CALLING ALL LEFT HANDERS, ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE

[GreenOnions]

questions, questions...

how soon can you tell if your child is going to be left handed?

dd is 6 months and today i had a 'lightbulb' moment,

she holds/grabs toys with her left hand,

eats her rusk with her left hand,

chews her left fingers,

sucks her left thumb,

offers her left hand to hold,

lays on her left side,

holds her bottle with her left hand,

none of which bothers me,

but after reading some online research on left handedness should i be worried in any way?

if you are left handed, did you/do you feel it hindered you in any way?

do you consider yourself worse off/better off/no different than if you where right handed?

are you more creative/imaginative/musical or is all that rubbish?

thanks

haagendaz,

welcome to mn

here is a link to the brightminds left hand books, not sure if it is the same one Divineintervention mentioned

I'm a lefty and am happy to be so. I find it versatile because I can use the mouse with my right hand and write with my left at the same time. I don't know of any right handed people who deliberately use their mouse left handed in order to be able to do this

It was a total and complete PITA at school though. Like most of the others here, I turn my page through 90 degrees and write vertically to avoid smudging and allow me to see what I'm writing. School was too rigid - I wasn't allowed (sometimes) to sit on the left side of the desk to avoid knocking elbows and I wasn't allowed to use a biro instead of a fountain pen which meant that my writing was often illegible. I was good at tennis and rounders though because I could play either left or right handed. I was rubbish at needlework and nobody has ever managed to teach me to knit with any degree of accomplishment.

The worst thing at school was writing letters and numbers the wrong way around - I still have huge problems with this (thank goodness for typing and spell check!) - b's and d's, e's, 3's, s's are worst but I have to think and plan anything I write; I can't just scrawl off a note.

Now if I try something new I will test it out both left and right handedly (sic) and see which feels most comfortable.

I use my spoon in my left hand but am happy with my fork and knife in the correct hands. This is only a problem with desserts or with a bowl of spaghetti when they are served with a spoon and a fork. Cake forks are a mystery that I?ve just had to accept are going to confuse me for as long as I live

I can draw well (but so can my right handed father) but I can't paint for toffee (the smudging thing again) and I'm tone deaf.

I always lead with my left which makes me a liability on a dance floor or at yoga

In my experience I have more difficulty with simple tasks - I often have to stand back and then think about how to reverse my natural inclination to use an implement. For example, I find can openers and (weirdly) screwdrivers very difficult.

If my DS (14mo) turns out to be left handed then I'll be neither pleased nor upset, it's about as relevant as having blond hair or brown IMO.

Thanks Shambolicbaby . has anybody got any experience of these Bright Minds left writing left handed books or any others? Wondering if they are worth getting - as a left hander who writes upside down and topsy turvy because I used to smudge the ink at school....

[Migola] how are you, I thought I could report back to the thread! We have lots of new names, and a few still waiting.

blackrock (sorry for hijacking op) - oh bless you. I'm very well thank you, finally had my scan yesterday afternoon and after all the weeks of worrying that I was imagining the whole thing, or that something was wrong, or that there was more than one in there (I am so big compared to last time!), there he/she was, wriggling like mad! Still waiting for the nuchal fold test results etc so of course I'm now worrying about that! But am just happy to have seen him/her and seems well.
Have been having the odd check on the thread just to keep up to date and in the hope of seeing some BFPs. Hope you're all well, please give my love to them all, I haven't forgotten about them and am still sending babydust all round xx

Haven't read the whole thread, but I use my mouse in my left hand, but with the button still set to right handed setting. I just sort of hold it squint, so that my index fingers is over the left clicker button - but I can still right click if I want to.

Maybe 'cos of that, I tend not to right click unless necessary - and have learnt loads of the keyborad shorttcusts so I can keep my hands on the keyboard.

I also write slightly hook handed (slightly as in my wrist doesn't break/bend but the pen/pencil is pointing away from me.) I beleive that hook handers are still right eyed dominant, so not quite as "swapped over" as some left handers.

I also eat with a knife and fork the "right handed" way (to me it is a more left handed way as the left hand is doing the "accurate" work - ie getting your food to your mouth ) but use a spoon in my left hand. It means I struggle with a dessert fork and spoon as I only know how to use both implements in my left hand.

And of course (I would say this of course , left handers are naturally more gifted than right handers!

Re the inheritnce factor, dh and I are both left handers and ds is right handed. I read somewhere that his odds were increased to 1 in 3 of being left handed (from the "population" level of 1 in 11) with having both parents being left handed - but that it still wasn't a dead cert.

Thanks Migola, good to hear that. Take care of yourself and thinking of you.

Sorry for the hijack OP.

agree that it is good to use things like mouse in right hand as not always easy to alter. i am fairly ambidextrous so cope quite well. I can even do mirror writing. Actually, i would be worse off if if broke my right arm as i brush teeth and hair with right hand. Left hand dominance for me is only really for writing. Lh scissors weren't widely available. my first guitar teacher let me make the choice but said it would be harder in the long run to do it lh as it limits your choice of instruments. Both hands do lots anyway. Struggled with badminton till i worked it out myself and now can do it either way!

I guess you've all noticed that Obama is left handed?
Its really not something that needs to hold you back
I would also put any 'labels' like clumsy right out of your head - it just becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

DP and i are both RH, DD (2 and half) is definitely left handed, and proud of it. DS sucks R thumb so ends up being leftie by default but who knows in the future.
DP's dad is LH, and I quizzed my dad about his handedness, as i was curious about genetics. He says his mum once told him she was sure he would have been a leftie had he not cut a major tendon in LH while carrying glass bottle at the age of 2, having major surgery and arm immobilized during that time made him end up being RH, but he always got crticised for being clumsy and slow at intricate things at school. poor dad. i always thought his handwriting actions seem rather stilted and "trained" rather than loose and natural, even now.

the genetics of it: there is a gene for being right handed, a gene for being left handed, and a gene which gives you 50:50 chance of being either RH or LH. I can't remember which genes are dominant/recessive, but it makes for quite strange inheritance patterns.

Im left-handed and Ive never felt any different to anyone else....however I do use my right-hand for alot of things, not because thats been forced on me, maybe there is such a thing as degrees of leftyness
I use scissors with my right, i would use my right to shake hands and I have always had the computer mouse on the right with no problems and its never even occured to me to put it on the left only now since reading this thread.
Anyway just leave your dc to go with the flow I'd say.

I'm left-handed and have never thought twice about it. Quite surprised by some of the limitations (and perceived limitations) mentioned on this thread.

Never had issues with fountain pens, mice, can openers, scissors etc. You just learn to do things with your right hand if they are awkward with your left.

If anything I find being left handed a significant advantage in some scenarios, e,g, tennis, boxing training, being able to use mouse and write at the same time, swap hands when tired when doing manual tasks e.g. painting, DIY, ironing.

Cake forks definitely a mystery though as someone else mentioned!

And yes creativity thing applies to me, but then my right-handed mum and brother also very talented musically and artistically so not sure this is anything to do with handedness.

What a great thread!

We have a Left handed daughter (2yrs). Never even crossed my mind she might be until at her 2nd lot of vaccinations and the nurse asked if we knew as she'd give the jab in the "wrong" arm. She then tried DD by offering her a pen and seeing which hand she used.

The only Left handed person in our family is FIL, so he's quite chuffed that DD has one of his "quirks" as he calls it. My father keeps telling me to make her grow out of it and that she's young enough to be influenced into changing to right handness. I (politely) keep telling him to get out of the dark ages I like the fact that DD is a leftie, makes her "unique" as it were. I was worrying about how I'll teach her to write though, so those books could come in handy (excuse the pun) and thanks to whoever said about sitting opposite them. The only change we make for her being LH is to give her a spoon on the left of her placemat.

Just found this thread!

DD is left-handed, and like the OP, I realised it as soon as she started self-feeding, etc.
Bizzarely, she now holds her knife and fork like a right-hander and DS who is right-handed, holds like a left-hander No-one else in our extended family is left-handed, so it was a (pleasant) surprise.

I was very keen for her to develop a good pencil grip and positioning for comfortable writing - I definitely think it's worth spending time making sure that is embedded. We seem to have succeeded as she now has a neat and quite fast joined handwriting style. The teachers (and she) have also been very good in ensuring that she sits so that she doesn't bang writing elbows with anyone

I don't think she has any difficulties because of it, infact, like many of you other lefties, she is able to swap hands for some tasks too (like the mouse)And she is a good swimmer and gymnast.

The only left-handed equipment we have ever given her is left-handed scissors when she was little, but she seems fine with the right-handed ones now.

My daughter is a leftie (in a right handed family) and I never really gave it much thought. I remember I was please because of the research that they are more arty etc, apart from that I forgot all about it!
I did invest in left handed ink pens for her for middle school (anything left handed shop online) and was quite startled to see I probably should have lefty scissors, a tin opener and bread knife!?
She' 14 years old now (and is quite arty) and is perfectly normal, she looked at me as if I were mad when I asked her if she wanted a left handed tin opener!
Just wait and see what hand they favour when they are writing. Mine writes with her left but can colour with either for some reason. Also holds knife and fork the usual way, although that may be because I never swopped them over for her when younger!
She uses the mouse right handed too.

dd has been very left handed for 3 years, (since she was a baby) then in the last few months she has started to do a lot of drawing and always holds the pencil in her right hand, still pretty ambidextrous though.

Apparently babies go through phases, 6 months of left hand, 6 months of right hand etc, and don't finally settle until quite late, 3 or 4, but I have to say ds was very strongly right handed from early days (also very mathmatical - is it connected?)

Sorry, I haven't read all of the above, but I am left-handed, and it hasn't really affected me that much, asidefrom not being allowed to write with a pen at school for ages because I used to smudge my writing. (I get around that by holding the page at 90 degrees to my body)

I use 'normal' scissors, except in my left hand, and I use a computer mouse in my right. It's much easier that way, as I can use any computer without too much fuss.

I think you'll find your dd gets along fine without too much assistance. She'll just do things without really noticing, and realise later tht everyone else does things in a funny way. Be prepared to be alarmed when she starts using a knife though. My whole family cringe when they see me cut things.

Hi there, you probably have all your answers now but I am left handed and if anything it has been a benefit to me although it did not please my parents! All my family on both sides are right handed so its not hereditary. I found that at school I couldn't be bothered to ask for special left handed equipment like scissors so just got on and used the right handed ones. Same with sports...I didn't make a big deal of it and just tried out both ways and stuck to whichever side I was better with.
I definitely have no 'mouse' issues!!
I don't think it impacts upon skills such as music/art etc, you can just do those things or not. However I am good at those things, but also good at science/math.
In short, I wouldn't worry at all. Just let your kid take things as they come. If she picks up a pair of right handed scissors just see if she can get on with them right handed. If you've never done something before you just learn to do it whichever way is presented to you!! Good luck x