Left handed?

Mankysteve

From my experance left handed people tend be more ambidextrous than right handed people.

kat74

I'd let him find his natural 'balance'. I'm left handed, but use my right hand for many things things. The world is generally designed for RH people, as another poster mentioned, so LH people just tend to adapt - often to things RH people wouldn't even notice - such as kettles (the water level is desgined to be viewed when held in the right hand) cheque books (though they probably won't exsit for much longer) and ring-binder folders.
LH handwriting can be messier too (because as you write you cover up the previous word and don't see the whole line of text) so he might need a bit more support and practise with this.

LabLover

Im slightly different to everyone elses examples in that my family are all lefties- mum dad and sister and as a result ive grown up pretty confused. I write with my right hand but paint ( and coloured in as a child ) with my left hand. I use my fork and spoon in right hand as I find it easier to chop with my left hand. But when cutting bread I can use either hand. I cant play tennis as both hands feel akward. Throw ball and catch ball with both hands with equal skill. It was difficult growing up being the only right handed one , which I know sounds really odd but I struggled with tying laces etc as I always wanted to use my right hand naturally but it was easier to watch and just copy my parents using left hand. So I'm a bit of a mixed bag. The best thing to do is just let him adopt what feels comfy for him, my parents were forever trying to show me how to do things but I ended up asking my gran ( to tie laces,knit , stitch) as I just couldnt copy them and it was difficult for them to show me how to do it right handed. hth
LL X

kat74

LabLover has a good point there about children watching thier parents. My mum is LH and my older sister is RH. Mum taught my sister to hold a pencil in her RH, but when I came along and started using my left hand my sister tried to copy mum and me, which then impacted her progress in using her right hand...

Penny_Watcher

My DS1(15) writes using his left hand (and quite neatly I might add ) but favours his right foot when playing football. He can use either hand for using tools, but eats 'right-handed', which is a bit strange because as a right handed person I always eat left handed [confused]. I'm sure the OP's son will decided which hand he favours given time.

Slightly off topic, but in my family all the boys are lefties (my Dad, 3 of brothers, my OH and DS1 and all the girls are righties (my Mum, me and both DDs). My youngest brother is right handed though :eek:. I grew up believing boys were left handed and girls were right handed . School soon put me right about that one.

elfen

I'm left handed but I'm also quite clumsy. I can't cut anything straight (not even bread) and I can't use a fork/pen in my right hand, it looks like im holding it in a fist. However, I knit right handed as my mum taught me how to and I mirrored her. I'm cack at anything that involves straight lines and I used to have a near permanent ink stain down my left hand. And I can't use left or right handed scissors, and I've got a dip in my finger as I have to hold the pen quite hard to make it neat - or it looks like spiders have been dipped in ink and let free.

ailuro2

One thing no one has mentioned yet - when you're left handed and writing with a pen, most lefties end up with the paper at an angle to avoid smudges all over the letters you've just written - for this reason alone it's easier to be right handed for writing, as writing at an angle tends to leave the writing a bit skee whiff too...

I never realised the world was agaisnt us "pally duke-it" types till I bought a pair of left handed scissors and realised what I'd been missing out on.:p

http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lefty_language.html#1

There's loads of statistics out there for lefties, the one I hated most was the one that said we die 6 yrs earlier than our right handed counterparts!!!:eek:

Silaqui

I'm sure your son will be fine if you leave him to develop his preference as you have been doing. At age 5 there is still plenty of time for him to decide how he finds things easiest.

I'm predominantly right handed, but my mum says that when I was little I used to switch between hands when I was learning to write. I write with my right hand now though, and can't do it at all with my left. BUT when I'm sketching or drawing (I'm a designer), I often use the HB pencil in my right hand and colour in with my left, at the same time. I guess it's because shading doesn't quite as much precision as writing does. Speeds things up no end!

x

Quackers

Penny_Watcher wrote: »

I grew up believing boys were left handed and girls were right handed . School soon put me right about that one.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

My daughter is left handed.

Because she has no choice - she was born paralysed down the right side of her body.

She's 18 now & when she was little I was told that she should have been right handed - but for the life of me I cannot remember how they knew. They definitely told me that you are born either left or right handed - it's not something you choose to do.

I agree with everyone else. Let him do whatever he wants to and he'll soon discover the easiest ways to do things - no matter what hand he uses to do it

NEH

I write and use my mouse with my right hand however i am left handed with everything else, so yes another one here.....(causes some amusement when i put cutlery back to front in the drawers as everyone else in my family see it )

I think my right handedness in writing may have come about as that was the done thing 25 odd years ago, left to my own devices i may have written with my left by now. When i had my right arm in plaster i found i was able to get by with writing with my left.

Let him develop as his own rate and don't force the issue, just let him find his "happy" ground with either one....