Think my 4 year old might be left handed?

[Leish]

My 4 year old son (reception year) can't decide what hand he is. Apparently he's one of the last ones in his class to be showing non-preference and he struggles with his writing and drawing. Neither teacher nor I are unduly worried as he is still young and boys fine motor skills are behind girls. He's also ahead with everything else and is well-behaved and friendly etc (so a plus there!).

I'm wondering that he might be left-handed, as he does show some left preferences when catching, kicking a ball, trying to play guitar. When he tries to write he starts with his left and turns the page on it's side and sometimes upside down. When he turns it back it's usually correct! Has anyone else got a little left-hander and what can I do to help him if he is? Surely he's got to learn to write differently? Haven't had chance to talk to his teacher about it yet to see if she has some tips, so thought I'd try on here too. Thanks!

i am left handed and I have got the most beautiful hand writing of everyone i know and i was forced to write with a fountain pen since primary school! which can be a nightmare for left hander. I have to turn page 90 degrees mostly to stop smudging.

playing string instruments was always a problem. stick to woodwind if he is musical.

cutting paper and using a bead knife are only probs i have.

Thanks for the responses :)

I have a fierce tennis backhand. They never see it coming!

Definitely leave him to find out the best way for himself, he is still very young. My DD was the same in Reception year, she didn't know which hand to write with. Her teacher at the time told us not to worry - it could be a year or so before it was obvious.

A few months later she stopped writing with her right hand altogether and now has very good left handed writing. She is right handed in all other ways so we never bothered with special scissors or setting the table differently. They all find their own way eventually!

I am left handed - the worst thing is writing in cheque books which will be obsolete by the time he needs to do this!!

supersewer - I got special LH cheque books from Lloyds - they open 'back to front' like Japanese books!

We were convinced DS would be a leftie, I am and he was very strongly left-footed etc as a toddler. He's now Yr1 and writes with his RH but I've noticed still throws with his LH and will even transfer a ball to it to throw. I reckon he's going to be fairly ambidextrous.

As a kid the pluses outweighed the minuses. The only minus was scissors as schools didn't have LH scissors then (think some do nowadays?). Pluses included having a killer rounders swing - straight past 1st base so no chance of anyone throwing it to 4th before I'd zoomed round . As an adult I curse corkscrews and fish-slices but that's about it (and of course screw capped bottles of wine have made life much better).

We are all left handed in my family (me, DH & both DS) and the only problems I've encountered are:
curved nib fountain pens
Lacrosse
potato peelers
cheque book stubbs
bread/fish knives
cake slices
scissors

none of which have ever nor will ever cause any of us to lose any sleep

ETA All lefties seem to have their own way of writing - DH holds his hand virtually upside down on top of the writing, DS1 writes with pen & paper sideways & I write much more like a right handed person (ie straight paper & pen!). There's no right or wrong way but if DH & DS1's writing is anything to go by, it ain't always that pretty

"I'm right handed and use my mouse left handed as I'm prone to RSI in my right hand!"

Snap! Actually I am mouse-ambidextrous; whenever I feel a twinge of RSI I swap the mouse over. Mice are very easy to use with the non-dominant hand, not at all like writing.

Gadgets are gimmicks?

No way!!

I am a leftie who grew up in the 60's and 70's when most LH products were not available!

I got my first proper pair of LH scissors and a LH serrated kitchen knife for my 40th birthday! WOW - what a difference! I really wish I'd realised how much easier they were to use than RH ones.
Serrated knives are only ground on one side - if a LH person uses a RH knife, then it is almost impossible to cut straight. I always wondered why I couldn't slice bread. The blades on LH scissors are fastened the wrong way round for a LHer so you have to crane you head over to see what you are cutting. Please get him proper LH scissors (The ones where the blades are fastened the other way, not just those that have an "ambidexterous grip")if he does turn out to be LHed and a LH kitchen/bread knife when it is age-appropriate for him to start using one in cooking.

Lots of things that turn are very counter-intuitive for LHers so he may struggle with door knobs, tin openers, screwing and unscrewing things. I broke the first CD cases I tried to open as I could not work out how they opened and the mechanism was counter-intuitive for me!! Even things like flushes on toilets (old-fashioned handle types) are much easier to use if you are RH as they are on the RHS as you face the loo to flush it!

The other thing I would have appreciated as an older primary and as a secondary school student is a LH ruler - yes really!! The measurements go from right to left on a LH ruler which is the natural way for a LHer to draw a line. When you are asked to draw lines of certain lengths it is so much easier to measure if the units start on the RHS. Still it did my mental arithmetic a lot of good having to continually subtract to work out the lengths!!

Another area where you need to watch for LH friendly products is power tools - (though I know at 5 this won't be an immediate issue for your ds!) Some have switches that are really awkward to use with the LH and even have emergency stop buttons that actually rest in the palm of the LH so are very easy to switch off accidentally!

If you are dubious about all this as a RHer, try using LH scissors and see how awkward they feel for you. This is what a LH child feels like learning to use RH ones.

I think as a LHer I have only come to realise how much more tricky things are to use as I've got older. Growing up - you just automatically "get on with it" as you don't realise any different. It could have been a whole lot easier though. When I was younger
( in my 20's or 30's) I don't think I thought about it much or realised how much it had affected me but I have as I've got older. I was labelled as "cack-handed" asa child but some of it was just about not having the right equipment!!

I actually feel quite strongly about this. We live in such a RH dominated world and yet most people don't ever really think about this. Some teachers couldn't even tell you who was left-handed in their class, let alone make sure they have appropriate equipment to use! I think I'd go so far as to say that Left Handers are probably one of the last unacknowledged, discriminated-against minorities in the UK. We are expected all the time to use stuff that is designed to be used with the other hand and when you make an issue of it, people pull faces or think you are a bit crazy!! I agree that some stuff can't be changed just for Left Handers (door knobs for example?) but I think people should be much more aware.

^I think I'd go so far as to say that Left Handers are probably one of the last unacknowledged, discriminated-against minorities in the UK. We are expected all the time to use stuff that is designed to be used with the other hand and when you make an issue of it, people pull faces or think you are a bit crazy!!

I agree.

My cousin is also a left-hander and several years ago, when she was started school, there were no left-handed scissors. When my aunt and uncle raised the fact there wasn't a pair of left-handed scissors, the teacher acted like she was being put out, but said 'well we can order a pair, but you'll have to pay for them!'

They wouldn't have said that to the parents of a pupil who needed a particular learning aid or extra support somehow.

I also agree that left-handed gadgets are not gimmicks. Peeling vegetables used to leave my wrist incredibly sore, to the point where it took me an hour to peel just a few veg, but then the left-handed vegetable peeler found its way into my life. What a glorious, glorious day that was!

My left-handed scissors, knives etc are also a Godsend.

In my family of five, 80% of us are LH; me, my DH and our twin DDs. Our DS is the only RH, so a rare case of the RH being the minority, at least at home!

When i was growing up I never realised that being left handed was a disadvantage. However certain things were difficult. In particular, the ink never flowed properly from my fountain pen, because I was pushing it rather than pulling it across the page; my dressmaking scissors always hurt my thumb because the handle holes are round the wrong way for a leftie. Later on when I used an old fashioned cash register, the pull down handle for opening the til was on the righthand side and I was always laughed at for being cackhanded, I didn't even realise that it was a lefthander problem. Tin openers always face the wrong way; I always have to switch round my knife, fork and spoon at the table. The lock on the front door is always positioned on the left so I have to open it using the key in my righthand - I could go on. However I have adapted to most things, apart from the scissors, which I avoid using now.

Whilst I appreciate for some that having left handed equipment is a godsend, there are somethings I really don't get at all...and I say that as being a left hander myself.

My knife and fork are laid out and used in the same way as right handers - so why the need to swap, we have no left handed gadgets at all in the house and never have, I just use right handed ones in my left hand or just use them with my right hand - which OK feels a bit weird sometimes but it do-able for things like opening tins, or slicing cakes, etc.

I also learnt to write by moving the paper to an angle rather than bending my hand around the page which is what a lot of left handers do.

I swap my mouse between hands daily so as to avoid RSI. It is set as a right handed configuration permanently but I use it with either hand and without changing the config without any issues.

Maybe it's just me, but I really haven't found the need to get any specific left handed stuff at all at any point in my life. Maybe this was helped by the fact that left handed hockey sticks at school were non existant, so I played right handed and this has encouraged me to be much more ambidextrous - particularly because now when I think about it, I play golf right handed too....... hmmmm

I swap over my knife and fork automatically when I start to eat. I didn't realsie i did it until my dh remarked onn it.

I use 'normal' knife and fork, but always swap the dessert spoon and fork over...

Does it indicate anything being left handed? Artistic, literary, scientific, musical? Or is that baloney!

"Does it indicate anything being left handed?"

Just better at everything!!

Actually I get RSI with a mouse these days and I've been trying to use my mouse right handed. But I am just not as dexterous, placing is more difficult.

This is interesting. I've always wondered with ds1; his pencil control is not easy at 7yo and he often writes numbers and letters backwards.
He uses various things left handed, such as when he rides a scooter or pushes a bicycle.

School seemed to ignore the possibility he was LH and just told him to use his right hand.

I wonder if there is a way to tell which he 'wants' to be.

I'm watching our 2 year old, and he seems more often to choose his left hand rather than his right. But I gather they often keep swapping at that age.
Does he tend to pick up with his left?

Just to go back to the post of ohmydear's. Purely anecdotal of course, but I do notice left handed actors on TV and there do seem to be an awful lot compared to the normal population.

My left handed dd writes upside down. That is, she turns the page upside down but the writing looks standard.

HandbagAddiction - there are some LH who can adapt easily, my DH is one of them.

However, some of us struggle, me included.

Everett - tell your ds you are playing a game to see how quickly he can point to things! Ask him to rapidly point to one thing after another round the room, both to the left and right of him, high and low, varying it randomly. Watch which hand he uses. If he uses his RH or LH consistently, then you can be fairly sure that the one he uses is his dominant hand. If he randomly uses either hand he may be more ambidextrous, however if he uses the hand nearest the item you are referring to, then it may be a sign of ambidexterity or it could be that he has a difficulty in "crossing the mid-line" - doing things that require him to use RH on LHS of him and vice versa! This can cause co-ordination problems and can also be a factor in dyslexia and dyspraxia ( not saying your ds has either of these by the way)!

The world is built by the right handed for the right handed.
DH and DD1 are left handed. DH writes left handed but eats and plays the guitar 'right handed.

DD2 seems to be ambidextrous so we are gently encouraging the right.

BlackBag I used both hands but mainly the left until I broke my left arm then I swapped ...drastic solution