Left handed writing and eating

[TeaOneSugar]

My DD, 5 and a half, is the only left handed one in the family, and I'm not sure what I should be doing to help.

She had her first school report today and it's very good, the only issue appears to be writing independantly - ie. writing from memory rather than copying text, which to me seems quite an advanced skill.

I'm wondering is being left handed may be an issue here? She seems to hold pens OK to me and can colour in quite carefully, she writes from left to right but smudges sometimes, depending on the pen.

Should I buy a special pen for her to take to school?

I haven't spoken to the teacher, but she also hasn't mentioned it so maybe it's not an issue for her.

The other problem I'm having is getting her to cut up her food holding her knife and fork the right way, she gets frustrated when I try to show her how to do it and I'm also not sure if she needs to hold them differently or just in different hands. I'm sure she should be using cutlery properly by now and I want to work on this over the summer.

Any help would be appreciated.

Papoose - I was taught properly but switched as a teenager. I also do ticks backwards and eat with the wrong hands. And you know what - no-one has ever thrown up in disgust at a restaurant or asked to be moved to anothertable so they can't see me. Grrrr.

TeaOneSugar - let your DD lead you WRT how she does things. I have found that I cannot write with the paper horizontal, I turn it through anywhere from 45-90 degrees and write at an angle - no smudges. I found cheque books a problem, but my bank supply me with left-handed ones (spine down the right hand side) which flumoxes DH everytime he goes to use it.

Don't worry - your DD will not be a social outcast if she does things a little differently at all. I second the others that anythinglefthanded is a great shop. I struggle with normal scissors for over thirty years (and have scarred knuckles to prove it) until I got hold of some left-handed ones. My sister is a teacher and said that they supply them for left-handed pupils, so maybe have a chat with your DD's teacher.

Hope this helps.

Papoose - my table manners are fine thank you very much. Grrrrr.

DD1 is very left-handed (5.5). used to smudge a lot when writing but less so now. I think she has been shown at school to rotate her paper and they also sit her at a certain corner of the table. so she has more space.

eating, i haven't noticed. the DDs are still at the shovelling stage but i do put the cutlery the "right" way round. i wouldn't worry though. dh eats with the cutlery the wrong way round (and isn't left handed...)

she uses the mouse with her right hand and seems to cope fine with the scissors at home, although school have some left handed scissors so let's see if she gets fussy with me!

isn't she using a pencil at school? smudging shouldn't be an issue with a pencil?

My dd hasn't had any problems with scissors so far, so she must have just adapted to use them herself.

I think I might try her with a yoro pen, although I'm not sure how she'll keep hold of them at school, I tried turning the paper for her last night but it didn't seem to make a difference.

My plan is to speak to her teacher, the only reason I've become concerned is that I've read into her report that she's not confident with writing, although I've never noticed a lack of confidence myself. I'm probably reading too much into the report.

My issue with cutlery is really getting her to use a knife and folk together, in whichever hand she feels comfortable with really, so she can cut up food herself.

Thanks for all the advice.

Sorry, yes, she uses a pencil at school, so smudging shouldn't be a problem there yet, but she does use a pen at home, so maybe I just need to get some pencil grips for her to take to school (or check if they have them I suppose first).

We'll work on the cutlery issue over the summer and I'll talk to her teacher about the comments in her report.

Thanks everyone.

DD who is left handed uses her cutlery the 'correct way'
DS who is right handed uses his the 'wrong way'
DH and I are both right handed and use our cutlery correctly, so what is going on with our offspring?
DD has had no problems with scissors but struggles with a tin opener
She did write backwards when she first started to write but has not had any problems since, she is now 12.

Pencils do smudge, DD's hand used to be black all down her little finger from smudging.