Left hander

[PrettyCandles]

3yo ds2 appears to be firmly left-handed. The only left hander in either family, AFAIK. He seems to be managing well with regular scissors, as well as you'd expect any 3yo to do. Do I need to buy him LH scissors, or any other LH equipment, or would it be better to encourage him to get used to a RHded world?

Nicklebabe - I learned to write left-handed when I got bitten by a dog! Became quite legible in the end.

I must say that I wouldn't have continued to push ds's right hand if he was clearly going to stay left handed - I'm fairly ambidextrous - and dh says he's cack-handed whichever hand he uses - ds is good at using both hands for things (especially eating), but now does almost always pick up his pencil etc in his right hand

I'm left handed but brought up to do everything (except writing) right handed, or using right handed equipment.

I am pretty clumsy and no good at sports/parking/etc and I am convinced this is due to the world being back to front to me. I wish I had learnt to do things left handedly and well instead of right handedly and crap.

I also have a very mild form of spina bifida and that can affect coordination and handedness (about 1 in 20 people have it but don't know - I only found out by accident).

I am officially what they call cack-handed

As Concordia says Obama's handwriting method looks quite awkward. I am a lefty myself and I suppose I would describe my method as the semi-hook. He has gone for the full-blown version and so would it seem does Prince William. This has its advatages I think as you do not cover any of your work or smudge the ink (the bane of my life since pens were introduced to me at eight. No! They did not make my writing neater as I was promised...)

I always look at fellow lefties to see how they write and the most fluent seem to have their paper at an angle. / - this way.

My dad was born left-handed, was made to write with his right hand and has since been more or less completely ambidextrous. Anything very fiddly he will do with his left hand.

i write with my page tilted (almost to a right angle) to the right, so that i'm writing underneath it.
i actually find it hard to write when my paper isn't as tilted.

Sounds like I ought to just let get on with it, encourage him to act like RHer, but allow him to be LH, and only get him LH stuff if he can't manage RH gear. Might as well learn to live in a RH world!

Good tip re the paper - it was one of the things I was a little concerned about - thanks.

just got back to this, and am very interested to hear about the letter writing. ds1 still does some letters the wrong way round, and he was never 'taught' how to write the letterforms either. I guess its maybe not that common to have lefties in the class, and its assumed that kids are all righties.
He also does it with some numbers (usually 2, 5 and 7).
when we realised he was a leftie, i re-learnt to write with my left so that he could see someone else writing with that hand, and he pretty much does letters how he feels comfy.
Like poppyknot 's dad i too was left handed as a child but made to change so relearning was very stramge!

actually, PrettyCandles, i wouldn't encourage him to act like a RHer - it's been shown that that can cause developmental issues (can't cite source...)

just allow him to pick things up for himself (as in learn, as opposed to lift! ).

anything that he finds tricky can be surmounted when the time comes.

he most likely won't find an issue until one crops up.

or teach him to work a sewing machine: one piece of equipment that was designed for left-handers (Elias Howe, the inventor, was left-handed and all the annoying bits that get in the way are on the right hand side, where the free arm and space you need to move the fabric etc are on the left)

Nickle - interesting point. I wonder whether the fact that both dh and I are fairly ambi is a real assistance with string playing - the LH does all the fiddly work (fingering for notes) whilst the RH just does the relatively simple bowing that should take its cue from the LH....

i totally agree mistle: i always thought that about stringed instruments and wood wind instruments (you do most of the notes with the left hand and the right hand merely joins in for lower notes)

shame piano doesn't follow those rules though. the tune is usually on the right hand.

So how many of you left-handers can do mirror writing? I can, its as neat and the same as forwards-writing, and as fast. I had no idea I could do it untill someone asked me when I was 17. I am quite ambi.

4 out of 5 of us in this household are lefties.

DD is left handed and manages the piano well, but has just started guitar and she wishes we had got her a left handed.

When she was in primary they did have left handed handwriting sheets which were helpful, but it did take her until YR6 until her writing was legible. Her hands are always covered in ink from smudging the page, although she does use left handed pens but not all the time.

She injured her left hand when she was 2 so couldn't use it for a while, she quite happily used her rh but as soon as she got her lh back she used that.

At 3 yrs old, your child might not be definately left handed. It can take up to 5 yrs for dominant side to become dominant.

Ways you can check which side is the most dominant are: give child a small lidded container with items inside, child will usually use dominate side to remove lid & items. Offer/hand child something, they will usually take it with dominant hand. Watch what side ear child holds phone to (toy phone will do)as again they will hold phone to ear on dominant side.

Most schools use double-bladed scissors which can be used in either hand, other than that i dont think that there is any other equipment for a 3 yr old that needs to be dominant side specific.

YoMoJo, intesting the things that you list to identify what 'handedness' DC may have. My husband swears that the only way to really tell is to see what hand DC uses to wipe their bum!!! I sure know I can't do it with the wrong hand (incredibly tough when my good hand was in plaster!!!!)

My Mum bought me left-handed scissors, but they were really stiff, so I just used the right handed ones! I always use right handed ones now. Don't think it matters much.

When I was growing up I was a RH in a family of Lefties.

I was taught to write sitting across the table so I could see the letter formation. It has had the added bonus of being able to read upside down as quickly as someone reading the right way up - invaluble in review meetings and interviews.

We are now doing the same for our dd. Although her school is very good - her teacher last year is LH and continues to help her with hand specific tasks.

I do still have problems with ironing, cutting bread and carving meat etc as they were always done LH - and I still try to cut things with a LH slope using my RH. As my mum says it looks painful.

i like the theory Mole, but in many eastern/african etc countries, they use their left hand to wipe their bum and right hand to do "clean" things.