# son left handed what are the pros&cons



## shrek (3 Oct 2007)

Folks 
I have twin boys aged 5 they have started school.  This is the first week they have been given homework.  One of them is left handed............
Neither hubby or myself are lefthanded its just as i doing the homework with him i wondered how awkward things are for him ........
he takes twice as long for him to colour or write and needless to say he gets frustrated......any of you with children or maybe yourselves whom are left handed can you please give me any tips or advice to bear in mind. 
Thanks
Shrek


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## truthseeker (3 Oct 2007)

My best mates a lefty - never caused her any problems - is it taking him longer to colour etc cos his hand is in a awkward position?


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## Caveat (3 Oct 2007)

I wouldn't worry about the colouring thing for very long - left handed people are statistically more likely to be artistically gifted!


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## addob (3 Oct 2007)

Hi Shrek,

Although I cannot offer any personal experience with being a lefty, I did come across this site that I thought was interesting, there was something about slanting the paper when you write, maybe this could be the problem he's having with colouring?

ad


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## carina (3 Oct 2007)

I am left handed as are a few of my friends. 
It has never caused me any "problems!" 
I have quite nice hand writing - supposed to be a left handed thing!? Apart from that & the fact that I am writing with my hand rubbing over what I've just written (hope that makes sense?) - ink stains! - there is no difference between me & my right handed sibling.


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## Carpenter (3 Oct 2007)

I am left handed and have never perceived this as being disadvantageous in any way, except when trying to use those "captive" pens on chains in banks etc (they're on the wrong (right hand) side).  I wouldn't consider myself truly left handed though, in that I can use any regular tools, implements, equipment etc with my right hand and I only need to use my left hand for writing.  I know other left handers who cannot use tools etc designed primarily for right handed people, which must be awkward.


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## gipimann (3 Oct 2007)

I'm left-handed and found the following site great - [broken link removed]

There are some very useful gadgets and tools for sale - including scissors, knives (not for your 5 yr old!), and pens which are designed for us lefties as well as lots of useful information.

I always found that either slanting the paper or putting it onto a sloped surface (e.g. a ring binder) helped me to write better.   Wasn't very good at painting/art anyway (sorry Caveat!) so can't help there.  Make sure he's got plenty of space to work - he'll need the opposite side of the table to your other son (i.e. plenty of elbow room on the left) - when I went to school we shared wooden desks and I had to make sure I got the left-side to avoid "elbow clash".

If he's using a computer, it may help him to switch the mouse to a left-handed operation (the right mouse button becomes the main button and left one is the alternative).  I find this invaluable - don't think my right-handed colleagues who have to use the PC from time to time think so though!


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## nelly (3 Oct 2007)

gipimann said:


> I'm left-handed and found the following site great - [broken link removed]


So thats the site set up after the leftorium was burned down


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## z109 (3 Oct 2007)

gipimann said:


> If he's using a computer, it may help him to switch the mouse to a left-handed operation (the right mouse button becomes the main button and left one is the alternative).  I find this invaluable - don't think my right-handed colleagues who have to use the PC from time to time think so though!


My left-handed daughter (of 5) has been using the mouse right-handed all her life (!). As it was a totally new skill to her, I don't think it mattered to her which hand she learned with, but I think that being able to use it the way 99% of offices will be set up will be beneficial in the future.

I think some skills are learned, e.g. the mechanism of writing, drawing, using a mouse, so you can learn with either hand, whereas others are instinctive, e.g. hand-eye coordination, in which case your good hand will lead you. No doubt the old dog adage applies to those of us who learned mouse skills etc. later in life - hence the problems lefties have with mouses in badly set up offices!


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## mell61 (3 Oct 2007)

my sister is a lefty, and one of the best bits of advise my mum was given early on was to teach her to write on a blackboard using chalk, rather than on a page.   I think the idea is that writing with chalk helps to train her to hold a writing implement without ending up dragging the ink across the paper - she'd never learned to 'lean' on her hand as she wrote.
Aside from that the only frustrations she's had have been when she's come across left handed implements, scissors, etc, as she's always used the right handed ones!


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## gipimann (3 Oct 2007)

Should have seen me learning to knit when I was a child - left-handed knitting and a right-handed teacher to correct mistakes didn't mix!  As a result, I now knit right-handed.


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## athens2004 (3 Oct 2007)

My son is left handed his only problem was with writing.....his hand would drag the ink along the page so his work looked messy........also his writing is not very neat.


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## oldtimer (3 Oct 2007)

Anybody in my situation - I am right-handed and left-legged. I write with my right hand but played all football games with my left foot.


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## miselemeas (3 Oct 2007)

*SOME FAMOUS LEFT HANDED PEOPLE -*

*Artists* 
Leonardo Da Vinci 
Paul Klee 
Michelangelo Buonaroti 
Henri de Toulouse Lautrec 
Peter Paul Rubens 
*Actors* Amitabh & Abhishek Bachchan 
Drew Barrymore 
Kim Basinger 
Kenneth Branagh
Pierce Brosnan 
Jim Carrey
Charlie Chaplin 
Tom Cruise
Robert De Niro 
Matt Dillon
Morgan Freeman
Judy Garland 
Whoopi Goldberg 
Angelina Jolie 
Nicole Kidman 
Val Kilmer
Lisa Kudrow 
Marilyn Monroe 
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen 
Sarah Jessica Parker 
Brad Pitt
Keanu Reeves 
Julia Roberts 
Jennifer Saunders
Sylvester Stallone 
*Writers* 

Lewis Carroll 
Bill Bryson
Germaine Greer 
Berthold Schwartz 
Janet Street Porter
Uhland Ludwig 
*Animation* 
Matt Groening 
Bart Simpson 
*Comedy* 
Harpo Marx 

*Fashion* 
Jean-Paul Gaultier 

*Directors* 
James Cameron 
Spike Lee 
*Music* 
Benjamin Britten
David Bowie 
Celine Dion 
Eminem 
Kurt Cobain
Noel Gallagher 
Bob Geldof
Jimi Hendrix
Annie Lennox 
Sir Paul McCartney 
Ricky Martin 
Sting 
*Television/entertainment* 
Melinda Messenger 
Magnus Magnusson 
Ted Koppel 
Paul Daniels 
Tim Allen 
Jeremy Beadle 
Julian Clary 
Charlie Dimmock 
Loyd Grossman 
Ross Kemp 
Rik Mayal 
Juliet Morris 
Nicholas Parsons 
Jonathan Ross 
Shane Ritchie 
Uri Geller 
Shawn Michaels 

*History* 
Albert Einstein 
Jack The Ripper 
Napoleon Bonaparte 
Julius Caesar 
Aristotle 
Neil Armstrong 
Henry Ford 
Marie Curie 
Joan of Arc 
Helen Keller 
*Royalty* 
Queen Mother
Prince William 
*Politics* 
Winston Churchill
President George Bush 
*Sport* Wasim Akram 
Sir Bobby Charlton 
Diego Armando Maradona 
Pele
Paula Radcliffe 
Jimmy White 
Mark Williams 
John McEnroe 
Martina Navratilova 
Greg Rusedski 
Babe Ruth 
David Gower


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## Sarsfield (3 Oct 2007)

miselemeas said:


> *Politics*
> Winston Churchill
> President George Bush


 
And Bertie!  Saw him signing something on TV the other night in true left-handed style!

I'm left handed too and the big issue is smudging my writing.  But I do a lot of things naturally right handed - scissors, play golf and other things.


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## gipimann (3 Oct 2007)

Shrek, something else I just thought of for your left-hander which might help his writing.  Does he wear a watch?  Which wrist does he wear it on?

Most people wear watches on their left hand, and I used to, but of course it kept getting in my way when I wrote (dragged the watch across the paper!).   I switched my watch to my right wrist years ago....it's also a left-handed (backward) watch, but that's a different story!


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## Guest127 (3 Oct 2007)

add me too.   Handwriting isn't my strongest point. worked all my life in an hands on office based environment and now working part time with figures/computer based job. Your son will  be fine.


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## Guest127 (4 Oct 2007)

Sarsfield said:


> And Bertie! Saw him signing something on TV the other night in true left-handed style!
> 
> Bill Clinton? almost sure.


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## Marion (4 Oct 2007)

Hi Shrek

There is no need to worry at all.



> Three of the last four US presidents have been left-handed (George Bush Junior, being the odd man out), while research from the US National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that among graduates the earning power of left-handed men is 15% greater than that of men who are right-handed.




This should auger well for one of your sons.

Referrnce: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6943871.stm

Marion


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## Graham_07 (4 Oct 2007)

I'm left handed, and, thankfully, was just starting school at a time when they didn't try to change you to right handed ( mid '60's) before that left was not cool. I think it goes back to the old latin, dexter = right giving us dextrous and sinister =left giving us, yeah...  and possibly the views of the religious teachers at that time. So I'm a leftie and so is my daughter. Interestingly enough I would use scissors in right hand, mouse in right hand, hammer in left but a saw in right. No way could I hit a nail with hammer in right hand. I'd kick a ball with left foot not right. I've never considered it a disadvantage, in fact quite the opposite. It's handy to be able to write & use mouse at same time. Never needed any "leftie only goods" and would never consider the need. Let your son get on with it, he'll be just fine.


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## Purple (4 Oct 2007)

My oldest son is left-handed. I never was it as an issue. He's in 3rd class now and has never had a problem. His writing is brutal but so it mine and I am right handed.


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## Graham_07 (4 Oct 2007)

Purple said:


> My oldest son is left-handed. I never was it as an issue. He's in 3rd class now and has never had a problem. *His writing is brutal *but so it mine and I am right handed.


 
Sounds like he's on course to be a doctor then


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## Alias (4 Oct 2007)

yoganmahew said:


> My left-handed daughter (of 5) has been using the mouse right-handed all her life (!). As it was a totally new skill to her, I don't think it mattered to her which hand she learned with, but I think that being able to use it the way 99% of offices will be set up will be beneficial in the future.
> 
> I think some skills are learned, e.g. the mechanism of writing, drawing, using a mouse, so you can learn with either hand, whereas others are instinctive, e.g. hand-eye coordination, in which case your good hand will lead you. No doubt the old dog adage applies to those of us who learned mouse skills etc. later in life - hence the problems lefties have with mouses in badly set up offices!


 
I'm left handed, and always moused right handed until recently.  My right hand started giving me problems (RSI) and I had no trouble changing to the left.  It's useful, actually, because I mouse with whatever hand isn't busy doing something else (I can still mouse with the right and write with the left).  

As for writing, I was taught by my father (also a lefty) to turn the page about 90 degrees (he turns his almost upside down) so that I don't smudge when I write.  I can't write on a page straight in front of me, it's got to be tilted.  I never smudge my writing.

To the OP, your son will adapt fine, and it will be easier for him to be left handed than to be forced into right handedness.  

It might take him a little longer to learn to write, but if there seems to be a significant problem, then it's probably not to do with his handedness.  It might be worthwile to watch for signs of dyslexia or other learning disabilities.  My brother is dyslexic, and although he has always been very intelligent (he was always the brightest in the family) he was branded as 'slow' because he wasn't writing well.  Once he was diagnosed and got special tutoring for his dyslexia, he caught right up.  Still asks me what way an E goes though


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## Ellen (4 Oct 2007)

Hi Shrek,

I've been a lefty all my life and have never had any problems whatsoever. I have extremely neat writing, or so I'm always told! My siblings are all right handed and have far messier writing. I used to slant the paper slightly when i was writing, but i don't really do this anymore.  I work with computers all day and have never had problems using the mouse in my right hand and I would say to encourage this because the majority of machines are set up this way, in school, college and the workplace.

The one thing I would advise you is not to make an issue of it, because it's not a problem. Just be careful about things like sport and certain musical instruments, like guitars. I know a very good golfer who was forced into playing right handed and by all accounts he may well have become a pro had he been let play left handed.

Personally I see it as an advantage because I'm much more efficient with my right hand than most right handed people are with their left hand. I found this out when I ended up with my left arm in a sling for a couple of weeks!


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## shrek (4 Oct 2007)

thanks folks for all your responses.  have started to tilt paper for him.
got a drawing board too so he is very happy being allowed to use chalk 
so i guess it will just take time.


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## Venue (5 Oct 2007)

Am a leftie myself ... they say about 10% of people are lefties yet I studied maths and comp sci in college and Id say half the staff in the dept and half the poeple in my final year were also lefties which is way out of proportion. Also in work half the programmers I work with are lefties, so they might well end up with an inclination towards mathsie subjects.

Fountain pens are out, other then that youve nothing to worry about ...

DisbandDeGAA


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## gipimann (5 Oct 2007)

I always wrote better with a fountain pen, funnily enough! Taught me to keep my hand above the paper, much like the chalk mentioned earlier.

And you can buy fountain pens with sloping nibs especially for left-handers (for the calligraphers among us!).

There seem to be a lot of lefties on this site (I know we have a vested interest in posting in this thread, but there are a few of us about!).


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## Harlequin (6 Oct 2007)

I think my boyfriend is a closet leftie   - he writes with his right hand (although it's very, very slanted) and does a fair few other things with his right hand but he catches with his left hand, plays golf with left-handed clubs and kicks with his left foot.

I think he was told to write with his right hand as a kid and (being a quiet, well-behaved type), just went along with it, even though he would have preferred writing with his left hand. Is it possible to be slightly left-handed??

After an injury when he was 5, my brother's right arm was in a sling for weeks. He hated not being able to draw, so he just started drawing with this left hand. After his shoulder healed, he remained ambidextrous for about a year, before he went back to using his right hand again. Handy skill!


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## Alias (8 Oct 2007)

Harlequin said:


> After an injury when he was 5, my brother's right arm was in a sling for weeks. He hated not being able to draw, so he just started drawing with this left hand. After his shoulder healed, he remained ambidextrous for about a year, before he went back to using his right hand again. Handy skill!


 
My grandfather lost his right hand in an industrial accident in his teens (long, long ago) and was forced to become left handed. He learned to write, draw and drive (a standard, until automatics became available) with his left hand.  He even taught school for a while in his late 20s.  We have notebooks he'd used for his class, with drawings and writing.  It's amazing what the mind and body can do when forced!


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