We just purchased our IPad and it taught me that our DS (almost 3) might be left handed. I noticed that he only uses his left finger to trace letters. After noticing that I started watching which hand he uses for tasks. I put his spoon centered in front of him and he used his right hand. Because I thought he was right handed he has fed himself with his right hand. I tried having him use his left hand but he switched to the right hand on his own. He alternates hands for everything else so far. So for a fine motor skill like tracing he ONLY used his left finger, this is the only exclusive left handed task I have observed so far Any thoughts?
Thanks,
TY
I was certain my son was going to be a lefty. I have never seen a kid use his left hand so much. Half a dozen of my lefty friends said he would be too.
He still uses his left for apps, cutting with scissors, using a knife, throwing a ball, looking through a tube, and drawing/scribbling/coloring.
He initially used only his left when writing, but he switched. He had such good writing and drawing. Now that he chooses to use his right hand it is not so great. I am not going to sway him either way.
And he is only 3.5 so I don’t expect him to write or draw well.
I am glad someone else experienced this. Being left handed is certainly not the end of the world but a few things are more difficult. Hubby loves to work on cars and with wood so having a lefty son adds some safety concerns for the use of tools. Maybe he will be a lefty or maybe not, he will let us know.
thanks,
ty
My oldest started as a lefty. She consistently used her left hand for a while. When she got to 4 and 5 she started switching around. Once she started hand writing at a little after 5 she settled on her right hand. I thought for sure she would end up a lefty but she didn’t. My son switches off right now.
A vast majority of kids start out left with eating and writing because they mirror right handed parents. But most of them switch on theor own. However most of these kids will instinctively catch and throw with a dominant hand early on.
Catching throwing, winking, stepping, putting on pants, spinning are more instinctive and a better indicator of dominance.
However one can be left hand dominant, but right eyed and right foot dominant. Frankly… It all comes down to time being the deciding factor.
I was sure my now 6 year old was left handed. She did everything left handed…I mentioned it before in the forum. but when she got to school she switched…the teacher told her to use her right hand. When I found that out I asked her which hand she preferred to write with and she said right hand!! my 4 year old also seems left handed…but I know now that she may still end up writing with her right hand when she gets to school. I wanted them to be left handed as it’s more unique, until I heard on the radio a statistic///left handed people live on average 7 years less than right handed people.
Your child could always be ambidextrous. When I was younger I used both hands, mostly my left for coloring and such, and my right to grab, eat, etc. I would write with both hands but favored my left until I started school and they said that if I didn’t start using my right hand I would be kicked out of school. From then on, I was made to sit on my left hand while doing those tasks until I learned not to use it. My nephew happens to be left handed as well. There is nothing wrong with a child being ambidextrous or left handed.
There is some interesting info on teh NACD.org website about dominance in the newsletter files. According to them, either left or right is fine as long as all the dominances are on the one side. Nothing to worry about, and you don’t want to try to influence it right now, but it is something to keep an eye on as the child develops and you can, with the correct help alter it later if the sides are mixed. The child should have all dominant sides the same: ear, eye, leg, arm. Righties need to keep an eye on this too, I am right for everything except my eyes, where my left is dominant. I am a bit tired right now and can’t remember all the details, but mixed dominances affect the emotional behaviour of a person and is not ideal for neurological organisation.
Are there any lefties in the family? For me I got my gene from my grandmother and another one of my cousins also is a lefty. If no one in the family is a lefty the baby might just be testing out his motor skills…