Lefties and moms of lefties.... a question for you.

[Scurvy]

I wouldn't worry about which hand he uses. I'm a lefty when it comes to writing, but I do everything else with my right hand. Actually, I can do most other things with either hand but it's just easier to use the right one most of the time. If I were in your shoes I'd probably try to work with him on remembering which is left and which is right since that will be fairly important over the next few years, but I wouldn't worry at all about the fact that he seems to be ambidextrous. I'd probably consider that a good thing, actually - it's certainly made my life easier to be able to use both hands for most things, especially the few times I've had to wear a wrist brace that kept me from using one of my hands.

 

[ckay87]

I think lefties tend to be more ambedextrous than righties either by necessity (the world is made for righties, I hear) or just by nature. My son (13) is a leftie and whenever he tries something new it always takes him a little while to figure out which hand works better (such as bowling, golf). Righties don't think twice about that.

OT, but lefties tend to be pretty neat people, if you ask me. More artistic, think-outside-the-box type people. Cool personality trait (unless you're a troublesome 7th grade boy, but that's another story )

 

[TwinkieMama]

Thanks for the insight everyone. It sounds like it is normal for kids to still be figuring out what feels comfortable well into the early elementary years.

I should have clarified- I wasn't trying to pressure him to use either hand or to choose. I was concerned that there was pressure at school.

It seemed odd to me that that the teacher had not noticed when at home- prior to preschool- he only used his left hand for any sort of writing/drawing/coloring and now suddenly he is printing with his right hand.

My former boss is strongly left handed and had tons of horror stories about run ins at school with teachers who tried to "correct" his problem. Of course that was a generation ago.

Again thanks!

 

[SeaSpray]

I normally don't log in while on lunch break at work (I just read), but I HAD to log in so I could reply....

I'm left-handed, my father was left-handed, one of my 5 brothers is left-handed, and 1 of my 2 sons is left-handed, and my niece is left-handed. Probably a lot more extended family members too...but who knows...

Anyway....

Being left-handed IS NOT A HANDICAP!! I think it's the parents or teachers who are right-handed that get slightly freaked out at the thought of left-handedness. Seriously. It is NOT a big deal.

When I was around 12 years old, one of my friend's mothers told me "You can never work in a store or a bank because the cash registers are on the right side and you'd have to use your right hand, and YOU can't, because you're left-handed....".

Well guess where my first real job was?? Yep, a bank! And I was good!

When you're left-handed, you learn to use a cash register, computer keyboard, mouse, etc, etc, the same way that a right-handed person does! Again, NOT A BIG STINKING DEAL!

Like the PP who said that their left-handed son said it was a PLUS to use the mouse with his right hand and then be able to write with their left - EXACTLY! Honestly, during my life, there have been more advantages to being left-handed, and except for the side of my hand getting a little ink-y while writing out reports in school, there have been no negatives.

My final thoughts on this are:

HEY! TEACHER! LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!!!!!!












But seriously...



P.S. I have VERY nice handwriting... and I just love it when people say "Oh you have such nice handwriting! Especially for a lefty!"

P.P.S. I agree with another PP who said that many of us lefties are ambidextrous by default.. but hey, we can handle it.

 

[momof1princess]

i am left-handed, thanks to my mother, who didn't know her right from her left (she always put my baby spoon in my left hand when i was learning to feed myself). i'm not being mean, that is what she told me. i do, however, do many things with my right hand: dial a phone, bathe myself, wash dishes, drive (i tend to take left hand on the wheel and rest it on my left leg). the list goes on and on. i have a cousin who is ambidextrous, and really only writes with his left hand. so maybe it runs in my family.

 

[Toot Sweet]

I agree with most of the others. I teach Pre-K, and many of the kids switch back and forth. I don't encourage them to write with a specific hand. I'll say, "Hold your scissors" and then once they have put it in which hand they want to use, then I'll help them hold the scissors correctly.

 

[C.Ann]

Another lefty here.. Write with my left hand, do most everything else with my right hand..

Just leave him be - and don't allow anyone to "pressure" him into using his right hand instead.. He will do what works best for him..

 

[happygirl]

My little guy is 4 and is a lefty

 

[Magic Mom]

It seemed odd to me that that the teacher had not noticed when at home- prior to preschool- he only used his left hand for any sort of writing/drawing/coloring and now suddenly he is printing with his right hand.

My former boss is strongly left handed and had tons of horror stories about run ins at school with teachers who tried to "correct" his problem. Of course that was a generation ago.

Again thanks!

She probably didn't notice because he wasn't having any problems. Don't worry about your bosses stories. If your son is left handed he will learn to adapt to right handed things like can openers and the computer mouse. And teachers don't try to correct it anymore.
One suggestion though, if he is a lefty, encourage him to write without hooking his hand. You can help him do that by positioning his paper off center to the left of his body and angled slightly to the right.

 

[jenlynn0808]

Dh is a lefty, uses the mouse on the right side and can type with his left.

Side note-When DH was in Kindergarten, they called his Mom in to discuss some 'concerns' and possibly retain him. They were concerned because he couldn't cut, tie his shoes, or color up to K standards (IK, but hey , it was the early 70's). MIL said he does all those things fine at home. So they called DH into the room and asked him to cut out something. DH looked at them and asked, "Do you want me to school cut or home cut?" Apparently everyone in the class was a righty, so DH thought-in his 5yo mind-that he had to do it righty at school and when he was at home he did everything lefty. Needless to say, DH passed K.

 

[HsvTeacher]

I have 2nd graders who don't know their left from their right, so don't worry that your four year old doesn't know. It will come with time.

My dad is left-handed, and I remember my grandmother telling me about a run-in she had with my dad's first grade teacher. His teacher was trying to force him to use his right hand, and he was getting very frustrated. My grandmother, normally quiet, sweet, and kind, went up to the school and let the teacher have it. My dad was then "allowed" to write with his left hand. I really don't see why some teachers feel that it's so important to sway kids into being right-handed.

 

[ORMom2Four]

There is nothing you should do. He will eventually start using one hand more than the other.

DD is a leftie, but still does some things with her right hand/side (such as use a mouse or swing a bat). Until the age of 6, she would switch back & forth between her left & right hand and had the same dexterity with both.

 

[Shmily1]

I'm a lefty and my DD18 is a lefty. When I started kindergarten, I came home crying and told my DDad that the teacher wouldn't let me write with my left hand. Needless to say, with his mom being a lefty, he wasn't happy. He went to school with me the next day and from that day on, I wrote with my left hand. In saying I am a lefty, I only eat and write with my left hand. Everything else is right handed, including bowling, playing baseball, and to my family's amazement, shooting a gun. DD18 is the same way.

For both of my kids, I knew early what hand they would use. When they were little, I held a toy or some object they really wanted and looked to see what hand they would take the object with. I never tried to sway them either way though. Be sure you stand up for your sweet little one no matter what hand they choose to write with.

 

[JVL1018]

My son is a lefty-he has always colored and written left handed, I never saw him use his right hand to write.
However he bats and golfs righty. (Throws lefty). We never told him which way to hold anything he just picks it up in whichever hand feels natural.
If your son can write both ways, I'd just let him.

 

[golfgal]

My dd6 is the only lefty in our family. I had alot of concerns about her lefthandedness when she started school. I was told to let them do what feels comfortable to them. My biggest things were using sissors and the computer mouse. There are sissors you can buy that fit left or right handed kids. As for the computer mouse, its always placed on the right side of the keyboard. dd doesn't seem to have a problem using it now but I tell her to switch it to the left side if it feels better to her. I can't imagine being a righthanded person trying to use the mouse on the opposite side

At parent teacher conferences, I always make it a point to bring up my leftygirl to her teacher and make sure she's is not being forgotten as being a lefty. School is more geared towards righty's.

I have a friend at work that is right handed and has his mouse on the left side of his computer--it just baffles my mind how that works

He's ambedextrous. Leave him alone and let him work with whatever hand he is comfortable using at the time. Seems like a lot of pressure to put a 4 year old under.

There are just somethings that should never become an issue and this is one of them. If you start talking too much about "it's ok to use this hand, everyone does things differently" he is going to start to think something is wrong with what he is doing. Eventually HE will get it figured out. Just drop it all together. As for wanting to use his right hand, he is probably just trying to copy the other kids in his class.

Is he newly 4 or is he close to 5? The one thing that concerns me the most in your post is that he can't tell his twin sisters apart.

 

[Cindy B]

I can't really help the OP, but just wanted to comment on the computer mouse. My dh is left-handed, but he learned to use the mouse with his right hand. He finds it to be an advantage, as he can be clicking away with his right hand, while writing things down with his left. As a righty, I can't imagine using the mouse with my left, either, but I bet if I started out that way, it'd be no big deal.

My DH and I are both left handed and use the mouse on the left side. It just feels foreign to us on the right but I do tolerate it--but of course I switch it the minute I can! I don't write with my left I usually just type notes into word or notepad so that isn't an issue.

As for changing hands, it isn't a big deal. Being left handed isn't like a deformity or strange-- it is a non issue in our house. Both of our kids are right handed and it isnt an issue.

 

[golfgal]

My DH and I are both left handed and use the mouse on the left side. It just feels foreign to us on the right but I do tolerate it--but of course I switch it the minute I can! I don't write with my left I usually just type notes into word or notepad so that isn't an issue.

As for changing hands, it isn't a big deal. Being left handed isn't like a deformity or strange-- it is a non issue in our house. Both of our kids are right handed and it isnt an issue.

The only time it becomes and issue is when DH, who is left handed, does up the twist tie on the bread==it is all backwards .

 

[mousey]

I'm a lefty, my husband is lefty and is a triplet who were all lefties and his two older brothers were all lefties. My two kids are lefty. Is there any other way??

 

[wld]

Mom of 2 lefties here, now 23 and 27. They never went to preschool and by Kindegarten were set in their lefthandedness. I don't remember encouraging either one or trying to hand something to them in one hand or the other. I'm right handed so if I did it waswithout thinking. Both also sight with their left eye not their right. DD 1 does everything left handed...2 stories about her. Her grandfather was not pleased that she was left handed. When she was about 3 or 4 he gave her money in her left hand so she would eat with her right. She simply laid the money down and switched....a lady once asked her what she thought her right hand was for. she looked a couple of minutes at it and said"for carrying stuffed animals".
Now dd2 if something like a toy (think the old see and say which require you to pull the cord with your right hand) needed her right hand she used it, dd 1 would turn it around backwards, pull with left and then turn it around. Now most toys are not like that, but back in the day we learned to pay attention. They also, very early on sat next to each other at a table or booth so they didn't bump elbows with righties, something they do to this day.
Short answer, I didn't encourage, nor let anyone else, them to use their right. I just let them develope naturally.

 

[wld]

Oh I forgot their favorite quote:
Lefties are the only ones in their right mind.