Left Hand Smudging

[rainbowmama]

We haven't started a formal handwriting curriculum with my left handed child, but he pretends to write and will write his name. His finger grip is naturally very good. However, because he writes and draws with his left hand, the side of his hand smudges the writing. Do lefties grow out of the smudging? Is there a way to help him with this? He doesn't care.

[Tanaqui]

Smudging happens because our hands pass over the writing as we write. We can avoid it in a few ways - by "hooking" the hand (Obama does this - it eventually is very painful in the wrist), by tilting the page at a more extreme angle (some lefties essentially write down or up the page instead of across the page - and remember, even with a less extreme tilt, for lefties, the page has to be slanted backwards from the way you do it!), or by using pens and pencils that are less, um, smudgy - a harder pencil (number 4 instead of number 2) or a pen with a quicker drying ink might help.

 

But no, this is not something people simply outgrow. You have to either be taught, or be motivated to avoid it.