ever were. I think one of my DC is going to be left and one right going on current behaviour .

RainbowShite · 19/05/2011 16:07

But left handed people have suffered discrimination. I don't like being called defective personally.

Being left handed has been treated as a defect in the past. So I don't think it should be used as a joke.

Whyriskit · 19/05/2011 19:37

Hard to believe, but DH's little sister (now 27) was forced to write with her right hand at school. She still writes with her right hand and her writing is appalling.
I don't think it should be used as a joke particularly although it's not a disability. Poor DS2 (if he is left handed) will grow up left handed, ginger and with a heart defect. Poor lad!

sleepingsowell · 19/05/2011 19:51

the more I read the more I think I went to a great little primary school - I am 43 now and when I was infant/junior age there was absolutely no pressure to use my right hand at all! I have also found that some schools at the time were still using corporal punishment which my school never did - but that's another thread!

With my ds we could see he was left handed from the very early months - as soon as he started picking things up he always led with his left hand. I had no doubt at all from about 5 - 6 months old.

stripeywoollenhat · 19/05/2011 19:53

leftie and proud here:i can't comprehend anyone thinking it's a defect. mind you, my mum had it pretty much beaten out of her - not much they didn't try to beat out of you in 40s ireland, though.

dd looks pretty conclusively right handed. she's 2.4, and has used her right hand almost exclusively for cutlery/pencils from day one. well, day whatever: i'm not saying she was drawing in the postnatal ward or anything.

MissMarjoribanks · 19/05/2011 19:59

I'd put money on my DS being left handed. He's eaten everything with his left hand from the off. He'll take anything proffered to him in his left. He holds a spoon mainly in his left hand, though he can use his right as well.

My sister and cousin are left handed and my grandad was, though he had it beaten out of him in the 1920s and ended up very ambidextrous. No one on my DH's side is.

RuthChan · 19/05/2011 20:12

I'm a leftie and proud. I have no problem with jokes about it.
My parents were both right handed, but my grandfather was a natural leftie who had his left hand tied behind his back to convert him.
I also know lots of Japanese friends who were converted too. It's really rare to meet a Japanese person older than a teenager who writes with their left hand.

Most babies start as left handed and then swap to being right handed later.

Both my children are right handed and have been since about the age of one.
DS is a thumb sucker and I am amused to see that he sucks his left thumb because he started sucking while still a leftie. He then switched everything to his right hand expect his thumb sucking!!

I'm pleased to see that both DCs are left footed though, so they'll be goofy snowboarders like me, not regular like their Dad! :o

Mum2PandT · 19/05/2011 20:17

DD is 4 and in reception. She's always been clearly left-handed. There is no pressure at school to make her use her right hand. DS is 2.5 and seems to be a leftie too. Both myself and DH are right-handed, so it's a bit strange having 2 lefties, but it's a trait in both of our families. The children don't see any problem with it, so there's no need to make an issue out of it. They'll be what they'll be. It's just one of the many characteristics that combine make each child unique.

KnittingRocks · 20/05/2011 08:36

Just to clarify, the poster who used the word 'defective' was very clearly joking! And I can categorically state that primary schools do not stop children writing with their left hand now!

There are degress of left-handedness - I do everything (except ironing bizarrely!) with my left-hand whereas my husband only writes with his left hand and does everything else with his right! If you are very left handed then it can be a bit of a pain living in a right-handed world, but this website has lots of useful links for products that might help .

KnittingRocks · 20/05/2011 08:38

This mat looks good!

Lady1nTheRadiator · 20/05/2011 08:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Viagrafalls · 20/05/2011 08:53

I'm left handed and I love it - only ever had a problem at school when learning to write with an ink pen as my hand used to drag after everything I'd written, smudging it. I was however one of the first to be allowed to use the ink pens as my handwriting was so good!
I also iron, use scissors and play tennis/piano/guitar (or used to) with my right hand. i'm expecting a little girl in August and really hope we can be lefties together!

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