Left handed child. I think...

[momof4babes]

My youngest daughter is just 4, and seems to be a leftie.

I'm a bit confused as she does some things left, and some right. I'm not sure what to encourage.

 

She uses utensils left, and pencils, paint brush etc.

 

If writing with her fingers she uses her right. Cutting with scissors she seems to prefer her right. I had been trying to encourage her to use left handed scissors, but she puts them in her right hand.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this?

[maize]

She may be completely or partially ambidextrous, I would just let her figure out herself what is comfortable for her.

[alisha]

I have one of these. He now (age 5.5) writes right handed and bats and catches the baseball better left handed. I didn't really encourage anything, just let his brain make the choice. His grandma is a leftie, so this wasn't too unusual that he had those tendencies. 

 

Basically, I suggest giving her time to figure out what works best for her. You can encourage by getting things for both left and right hands. For instance, if you have left and right handed scissors laying on the table, and she picks up the lefties, to use with her right hand, you might just have her switch-Here, honey, these will work better for you. (you might need to label with a marker for your info).

 

Also, something you can do is ask her to do the skills without thinking, so when you're talking to her about something else, and her brain is engaged in that, hand her a crayon or something and note which hand reaches for it. 

 

Just some suggestions, I am by no means an expert-just my experience.

[Tanaqui]

Good job getting lefty scissors! (Assuming they're actually lefty scissors and not "lefty righty" scissors, aka "righty scissors with funny handles") But if she doesn't use them in the left hand, better to get her a righty pair and call it a day.

 

Handedness is much more complicated than many people realize. It's usual to do some things with this hand and some things with the other hand. At four, I wouldn't do any "encouraging" one way or another. Perhaps if she was older, and switching hands was affecting her ability to write, but even then I'd only tell her to stick with one hand for the task of writing.

[ExcitedMama]

My DS is a lefty...but does lots of stuff with his right. He's always grabbed utensils and goes to write with his left but if he's inclined to follow a sentence with his finger under the word he always does it with his right. I think if you just follow her inclinations it will work out. If she wants to write or color as a lefty go with it. If she is happy to cut as a righty that's fine. Unless you think she might cut better with her left? I know my kids always held scissors wrong a lot in the beginning, as in fingers in the thumb hole wrong, so you could always test it out. Draw a couple of lines and have her cut right and then left and see if either is better or more comfortable.

Edited April 22, 2016 by ExcitedMama

[Tsuga]

My youngest daughter is just 4, and seems to be a leftie.

I'm a bit confused as she does some things left, and some right. I'm not sure what to encourage.

 

She uses utensils left, and pencils, paint brush etc.

 

If writing with her fingers she uses her right. Cutting with scissors she seems to prefer her right. I had been trying to encourage her to use left handed scissors, but she puts them in her right hand.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

They are still sorting it out.

 

I have posted previously, but many kids are ambidextrous until 5-7 or so.

 

I wouldn't worry about encouraging except that if she is trying to write, I would encourage a good grip with either hand so she doesn't develop bad habits.

 

 

I have one daughter who is left handed and one who's right handed. Both were somewhat ambidextrous for a long time.

 

No encouragement was needed for them to sort it out. :)

[happypamama]

I also wouldn't encourage anything either, but I would make sure that she uses lefty scissors in the left hand and righty scissors in the right, although I wouldn't encourage or discourage using either hand.

 

Fwiw, I write right-handed but do a lot of stuff with my left typical of a lefty, and I am definitely cross-dominate. I think there can be a lot of variation in how left vs. right shakes out. Little ones can flip-flop for a while. However, my 4yo is a lefty, and it's obvious that he is; even as a young toddler, if a spoon was plunked into his bowl so that it was on his right, he'd reach across the bowl to pick it up with his left.

[momof4babes]

Good job getting lefty scissors! (Assuming they're actually lefty scissors and not "lefty righty" scissors, aka "righty scissors with funny handles") But if she doesn't use them in the left hand, better to get her a righty pair and call it a day.

 

Handedness is much more complicated than many people realize. It's usual to do some things with this hand and some things with the other hand. At four, I wouldn't do any "encouraging" one way or another. Perhaps if she was older, and switching hands was affecting her ability to write, but even then I'd only tell her to stick with one hand for the task of writing.

Yes, I got the ones with reversed blades. I'm thinking that I may get her a pair of loop scissors for now. That way she can use them in either hand.

[J-rap]

My dd is a mix too, and though she can do most things with both hands, she definitely finds it easier to do almost everything with either one hand or the other.  She always writes with her left.  She can cut with her right, but cuts far better with her left and with left-handed scissors.  She plays tennis with her right, and does other things with her right.  She is such a mix and I just let her choose.  The biggest thing for us was finding left-handed scissors, by the time she went to college!!  I wish I had gotten them years earlier.  Oh well.

[desertflower]

I'm left handed, but cut with my right hand.  If she prefers to cut with her right hand, then I would let it.

 

My 3 1/2 sounds like your 4 yo.  I just let her choose.  Kudos to you for getting left handed scissors.  I didn't realize that they were out there. 

 

I wouldn't worry about it. 

[Ellie]

My youngest daughter is just 4, and seems to be a leftie.

I'm a bit confused as she does some things left, and some right. I'm not sure what to encourage.

 

She uses utensils left, and pencils, paint brush etc.

 

If writing with her fingers she uses her right. Cutting with scissors she seems to prefer her right. I had been trying to encourage her to use left handed scissors, but she puts them in her right hand.

 

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

My younger dd was wishy-washy for awhile. I put things in her right hand, making sure she was holding the thing properly; if she switched them to her left, I just made sure she was holding...whatever...properly. And if she was coloring/writing with her left hand, I turned her paper so that she wasn't hooking her wrist over the top of the paper. she turned out to be a righty. :-)

 

Mr. Ellie is a lefty. He uses right-handed scissors and whatnot without problems, but he does hook his hand over the top of his paper 'cuz he wasn't taught properly.

[Plateau Mama]

Speaking as a leftie, with a child who took a long time to figure out for himself, just let her do whatever hand she wants. For years my mom would get me leftie scissors and now I cut right. You know why I changed? Necessity. In the real world you will rarely have lefty specific items available so I adapted, but I write, throw, catch, crochet, etc leftie.

 

My son ended up being a righty, but a few things I feel he should have been a lefty (throwing & batting for one) but DH convinced him that he was a righty.

[Tanaqui]

In the real world you will rarely have lefty specific items available so I adapted

 

That's one point of view. In *my* real world, I always have lefty scissors if there's any chance I might need to cut something, because I bring them with me.

 

[boscopup]

My 3rd soon is a lefty. He was completely ambidextrous at 4 and on into 5. When he did writing at those ages, he'd often start with his left hand, then switch to his right hand halfway through. He could write very neatly with either one. He has settled into writing just left handed now, and he has beautiful cursive handwriting (best in the family!). He'll be 7 next month.

 

Be does some things right handed. I usually don't interfere, but if he's clearly having trouble doing something right handed, I'll stiffest he try the left and see if it's any easier. Archery was that way when he was 4 and tagged along to cub scout camp with his 6 year old brother. He was trying to shoot the arrow right handed as he'd seen the instructor do, but he was not going anywhere near the target. I had him try it left handed, and he hit the target easily!

 

He still uses his hockey stick in a right handed manner, though my husband gave him a stick without a curve, so he can use either hand if he wants.

 

He eats left handed and cuts right handed. I would have no problem giving him left handed scissors if he wanted to cut left handed, but it is easier for him if he can cut right handed. I personally don't carry scissors around with me, and since most men don't carry purses, I doubt he would want to either. :) I definitely would never expect someone to use right handed scissors with their left hand. I've tried to cut with my sister's lefty scissors before, and that was hard!

[Jamee]

Lefty who can't cut left to save my life.  I even remember in kinder, being given lefty scissors I couldn't use. I think lefties have more of tendency to be ambidextrous.  I do many things with both.  My son writes right, but everything else can be done equally--it's quite fun to watch him bowl or play water polo.  I'd just let it be and not encourage either way.

[HeWillSoar]

I write with my left hand but almost everything else right handed--even cutting with scissors, throwing a ball, bowling.  I don't remember anyone encouraging me to use one hand or the other.  I just did what came naturally. 

[Junie]

I asked by lefty (dd9) if she uses scissors right-handed or left-handed.  Her answer was something like:  "Right.  No, left.  Um, maybe it is my right.  It's been a long time since I've used scissors.  I don't remember."  :)

 

I have never pushed dd9 to do anything right or left handed.  My grandmother was a lefty.  She was sent to an orphanage after her parents died.  They forced her to be right-handed.  (I think they smacked her left hand every time she tried to write left-handed.  :crying: )