getting child to use right hand

Quackers

Wow, what an interesting thread!

I too, am a leftie and proud  ;D ;D ;D

All good advice & very interesting to read.  Glad to see original poster has decided to 'go with the flow'  :)

My 12 year old is now lefthanded.  She had a stroke and the hospital told me that she should have been righthanded but as she can not use her right side she has had to be lefthanded.  It was lots of years ago so I cant remember how they found that out  but it always amazed me that they could! :-/

I feel lucky that I am left handed and have been able to share my experiences with her.  It has certainly made it a bit easier.  

tiff

I'm left handed and so is my son, it's never entered my head to try and change him, it has never been a problem for me. I brush my teeth right handed and use my cutlery as a right handed person would but apart from that everything else I do is left handed. Its NOT a problem, just something that has to be learned a different way and that will happen naturally as your child grows up.

The only time it came up at school for me was at junior school they encouraged children to write in italic handwriting with a fountain pen. Of course most fountain pens are angled for a right handed person but you can get left handed nibs so there ended the problem.

Dont confuse the child, let him learn for himself. I dont think you actually need left handed scissors but I would dearly love a left handed tin opener!

jellyhead

i didn't know you could get left handed nibs for fountain pens! i think that's part of why people are worried if their kid is left handed, because they remember the left-handers having such a bad time when they switched to fountain pens, i know i did. school are much more accommodating nowadays though :-)

Savvy_Sue

I would dearly love a left handed tin opener!

What, like this?

Not at all a bad price, if you ask me! My left hander seems to cope OK with our normal one, but we've got one which takes the lid off the top rather than from the inside and I think he prefers that.

chriswilks303

What kind of parent would even post such a request???

I think your child is going to have more problems stemming from bad parenting than being left or right handed.

Einstien was left handed... I only hope your child can develope to be better and more caring than you

yoby

Aarrgghh !!
Admittedly this has done me a favour as after 12 months or so of lurking I finally found something that made me want to reply so much I registered........

Before I launch into Rant Mode, I will say that I have only read the first few treplies to this post. Without looking at the other 50 or so, I'm confident that someone else has already said what I intend to, and for this I apologise......

Firstly, why would (or even should) you as the parent have a preferred hand for writing etc. It's a few (hundred) years since Left handers were demonised to the point of near extinction and there's still no conclusive evidence that Left Handed People will turn out to be satanic conduits or psychopaths. Que Cera and all that, if your kid's happy using one had rather than the other then Live with it.

As a parent you should be encouraging your child's creativity, and natural curiosity, without giving them more stuff to worry about...
Unfortunately, my parents were brainwashed ino beleiving that I was the son of Satan, because I preferred my left hand. Whilst the willingness to please meant that I gave my best to perform, I still couldn't manage anything up to scratch when using my right hand. This lead to added streess, as I always used to worry about it, to the point where i habitually lied, and tried to convince them I had done the task in hand with the "wrong" hand.

I'm 40 now, and other than plenty of ruined shirtsleeves which were liberally spattered with Ink when school insisted on fountain pens I don't think I am a worse person for being cack handed......

Please Please Please leave it, they'll probably end up right handed anyway, but as you expect them to have their own personality, allow them the freedom to be comfortable with themselves.....

Quackers

chriswilks303 wrote:

What kind of parent would even post such a request???

I think your child is going to have more problems stemming from bad parenting than being left or right handed.

Einstien was left handed... I only hope your child can develope to be better and more caring than you

Did you read all of the posts on this thread? The original poster was asking for advice and a couple of pages in thanks people for their advice and then says they are going to take that advice on board. Sometimes as parents, we do not have all the answers and sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes we do not know which way to turn and what to do for the best. Asking other peoples advice and opinions is, in my opinion, very brave as it is acknowledging that we may need just a little help or a nudge in the right direction.

As a parent I have made plenty of mistakes - you'd be hard pushed to find a parent who is 'perfect'. That is, of course, if you can define perfect?

Surely by asking for advice & then taking that advice on board does not make the original poster 'uncaring'?

Quackers

yoby wrote:

Aarrgghh !!

Please Please Please leave it, they'll probably end up right handed anyway, but as you expect them to have their own personality, allow them the freedom to be comfortable with themselves.....

This is what the original poster decided to do Yoby. I agree with everything you posted - I am a little bit younger than you and was lucky enough not to be 'told off' etc for using my left hand. My daughter is left handed too - so its a good job I am as its sooooo much easier to teach something new when you are both left handed.

Anyway, Glad you decided to stop 'lurking' - Welcome to the boards

Poppy9

My 9 year old is left handed. Only other person in family is older cousin who gave her (and me) lots of tip when starting school. The main one and most important is to make sure the teacher either sits you at the end of a desk or next to another leftie. This ensures they do not bump arms when writing. Only two teachers have not asked at the beginning of a new year have not asked who in the class is left handed. I always remind her at the beginning of a new class to tell the teacher she is left handed and ask if she can sit at the end of a table. She did (still does sometimes) frustrated that she smudges her writing - Berol hand hugger pens have improved this. I bought a box of 36 for £11 through the school supplier. They are available in school usually but she uses at home too. She uses a right handed scissors and pencil sharpner no problem. One teacher who had the children using lever arch files for some work used the file backwards for the two lefties in the class - this was a tip to pass onto older cousin. Cutlery - as others have said she uses the correct way around except for spoons. She does like the drink on her left though. Bats and balls again ambidextorous. Computer mouse switches to the left side and alters the buttons. I would have preferred her to use right handed as it leaves a free hand for writing with while using mouse but I didn't interfere.

I had never heard of bunny ear shoe lace knots until I saw the film with Harrison Ford when he had to relearn to do everyday tasks. His young daughter showed him. I taught my daughter this way when she started school at 4 as she had lace up boots. She then later moved onto to the traditional way of her own accord a couple of years later. One of her school friends was still struggling with her laces at age 8 so I showed her bunny years. She was absolutely chuffed to be doing her own laces at last.

Finally older cousin said she had read that left handed people use more of their brain than right handed people. Lefties use the right side of their brain and righties the left. As we live in a right handed world you are forced to do somethings with your right hand without thinking thus utilising the leftside of your brain too.

tiff

Do you know, I am left handed and so is my son. Ive never ever thought to treat him any different at all. He is 7 and not aware that there is any difference between him and anyone else. His handwriting is good for his age, he manages fine with scissors and I have always set the table the correct way and he has no problem. Never noticed how he uses a spoon but dont think it matters anyway. Personally I think its a lot of fuss about nothing!