Left -handedness: when can you really tell?

[superzero]

My 4 year old is starting to want to learn to write his name.
Can hold a pen is both hands but when I've put it in his left hand & shown him the grip he finds it slightly easier.
Should I encourage him to use this hand?
If he's truly ambidextrous is it better to develop writing with one hand rather than both?
He doesn't start reception til September so it will mainly be me helping him at home.If it's not obvious that they have a really dominant hand will they try and make him write with his right hand at school?
I'm left handed myself so suspect he may also be,with my older one there was no question that he was right handed.

My dc2 showed clear preference for using his left hand from about the age of 3 certainly before starting reception

I'm left handed and my 6 year old DS is left handed, I don't think its made any difference really, I think just let him write with which hand he feels most comfortable with, when he goes to pick up a pen or pencil which hand does he pick up with?

I don't think they'll make him write with a certain hand... well they shouldn't anyway, I had a teacher try to force me to use my right hand when I was in primary but I'm 31 and even then she was the only person to try that and she was a bit odd anyway :)

My leftie struggles with letter formation which I have been told is common

We really didn't know if DD was a lefty or a righty until she started school, within the first couple of weeks of reception she settled on left.

Just let him use his pen in what hand he wants until he settles on left or right.

I'm lefthanded and one if my children showed a similar pattern of preference to your DC, superzero, but decided on his right hand by about 5.

My DD did most things with either hand until about 5. I never pushed it either way, just put the pencil/cutlery etc down in front of her and let her pick it up without prompting. She eventually decided to write with her right hand but was still using scissors in her left until she was about 7.
Both DH and I are right handed but do a lot of things with either, and since having had kids and tried to teach them different things, I have discovered I do some things in a more naturally left handed way. DD seems to be going along the same route.

Very clear preference from the first time she ever held a crayon - even when I passed it to her right hand to see what she would do, she moved it to her left and scribbled. She has been taught cursive writing from the outset and her letter formation is fine (now age 6).

Dd2 is in R. And I am still not completely sure if she is a left- or right- handed. She does prefer her left for many activities - eating, grabbing, pointing. But then says right one is more comfortable for writing.
Am confused but going with a flow for now. Her writing is comfortable, so I don't worry.

My leftie only established herself a short while before her 4th birthday. As a consequence, she has only just started to draw. Bless her, her drawing's terrible, but she's making rather a good stab at writing letters.

My theory is that she has never been able to figure out why holding a crayon felt so wrong in her right hand, and therefore didn't want to try to draw because it was strange for her. Now that she's realised it feels okay in her left hand, she's making attempts. Her nursery teacher agreed with me on this.

As much as I am concerned about how she will get on at school - I'm still not convinced teachers are always sympathetic to the very particular needs of a leftie - I am secretly delighted. My gene lives on!

With both of my sons it was clear from very early (around 1 year old) that they were left (DS1) and right handed (DS2). With DS1 I sometimes wondered if he was really left handed or was coping me because I am left handed. But eventually when he started drawing, using cuttlery, I could see he liked using his left hand more.

Whereas DS2 would always change the toys I gave him from his left hand to the right hand, and always uses the right hand in situations where DS1 had always used his left hand.

If your son is ambidextrous, then let him write/draw with the hand he feels more comfortable with (left or right, or both). DS1 has never encountered any problems by being left handed at school so far. And I have seen they have special left handed scissors available for left handed children at his school. Something they probably didn't have at mine as I can only use the scissors with my right hand; I must have got used to do it without thinking about it.

My leftie DS decided at age 3. Until then he would swap hands but on starting pre-school he decided that was his preference. He struggles with the 'tails' on letters being made on the wrong side but I think that is an age thing rather than a leftie thing.

I'm a leftie but my daughter is definitely favouring her right hand when using pens and pencils. She is 2.5 Perhaps it will change.

My DS had a definite preference from just over a year old. Everything he held in his left hand. I remember my friend scoffing at me when I said he was left-handed. She literally laughed and said it was far too early to tell. Made me feel silly.

Well guess what? He's 5 now and most definitely a lefty. SO IN YOUR FUCKING FACE JULIE!

At age 4 many children haven't established a dominant hand so it's best to leave them.