RH, LH, Ambidextrous--she's making me crazy!

[momacacia]

Second born is almost 6. We did some handwriting last year and over the summer--just a little--and I was fairly persuaded that she was a lefty (her dad is, though possibly not naturally, and my mom is), so taught her some cursive first letters and numbers with her left hand. I've taught nothing to the right hand.

 

The last few weeks, we've had occasions where she will pick up the pencil and write with her RH all through her math lessons. The numbers are fairly good, though understandably sloppier than the LH. We spent last week working with her RH, but she was very stubborn about wanting to use her left.

 

This morning, I put her spelling words on the dry erase board for her to erase with her finger and handed her the Kleenex for her to wrap around her pointer finger and erase---not at all minding which finger it was. I checked back in with her after two words and she's using her Right pointer. I point this out to her and she announces, "What's wrong with that? Can't I be ambi- whatever it is you call it?" Me: "Ambidextrous." Her: "Yeah, and I can change later when I grow up." :svengo:

 

I've gotten over my fear of teaching the Lefty. We've got our paper positioned correctly and all math this morning was done LH. I'm so confused. Am I expecting her to pick a hand too soon? Should I 'force' the RH issue in hopes life is just so much easier being a Righty. (Her dad cuts paper, throws and does many other things RH.)

 

She's a naturally good speller, good reader, but she needs to start writing (at least IMO). What have others done in this situation?

 

 

[maize]

Let her use whichever hand is most comfortable for a task.

 

SIL is fully ambidextrous, I think she writes left handed by preference but does many other things right handed.

[MEmama]

Eh, she'll figure it out on her own. DS writes with his right hand (but holds it like a lefty) but does almost everything else like a lefty (left hand shot in hockey, kicks with his left, wears his watch on his right hand etc). I remember it took him quite awhile to decide which hand to use for writing, but he got there eventually.

 

Why are you concerned?

[...................]

It's definitely not too soon.  Both my kids and my nephews clearly showed their dominant hand BY age 4.  By 4, there was no question.  I have two righties and my sister has one of each.

 

Now, that said, i don't know what you should do. LOL 

 

This is a very interesting topic.  I'll be curious to see if we get some answers from any moms here who are occupational therapists etc.  

[boscopup]

My 5 year old is left handed but still uses his right hand sometimes. I don't worry about it. We do manuscript, so left and right hand is the same and I don't have to change things up. Sometimes he uses left for a while, gets tired, then does right.

 

I don't teach to a specific hand. I just teach formation and let him use whatever hand he wants. It really isn't a big deal. I pay very little attention to which hand he uses. I just expect neat handwriting (which he has either way).

[momacacia]

Dp

[momacacia]

This is fascinating! Thank you all!

[ElizabethB]

My first grade teacher had a method to figure out which had to use that I thought was a waste of time then but is brilliant in retrospect!

 

She had us all draw a vertical line, then trace over it as neatly as possible 50 times with our right hand. Then, she took away that labelled paper with our names and we had a short break so we were fresh. Then, we did the same exercise with our left hand. We might have done circles, too, but I think just the line. I remember it took forever and I thought it was stupid.

 

Whichever lines were the closest match and the straightest was the hand we used for penmanship, and after that we were only allowed to use that hand during penmanship.

[desertflower]

I'm ambidextrous. I write with my left hand and do other stuff with ny right.

 

I would just have her choose which hand she felt more comfortable to write with. This may take a few times. However many times u see fit. But eventually I would let her choose and stick with it. I wouldn't worry about the other stuff like cutting, eating, brushing teeth, etc.

 

I would also do ElizabethB's exercise.

 

Good luck.

[hollyhock]

I agree with just letting her use whichever hand she wants. My son, now 8, switched constantly until he was about 6. At first he could write equally well with each hand but as time went on he slowly became a leftie and has been ever since.