Left or right handed? Whose has a child who decided 4 yrs plus?

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I used to teach reception and don't remember any child not knowing which was their dominant hand when they started. My ds is 4 and a half and regularly uses both hands. Are some kids ambidextrous? Hes not that great at writing despite having good fine motor control whilst doing other stuff (lego/playmobil). I can't help but feel that he will improve when he decided on a hand. It affects his scissor skills too.

Although I suppose being ambidextrous would be good too. Am not worried but just wanted to find out their were many around like him?

ds did and turned out to have motor skill issues. dd was left dominant from quite early

my ds1 was very definately left handed from very very early on, so no 1st hand knowledge, but my my (who also taught reception) said she had a few who would happily use either hand - so he isn't alone.

my mum not my my

Ds used both hands equally right from the start. I had never really noticed (well I noticed but did not realise it was unusual), it was his reception teacher who brought it to my attention. She decided to see if he chose a hand himself - he did not - so she made him chose a hand during the last term of reception. He chose left, and has been left handed ever since.

My neice regularly used both hands and only decided she was a lefty (on her own no prompting) in reception

Ds1 didn't decide until he was in Reception. Like LIZS' ds he has motor skills issues.

I used both hands when I started school and the school asked my parents if they wanted to force me to be right handed. They said that they weren't bothered but I feel the school "encouraged" me to be right handed as I do lots of things left handed without realising. I am definitely ambidextrous, I can write beautifully left handed despite never practising.

My son writes right handed (he is 4.5 and just started reception) but he sometimes eats left handed, he holds his spoon in his left hand and eats yoghurt/cereal/ice cream etc.

I mentioned it to his teacher (she has a left handed child herself) and was told that she observes the children on 3 separate occasions to see if they have decided. Many children still haven't decided apparently!

For improving fine motor skills you are meant to get them to do large motor skills -so climbing frames, that kind of thing. Our school has an activity day where the children turn up in tracksuits every week as they have some seriously cool playground equipment for them to play on!

i remember a paediatrician saying that hand dominance is often not decided until age 5 or so

My ds is 5.1 and still undecided. he regualry uses both hands, he to is not a great writer and will refuse to do it given a chance, i don't know if this is linked. he is not really interested in other things that use motor skillls either apart from cutting paper into small bits.

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My ds took ages to decide too. He used to draw with both hands but now he's in reception I think he's pretty settled on being left handed for writing. He's right footed for kicking a ball though and right handed for racket games.

I think some kids just find it easy to use either hand to start with and it's only when they start practising things that they get into a habit of always using one side.

From reading the posts, it does seem that a lot end up left handed so it might be best not to push right handedness.

Mine is 4.4 and undecided. We do have a lot of ambidextrous people in the family though, and also a lot of left handers. He really doesn't have problems with either fine or (especially) large motor skills, he can sew, climb things, and is starting to knit, so he seems ok.

I do know it can be a sign of dyslexia though, which would be consistent with other things that ds is doing/not doing.

i used both hands when i started school. after a couple of years i chose to write with my right hand as this is what everyone else did (i was a shy nervous child who wanted to fit in) but i can still write with both hands, just not as good with left.

lots of things i do ambidextrous and some things (like ironing) i can only do left handed.

when people ask me if i am right or left handed i tell them mixed and depends on what the task is.

i used both hands as well when i started school and was encouraged just to stick to the right. i can right with both hands but not quite as well with my left. both my dds have showed right hand dominance from very early. dd2 is 19 mmths old and seems to already have decided. however as a infant school teacher you do get some children who havent quite made there mind up about which hand they prefer when they begin reception.

dd was late writing and was ambidextrous til she started school
nw she can write ok and has chosen right hadn for writing
She could wrote with her left hand ok ish 6 mths ago before starting school
Now she is unable to control a pencil with laeft hand at all

Have ds1 who is lefthanded too

thanks for all the answers. Its an interesting area. I must start to notice which hand he uses a spoon with, am so sleep deprived I had forgotten to look at that. I remember an occupational therapist I met was keen that kids didn't start writing letters till 6 or 7, just big patterns etc. I must do some more cutting too.

DS#2 uses both hands equally. He's 4. I'm assuming it will sort itself out soon.

Mine uses both, he is 4 1/2...sometimes though I give him an implement and he transfers it to his left hand. I don't know what they do at school regarding writing etc, must find out!

I watched him after school. He cut with scissors only using his right hand (after a fashion anyone!). Then ate one yoghurt with his left hand, then ate a second yoghurt with his right hand! Confusing

my son is 11 and he still doesn't know!
well to tell the truth, he decided in reception to write with his right hand but only after trying lots of grips and things on his pencil. At nursery he used to colour with a pencil in each hand.
Even now he is bigger, he plays cricket and shoots left - handed and writes plays tennis and does most other things right handed. He sees it as an advantage that he can mostly use either hand!

My DS1 (9 1/2) didnt decide until year 1 to use his right hand for writting all the time. But even now if he is not concentrating he will pick up a pencil with either hand and just start to write until he notices what he is doing. He still colours in with either hand and will hold a pencil in both hands if he is in a hurry to do something.
When he was younger I thought it may have been my fault as I am ambidextrous but write with my left hand and that he may have just been copying me. When marking work I hold a different coloured pen in each hand, then tick with my right hand and write the coments with my left.
DS2 was very obviously right handed from an early age.