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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 handed question

93 replies

hasbean · 30/05/2006 09:05

My dd2 is nearly 3 and favours her left hand for drawing, eating and everything.
I am sure she is left handed. I am not going to try and make her use her right as I know this causes problems.
My questyion is to all the lefties do you find any problems with being left handed or do you have to by left handed tools ect (can openner, scissors ect)
I stress I am not going to try and change her favoured hand as I do not want to get into a debate about it as I have already seen many of those on here. I am just woundering if I need to help her as she gets older in any way

OP posts:

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alicemama · 30/05/2006 09:09

My sister and my dh are both left-handed and neither really have any problems with scissors, canopeners etc. I remember when my sister was little she used to have a little plastic grip on her pencil for school(from elc) but she soon outgrew that.
Its viewed very differently now than in years past and if your dd2 does have difficulty with any equipment, you can easily get hold of left-handed versions.

QE · 30/05/2006 09:11

I think ds3 may be favouring his left hand too. Agree there is no point in trying to change him to right. Why on earth would people want to do this anyway? Bizarre.

Playgroup could be a good source of info for where to get left handed scissors and the like. iirc there is a handwriting helpsheet when they are ready for that too. Reception at your local school or playgroups again might be able to point you in the right direction.

Marina · 30/05/2006 09:13

I have neater handwriting than most right-handers I know, hasbean, can knit and sew competently, and the only time I ever had any problems was at primary when my reception teacher did try and make me feel stupid for using my left hand (I am a really old Mner and this sort of thing still went on a bit in the late 60s...).
There are degrees of "handedness" and a lot of lefties I know are not totally left handed. EG I played the violin and use cutlery right-handed, but play tennis etc left handed.
I do struggle with cutting loaves neatly though, and have to use a swivel peeler for veg

juuule · 30/05/2006 09:13

My left-handed ds has never had any problems. He is now 19. He did buy a left-handed guitar, though.

Marina · 30/05/2006 09:16

QE, sadly in many cultures including our own until comparatively recently, left-handedness was seen as unlucky, aberrant or even a sign of evil/being a witch.
"Sinister" and all that. :(
I believe some cultures also have hygiene taboos over using your left hand for eating etc, as it is traditionally used for personal hygiene/ablutions...which makes being a left-hander a bit awkward when eating out.

moondog · 30/05/2006 09:18

No problems at all.
Am very proud to be left handed and looks like 23 mth old ds will be
[swells with pride emoticon]

Original poster

hasbean · 30/05/2006 09:19

Thanks for your feedback I am currently thinking that it is best not to get her things for lefthandedness (scissors ect.) and let her develop / adapt the way she uses things to suit her otherwise she might become reliant on using lefthanded things and have problems if they are not available to her when she is out in the big wide world!

OP posts:

fuzzywuzzy · 30/05/2006 09:22

I use an electric can opener....but knives and fountain/calligraphy pens I need to buy from the left handed shop. Funnily I use my right hand when using scissors so that's never been a problem.

batters · 30/05/2006 09:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TinyGang · 30/05/2006 09:39

I am, and one out of my three children looks like she will be too.

I don't have any problems with it and have nice writing too (if I do say so myself!)

I don't seem to want to do everything in a lefthanded way though, I don't know why this is. The only little problem I have is writing in cheque books - but I think you can get left handed ones - so I just tear it out to write. Lets face it a girl will always find a way to write a cheque!

mammaduck · 30/05/2006 09:58

agree!

i am left-handed and i think ds is too (but he's only 9 months so bit early to say - he just always sucks his left thumb!)

remember scissors being painful when i learning to cut out in primary school, so i just learned to cut out with my right hand and still do! but you can easily get left-handed scissors now. i just googled 'left handed' and loads of UK companies selling such things came up.

also when learning to write with a fountain pen which my school rather traditionally insisted on, this was hard as we lefties tend to smudge the wet ink. but you can get pens that don't do this now.

agree with tiny on cheques and also find pens in banks are always fixed on right hand side, as are mice on computers in schools.

the thing i find REALLY hard is ironing because the flex comes out the wrong side. i obviously play this up as much as possible so i don't have to do the ironing! :)

CaptainDippy · 30/05/2006 10:09

Hi there!! I am left-handed and I do have to admit, I do find some things difficult - I'm a bit clumsy with scissors and can openers, but I think practise has made (nearly) perfect ifyswim!!?

I found learning to write a real chore because we all had to use cartridge pens at school and it took me yeeeeears to learn to write without smudging across what I had written (I now write rather awkwardly, with my left hand curved over the top of the paper, if you can imagine that!!?)

I have not suffered because of it though - my teachers at school were always very understanding and invested lots of time helping me to learn to over-come the things I found difficult.

I now have decent hand-writing and I don't find anything a problem - except when they stick those blasted biros in the bank on the wrong side - and I do love my left-handed cheque book!!

My DD1 (2.4) is defintely going to be a leftie like me, bless her, but I am hoping that having a leftie parent will be a help to her (both my parents are right-handed, as is the whole of my family, my dad was adopted, so I think that must be where it came from!!)

Your DD2 will be just fine hasbean!!

CaptainDippy · 30/05/2006 10:12

YES!! Ironing is the biggest darn pain in the arse ever!! Someone seriously needs to invent something to over-come this!! Fortunately, your DD2 won't have to worry about this for a few years at least hasbean!!

I personally didn;t find any of the special things that are made for left-handers that helpful (sorry) I just learned to make do with th right-handed stuff I own.

alicemama · 30/05/2006 10:13

Captaindippy can tiedye wonderfully left handed!!![smile}

kid · 30/05/2006 10:16

DD and DS are both left handed. DD struggles alot with her handwriting but has general poor co-ordination so is not necessarily linked to being LH. DS is only 4 so he hasn't come across any difficulties.

My friend is LH, and she hates cheque books, but you can get LH ones now.

CaptainDippy · 30/05/2006 10:26

Why thank you very much Alicemama!!

Yes, indeed, being left-handed has not inhibited my ability to tie-dye!!

CaptainDippy · 30/05/2006 10:27

"As the right hemisphere of the brain controls he left-hand side of the body .......

that means left-handers are always in their right minds!!"

mammaduck · 30/05/2006 10:32

marina - SO glad it's not just me that can't cut bread straight. have never been able to do this.

also just remembered certain sports were a bit of a challenge for the right-handed teachers trying to teach me such as tennis, hockey, javelin (basically anything where you use something in one hand!)

also apparently very few left-handed people are able to crochet because it's almost impossible for a right-handed person to teach a left-hander how to do it (not a particularly widely-used skill, granted, but nonetheless...)

Marina · 30/05/2006 10:44

I am a demon continental knitter (wool in left hand)mammaduck, but cannot crochet for toffee :)

CaptainDippy · 30/05/2006 11:04

Yes!! I am crap at cutting bread too - and one-handed sport was, erm, interesting .....

I was a very good "scret weapon" in Rounders though - I'd hold the bat in my right hand and then transfer it to my left when the ball was thrown and hit it waaaay out of touch while all the fielders stood on the right-hand side of the field watched me run to victory - Hee! Hee!

fuzzywuzzy · 30/05/2006 11:06

you need a left handed knife I tell you. Normal knives have the sharp edge on the left side, left handed knives are the other way round. It was a revelation when I got my first left handed knife...sad moi...yeah OK maybe

spinamum · 30/05/2006 11:38

i've been left handed for 30 years and i just use right handed stuff(which might mean I'm not a pure leftie!)I've only had to buy calligraphy pens in L versions. My writing is truly awful, but I think that's due to not ever being taught to write. (teachers had issues about lefties)

Life may have been differant if my folks had bought me left stuff, but I might not have been able to use right hand stuff if they did. As I don't feel PURE, I might be talking rubbish if you child is exclusively left handed. I think I just learnt to use stuff like any kid did. It has made my life easy to be able to use other peoples stuff.

Oh ,just remebered, my cheque books are L too, but that 's just cos I was curious to see if they'd remember to send them to me.(Credit cards work in either hand I've discovered. )

My Dh is RH, so one of us would lose on the layout of sinks etc. I think since 95% of the population are RH and us lefties are super intelligent it's best that I have leart to cope with RH stuff

Piffle · 30/05/2006 11:41

No special stuff here for ds, although did buy some scissors and a vege peeler when he was older.
It helped at school to adjust seating so he was on the edge of a table with his left side facing out otherwise he would take out other innocent youngsters while writing. Many schools have policies about LH kids, I was stunned to find out!

alison222 · 30/05/2006 12:17

I was given LH scisors as an adult - what a revelation - much easier although I can manage without.
Also we have a swivel vegie peeler. I got used to all the other stuf though.

CarlyP · 30/05/2006 12:19

im left handed and didnt need any 'lefty' things.

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