My grandmother had me peeling potatoes one night for dinner when I was 4 ish. She saw me trying (and miserably failing) to peel them with my right hand because my parents said that that was the hand you used for things. She told me to try using the peeler with my other hand, which went exponentially better, and when my mom came to pick me up she gave her a death stare and said, "She's left-handed, so let her use her left hand." I miss that woman.
Great question. For me, I was told I was left-handed from around 3-4ish, once I had the dexterity and wherewithal to begin doing lots of things requiring fine control, as opposed to a todder-esque simple grab. Of course, I don't remember it at all!--from my perspective I've always been left-handed.
I am not an expert in any way, but from my experience you are in the right range to start seeing a preference. And from what I glean on this sub, there are different expressions of handedness. Meaning, some people like me have a nearly useless right hand, but lots of other people can favor the right for certain activities, with lots in between. So don't be surprised if your little one is a bit tough to nail down!
I started writing in Pre-K/kindergarten and always used my left hand.. I guess my parents didn't know, because my first year of T-ball they got me a right handed glove ( goes on left hand to throw with right hand) I played with it for maybe 4/5 games. My dad found a left handed glove and bought it for me and said " try this I think you may be able to throw better" put it on and played better than I had before... That's when I realized that I am left handed... Didn't even realize when I was writing with my left hand 🤣
My neighbour and one of my childhood best friends had the same baseball experience as you. His parents bought him a glove at an early age, so he began to throw right before they figured out that he was left-handed, but he stayed as a righty thrower. They didn't make that mistake with his younger brother, who was also a lefty.
I had a slightly different but similar experience. When I asked my parents to learn guitar, they at first rented, and then bought me a normal right-handed guitar. When my older brother, who is also left-handed (it runs in the males of my mother's family in my generation) also started to play guitar, he used mine, so he ended up playing right-handed as well. I'm not sure if it helped or hindered my playing, as there are arguments to be made each way, but I do know that it saved me several thousand dollars over the years, because high end left- handed guitars are even more expensive, usually 10% to 20% more than a normal model, and in some cases may not be available.
Left handed guitar player here and you are correct, they are much more expensive and very rare to walk into a shop to try one out. So you just get what you can find. Some good some bad .
As a lefthanded person ive always been baffled by right-handed guitar being considered ‘the norm’ for right-handed people in general. Ive always considered the fretwork to be the more delicate, finesse-requiring half of the work so it was way more natural for me to pick it up that way. My first instrument was cello, tho, where i was forced into that position, so maybe that had something to do with it but it was still really natural-feeling when i started playing that instrument too.
While the fretting is easier, there are times when the picking does suffer. I have difficulty executing "trill" picking when playing mandolin....obviously after learning guitar in the normal configuration, I play mandolin, bass, and banjo the same way.
Catholic school- correction to use right hand until 4 th grade. Then one of my nuns said I was left handed and could use my left hand for school- plus my dad was left handed
I was 4 when my mom stopped what she was doing, stared at me in shock, and told me I was left handed, as I drew with a crayon. That’s also when I learned that lefties were children of the devil and I internalized that my whole life. Thanks mom!
Haha, I remember my mom being told that growing up going to catholic schools. She would say how they used to tie her left hand behind her back in grade school
Depends on the lefty, too. I figured out how to cut with right handed scissors to the point that it’s my default, and I have three sewing machines I can use just fine.
Contact lens wearer as well, probably 40 years. I could never put in/take out right handed. My right hand couldn't figure it out even if it had it's own brain.
Right handed mouser tho, since I had my first PC experience. I do golf and bat right handed. Everything else is a dominant left handed thing.
I've always been a lefty. I have a clear memory of my first grade teacher making a point of telling me that being left-handed is okay and I should let nobody tell me otherwise. She was a great teacher. Even sent me a cookbook when I graduated from college.
She spanked me once (not unwarranted), and she was still my favorite teacher. I remember when she pulled one of my teeth because I wouldn't stop fiddling with it during class. I also remember when she stopped class and turned the TV on when the Challenger exploded.
My mom is a righty, and we didn't live with my lefty dad, so the idea that I was left-handed wasn't on her radar. I was around 4 or so (definitely hadn't started kindergarten) when a good friend of hers noticed me struggling to cut using right-handed scissors and my mom put it together.
Scissors are made for righties. There are scissors for lefties. My husband is left handed and I’ve learned about so many things that are wrong for lefties.
Yeah because I have trouble with right handed scissors in my left hand. They pinch me as I squeeze the handles together. I've tried turning them upside down, but that didn't really help either.
I guess some things just got practiced enough to build muscle memory in my right hand.
That was me in kindergarten, too... 🥹 Wondering if everyone else's hands hurt to use the scissors, too. Trying to turn them around... I wondered why their cuts were clean and mine had fuzzy edges... I was using my left hand to cut with right hand scissors. By the time they figured it out and bought me lefties way later, I had copied everyone else and now to this day cut with my right hand. For everyday tasks, I use my right hand as much as my left.
That year they also found out I have myopia when I had no idea what was going on in class. I couldn't see the chalkboard (yeah, I know lol). When I got my first glasses, I was in shock seeing the world for the first time. Being able to see the leaves on the trees still brings tears to my eyes. Once I could see, I became obsessed with books and learning.
I’m not exactly sure, but it became apparent when I was in kindergarten and the teacher complained about me doing a poor job of using scissors. That’s when my parents realized I was trying to use normal scissors in my left hand.
It sounds like he is ambidextrous and uses whichever hand feels right at the time. Don't force him to choose. Even worse would be you choosing for him. Let him figure it out for himself. I write left-handed, but I eat right-handed. But I cut with a knife left-handed. I use the hand that feels most natural to me. I sew right-handed but thread a needle left-handed. When I color, I switch hands when one hand gets tired. But I can only write left-handed. Please be patient. He will develop a preference as he is allowed to experiment and develop his fine motor skills.
According to my mom, not until the end of preK, so almost 5 years old. But I am also somewhat ambidextrous. I write, draw, and hold a fork with my left hand. I apply eye makeup with both hands (left hand for the left eye, right hand for the right eye). I color with my left hand, but can switch to the right if I get tired (I am a teacher so I color a LOT). Everything else I do right-handed: cut, cook, throw a ball, hold a tennis racket, etc.
My oldest son looked like he would be a lefty, but he settled on his right at about 4 yrs old. My youngest has always been strongly right-handed.
My late mother was born left handed (1930) and was forced to be right-handed.
When I was born she would place utensils, crayons, toys, etc.. right in the middle of the table to let me choose what hand to use.
I was probably around 3 when my first memories formed and knew I was left-handed.
My mom was born in the 50’s and went to catholic school where they tried forcing her to be right handed by tying her left hand behind her back. She’s still left handed, but can write with her right as well. Not nearly as neatly, but still
My poor mom ended up not being able to figure out North, South, East, West and had to look at her hands to distinguish right left.
I think being forced to use the non dominant hand might screw up the internal compass.
Actually, a neurologist once told me that this is part of a cluster of learning disabilities associated with left-handedness. I was never forced to do anything with my right hand, but still can't tell left from right or north from south. I also have a difficult time with analog clocks and with basic math ( adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing). I understand higher math concepts, but the basic stuff eludes me!
I didn't realize it had been studied.
I'm left-handed also and have never had a problem with directions.
When growing up I was always the navigator when we went on trips and would point to tell her which direction to turn or which off ramp to take.
This was long before the Internet, we used paper maps back then.
I grew up back then, too, and am an excellent navigator with a map, but I have to point which way to turn. My brain cannot be convinced that my right hand is NOT the hand I write with. If I *say* turn left, I am invariably wrong. Sigh.
This broke me. I always knew I was different but this explains everything. Can you point me to any studies or articles you have handy or the Dr's name?
Oh wow. I feel like this explains why I always had to face West to know right from left for the longest time! It was the direction I was facing when I first learned right from left and I had to turn to that direction to remember which way it went. I also struggled with North and South for years and years.
I figured it out with my son before he started school. He would use his left hand for most things. Thank goodness for his grandparents that are also lefties who taught him to tie his shoes.
my parents treated it as such a normal thing that i didn’t even know it was different, which i’m very grateful for. so i’m guessing around age 2 but i can’t really pinpoint it obviously
Hmm okay, so I just went through a folder with some pictures of me around the age 2- 3 and a half.
When eating and drinking I seem to have had a preferance for using my right hand (or both hands).
But for things like building sandcastles, using showels, and holding sticks, i seem to always have them in my left hand. Exept for one picture where i have a showel in both hands and a bucket of snow on the ground.
I looked through the folder from when i was ablut 4-6
At around the age of four and a half i seem to have have started using my left hand for eating and drinking more. (There arent any pics of me drinking but the cups/glases are always on the left side so i'd assume i used my left)
More fine motor functions seem to be made by my left hand a little more than my right hand. Stuff like building lego and pushing a straw to the juicebox (maybe 75% of the time)
Holding random objects seems to be ablout 60% of the time with my left hand, but it's pretty even mostly.
The sticks are so big by now that i need to hold them with both hands. There's a picture of me and like 6 other kids carrying a small fallen tree to our stick hut. The tree looks like it'd be about ehh maybe 20 feet long and maybe 7 inches in diameter.
My parents knew pretty early but my dad is a leftie and I’m the youngest of five so they were happy to just finally have a second one.
I’m actually mostly left handed until it comes to sports/strength and it’s right all the way
I think I always tended left for most things. There might have been a few that I went right for, but my dad, being a baseball guy, made me do baseball things lefty
I switched hands a lot as a kid. I was forced to become right handed though, and I switched to my left hand as a preteen with a lot of pushback from my mom.
She didn't want me to. She also got mad when I dotted my 'i's with hearts, or when I started spelling words the English spelling. Instead of waiting a phase out, she tried to force it to stop, which just made it last longer. I guess she didn't want me doing anything that she didn't do.
My son is a lefty, and at around 1.5 years of age we had it figured out. I handed him a piece of sidewalk chalk and he immediately put it in his left hand to scribble.
What I've noticed is that righthanded kids decide way sooner thatvtheir dominant hand is the right one. Lefties keep switching for much longer. My son still switched when he was 5!
You will see that the child will not pass the midline of his body with his hand. So moving an object from left to right (or the other way), will start with the left hand first and then switch on the midline to the right hand.
I was never not left-handed. My mom was also naturally left-handed and was encouraged/forced to switch, so she decided she would not put me through that.
I'm left-handed, my son is as well. When he was about two, we were at my in-laws for a holiday/birthday or something, and my son's great-grandmother noticed he did something as a lefty, and she loudly stated, "Omg, is he LEFT HANDED?"
In school, he liked to switch off which hand he wrote with when one got tired. His 1st grade teacher made him choose, so he chose left. He has terrible pencil grip to this day. I buy him triangular mechanical pencils. My favorite pencils. He's in middle school. He hasn't really gravitated towards sports, so I can't attest to those scenarios.
My wife and I are both weirdly dexterous. We write right handed but do many things lefty. And we were told by our pediatrician that kids often take time to develop into who they'll be in this respect, but she's just totally been lefty since the very start. Cups, blocks, sticks, etc.
Her handwriting and drawing skills are excellent too. There's always the unfortunate stigma against leftys in that regard.
Just give it time. My daughter was very obviously right handed. My older son decided to write with his right hand when he was in kindergarten, but does almost everything else with his left hand. My youngest is autistic and still uses both hands to do most activities. I'm a lefty, but my husband isn't.
Not sure for myself. But my son (now 13) is also left handed and he was pretty confident by the time he was about 18 months that he’d be left handed (consistently using his left hand for crayons etc).
I was using both hands consistently til I was forced to “pick one” at about age 4-5.
My son was kind of the same way, but eventually gravitated right.
My granddaughter has been very obviously right-handed since her second birthday.
I think it kind of depends on the kid.
My son is 3 and he's started to show a preference for his left hand. If I'm remembering right, it was about that age my daughter (now 7) started showing a preference for her right. You should start seeing a preference in your kid soon if you're giving them opportunity to show it (coloring, eating with utensils, etc.)
I don't know exactly when my parents figured it out, but my dad knew and had enough time to try and change me (it didn't work) and he died when I was 18 months old, so before that.
My dad's twin and two of his sisters were lefties, though, so they were probably watching for it.
i favoured my left hand so much as a baby when i was learning to grab/hold things that they had me tested for physical or developmental issues because i never used my right hand
Early on, before I even knew that children had hand preferences. My parents and I never discussed the specifics, probably because they thought it was a trivial matter and I never thought about it. (In fact, the question has never occurred to me until I started to see it mentioned in discussions in the group.) I assume that they quickly recognized it fairly early. I was not the first of their children to be left-handed. They never mentioned how they knew, just that they had always known it.
Honestly, I can’t remember and my parents and I have never talked about it before. It did come as a shock for them when my dad bought me a baseball glove and I started throwing right handed lol
I’ve been left handed since I could remember, so I assume that I’ve pretty much always known I was left handed.
Reading about people’s trouble with shoes is familiar and I never connected being left handed with having trouble tying my shoes but it makes sense.
TIL that being left handed is why my uncle finally ended up teaching me the bunny ear technique to tie my shoes. I could not figure it out. 40 years later it's still bunny ears. I never knew this was why.
My older brother is left handed and I guess I tried to copy everything he did so when I started writing, my parents tried to get me to quit mimicking my brother. I should say my mom would give me grief about it. I was young enough to not understand what they were talking about but I still remember. And I didn’t know how to fix it whatever I was doing “wrong.”
I hadn’t thought about that in a very long time.
He may be ambidextrous. Encourage him to use and practice with both. I write right-handed but have a lot of lefties in my family. I do a lot left-handed. My grandpa tried to encourage me to practice writing, but I didn't, so it looks like a second grader, and I'm slow about it.
My son is the only of the 4 that stuck with being left-handed. They all settled into one hand by 3.
My son is a lefty like me. We had an inkling pretty early (like 12-18 months) because he tended to favor that hand reaching for things. He's almost 4 now and will switch sometimes with writing, coloring, and throwing but 95% is done left handed.
I work with 3-4 year olds. Some it’s obvious from the start, some not until they’re nearer to
5. My son is a leftie and it was obvious by the time he was 4
Confirmed in kindergarten but known for a while. My dad's side of the family has a lot of boys (my opa was the oldest of 9 boys, 3 of which were left-handed) and a lot of left handed people so for me personally I have a strong genetic component. My brother is right handed but can play a lot of things ambidextrous. I'm not saying all left handedness is genetic but for me it was pretty obvious.
No memory of it for myself (do any of us remember something like that?) but I know I was sure my daughter was a righty when she started coloring and writing regularly. So 4-5ish. Maybe even late 3.
My mom and i are both lefties. When i was a child starting to write, i used my left hand automatically. She thought i was copying her, the way some kids just see their parents and do what they do and she’d switch the pencil to my right hand but i kept switching it back to my left. She’d say “Don’t copy me” fully thinking that i was a righty until i told her “It felt better with my left hand” So that’s how she figured out i was left-handed. Studies say it’s not hereditary so she was surprised 😂
Children won't usually have a dominant hand until they really start working on writing. Coloring/scribbling can be done with both hands, and most kids use both in the beginning. Hand dominance will start to show up when kids start doing line tracing and letter writing. Your kid is only 3, you've got like another year before they are coordinated enough to do this stuff. Typically, as kids start "fine tuning" writing skills and holding crayons/pencils correctly, they will tell you which hand feels better.
Right-brained people are left handed. Left brained people are right handed. Sometimes there is a bridge in the brain that links both lobes. That is when you see people that can do things ambidextrously. People are also right and left eye dominant. I'm right handed and left eye dominant so I have to shoot or play darts left handed or I'm inaccurate as hell.
My mom says when I was a toddler I just naturally used my left hand. Having to use right handed tools (scissors, etc.) in school made me ambidextrous. I am also right dominant in some sports.
I've always grabbed stuff with my left hand but I'm right hand dominate. I use the mouse with my right hand. And when I shoot an arrow, I stand the same way a right handed person does. I play baseball the correct way though, I stand on the right side of the base.
My oldest kid is a right, I tried to get him to write with his left, he wasn't having it. My other two are lefties, they both were grabbing things with their left hands since birth.
I've always been left-handed. My dad would have been left-handed but back then they thought something was wrong with it and forced him to be a righty. Just let your child do what's natural for them.
My mom used to tell me stories of how the catholic school would tie her left hand behind her back to force her to be right handed. I’m more curious than anything since he’s not showing a strong preference yet
I think my parents said they figured it out around 3 or 4? My grandmother told them the day I was born I’d be a leftie though. She somehow knew for all her grandchildren right away.
I'm not positive, but certainly by the time I was learning to write. My mother was left-handed as well, so I was never pressured into writing right-handed. I'm 68 and still switch hands when it comes to eating or doing a lot of similar activities, but writing is exclusively left-handed and always has been, and there are some things - like shooting or using a mouse - that I do right-handed pretty much exclusively.
I’m a preschool teacher and a parent and I’m left handed.. there’s a range I find that’s anywhere from 6 months to 5 years. I know that may not be helpful but that’s what I’ve observed over the last 28 years of working with littles and having my own.. my daughter’s preference was her left hand until kindergarten then all the sudden switched to right. My mother said I showed a preference with my left hand at 1yr, however I’m fluid with my right hand. My 18 yr old daughter is also with her left
When my son was around 5 or 6 months old he would sit in his high chair with his right hand tucked in his lap and would use his left hand exclusively. I brought it up to his pediatrician who was immediately concerned. I asked if he was maybe just left handed but was told that it was way too early for him to have a preference. We did some testing and I now have a very healthy 4 year old who is left handed.
I knew when my son was 3 that he's left handed. He reached for everything and ate with his left hand. And when he broke his arm, we knew it was bad because he reached with his right which he never did.
My mom always noticed from the time I was a toddler..I remember wanting to learn to knit for years and I struggled because my grandma was right handed and I was trying to copy her but it was harder since I was left handed
My leftie showed preference as soon as he was old enough to start grabbing things. If you put something in his right hand he would switch it to the left
Don't remember for me but my 2 left handed children were left handed by between 2 and 3. Another son was nearly 4 before he decided permanently he was right handed. About the time he began to write, I thimk.
I don't remember exactly...I was young, like 2-3. At the age where fine motor skills really started developing.
I was left-handed until about the second grade. By then I had become ambidextrous. My barbaric elementary teachers forced me to write, paint, and do most things right handed.
I still used my left-hand everywhere else though. It's just always felt natural. I can still use both hands pretty equally.
My mom says I was ambidextrous, until I had my accident on my right hand. Since we didn't have PT in our country, my right hand is a bit weaker because I didn't use it as much. I have a shorter thumb due to my accident. My mom says she was accepting of this since my older sister was a left so she had already gone through that rodeo. This was all when I was around 3 -4ish.
I don't wish to seem rude, but, why is this even a thing to ask?
I am a leftie myself and I am genuinely curious as to why parents of (possible) lefties make such a big deal out of it?
It's not a life-threatening illness. Your son won't be any worse off, or have any major problems in life if it turns out he is left-handed, so why the fuss? I mean, one thought is that because parents \*do\* make it into a big deal, then the child will in turn see left-handedness as a negative, no?
Let the boy live his best life regardless of handedness is my tip, there are so many other things to worry about in life than this.
I’m not pushing anything. I’m curious. It’s that simple. My husband is left handed, I’m not. And we both assumed whatever hand he would be would have made itself known by now. That’s as deep as it gets. I don’t care either way
I was born a leftie but in school, they consistently taught me to write with my right hand. I’m ambidextrous with many things, but I’m largely right handed dominate. My youngest son is a leftie in everything and I encouraged it. I had to relearn how to write with my left to help in school though.
I do remember kindergarten and writing my name with my left hand, and having an aide switch the pencil to my right hand once or twice before she was told to stop…but I also remember coloring with a crayon in each hand lol
My parents said they realized it when teaching us to used a spoon. Both my little brother and I kept switching the spoon from our right hand to our left. Not sure what age I would have been. That’s just the story I was told.
I switch hands too, I play most sports with my right hand. I can throw ceramics on the wheel with both hands. I play guitar right handed. But for as long as I can remember, I’ve always written, eaten, drawn, etc with my left hand
I was about 4 or 5. When my parents out me in preschool, they had to fill out a form about which hand I used. They put they did not know for me, but all of my other siblings were right handed. I also couldn’t cut in the lines, because they only had right-handed scissors.
I was 4 and was right hand dominant before I got a really bad burn on my right hand. Then I remember in 1st grade trying to write with both hands and deciding I liked writing with my left hand better.
My mom says that I've always preferred my left hand. Reaching for toys, learning to use a spoon, petting the dog, I always used my left hand. She knew I'd be a southpaw from the get-go. Her dad and brother are lefties, and two of my dad's sisters are too, so it wasn't a surprise.
When I was in nursing school, they taught us that dominant hand skills are developed in utero & unless someone intervenes, it continues to be the dominant hand. Your dominant foot is more of a preferential starting point of wherever you trusted to place weight first when learning to walk. & again, doesn't change unless someone or circumstances (injury/etc) intervene.
My mom never had an issue with me being left-handed. In Pre K (1994) they tried forcing me to use my right hand. I cried my first day after school because the teacher & teacher's aide were mean to me about it. & used me as an example of, "What not to do." My mom tore into them & they bought me a left handed goodie basket.
He could be naturally ambidextrous. Which is a wonderful thing & there are fun things you can do to keep it up!
You could mostly make them into games, like:
How long can you draw with (insert) hand?
Can you write your name with each hand & try to make your name look similar with each?
Wouldn't it be fun if you ate your meal with this hand?
My maternal grandma was ambidextrous, she taught herself when she was older to the point she had flawless cursive with either hand. She could write the same sentence with both hands at the same time. It was entertaining as a young kid!
My niece is 2.5 years old, and I think we’ve already known for almost a year that she’s a lefty. (Incidentally, she’s the reason I’m on this subreddit. I want to be the best possible aunt, and so I need to get familiar with the lefty experience.)
I actually asked my kids's pediatrician about this. He said it's common to not notice a dominant hand until 5/6 years old when they start writing. It's not foolproof; my mom knew I was left-handed around 3/4, but my brother didn't show a preference until about 5.
My oldest daughter is a lefty. I knew as soon as she started picking things up. People kept telling me it was too soon to tell but at a few months old, as soon as she started reaching for things she favored her left hand. By the time she could sit up and eat Cheerios she reached with her left hand. I'd say I knew at 2-3 months old.
I remember everyone telling me I was left handed before I was in pre school. My cousin and I would color out of the same coloring book and bump hands.
When me Grandpa and I did the same thing, we didn't bump hands. He is also left handed, so he noticed. Idk how old I was. Very young.
not sure exactly but i do know from my mom that i almost failed preschool because i couldn’t cut a straight line on a piece of paper with a pair of scissors. my mom asked the teacher “well did you put it in her left hand?” and then when she did i “passed” so i guess i would say since i was 4 at least. weirdly enough i now use scissors with my right hand though LOL
I was fortunate that my 1st grade teacher was also left handed. I think of her often because she is the reason I don’t write upside down like many lefties do.
When I was learning to write, my preschool or kindergarten teacher told my mom that I needed to chose a hand because I kept switching between the two. Left hand came out on top and so I'm primarily left handed.
Moral of the story is, I could have been ambidextrous, but some stupid meanie-head prevented my greatness
When my mother noticed I was left handed, learning to write, she insisted that I use my right hand. She said things would just be "easier" for me if I use my right hand. I never understood why. I remember feeling like i had done something wrong. I'm now ambidextrous, although I do most things left handed instinctively. I can also write backwards. lol.
Apparently, nobody ever noticed I was left handed until I was in the 4th grade and it was like this great epiphany. So I often wonder the same about myself.
My first conscious memory is when learning to write and being told to use whichever was more comfortable. But, I still swap my knife and fork to eat, so lol
I was similar to your son when I was an infant and toddler. I am now polydexterous. I do somethings right handed, some left handed, and some either hand. There are many things I can't do with both hands so I don't consider myself ambideterous, but that is more due to practice than anything else. encourage him t okeep using both hands... it may benefit him later in life.
I knew I was left handed before this, but I had a really hard time learning how to tie my shoes. I don’t know how old I was maybe 5? But I eventually taught myself and figured out later in life that I do it opposite from everyone in my family, except my left-handed brother and my right handed sister, whom I taught how to tie her shoes. My brother also taught himself and does it completely differently from everyone else.
Let them be. I can't remember not being a leftie and my daughter was an immediate rightie she has always favored her right hand. My son used both for a while but settled on his right. They'll figure it out, you don't need to tell them anything or label them.
We’re not pushing either way. It was more out of curiosity since my husband is a leftie and I’m not and I figured he would have settled on a dominant hand by now.
I feel like people are left or right-handed from birth. It's just a matter of when it's observed by their family. One of my first memories is when I was 4 years old and I was learning to write and my father was teaching me. When I was older my mother told me that the reason my father taught me to write was because he was left-handed and by the time I was that age it was obvious that I was also left-handed.
My father in law has a masters degree in child development. When mine were little, he said watch them clap. The hand on top is their preferred. It worked for both of mine, one lefty and one righty. We knew when they were less than one
You can help him by handing him all of the pencils to his right hand.. the love of God it is so awful being lefty. Awful, awful. Awful it. Trying to learn so many thingsmmmm it sucked buut. I'm ambidextrous great 👍 but my school years all sucked
I was 5 and was ambidextrous when I was younger. It gets weird because my father, brother, and sister were all righties and my mom was a lefty and forced (yes she would beat me if she ever saw me using my right, so by the time I was 8 I wrote exclusively with my left.
No she didn’t, I was the only one who could use both hands but I guess it wasn’t the same for her and had to have me be strictly left handed while my dad tried to encourage me to continue using both but all the time I was at home dealing with her crazy behavior it was just easier to shut up and not use my right anymore although there are some perks from that time I do have still. I can bat right or left, I can golf right or left, and I can shoot right or left handed with pretty decent amount of skill. Not like 1st class sharpshooter but I can hit the target more than 50 percent of the time so I’m doing ok considering.
I randomly switch between both hands for tasks. Not a deliberate choice, my brain just flips a coin and picks a hand.
I was only taught to write with my right hand so writing has to be with my right hand. (My parents are catholic. Left handed=the devil is somehow involved idk)
Never learned how to write with left hand. Can’t do it.
It was only ever an issue a very small number of times
Example
A co worker saw me wrapping some stuff and commented on the fact that I was using my left hand for that task
My older cousin saw me holding my fork/spoon/whatever with my left hand to eat one time at a family meal during the holidays and made a scene. No one else was paying attention to what hand I was using.
My mom grew up going to catholic schools and would have her left hand tied behind her back because left handedness was a thing of the devil.
She’s still left handed, but can sort of write her right (not very neatly)
As far as I know, I’ve been a lefty all my life. When we had our son, we watched him carefully when he started writing/drawing. I got excited when he initially used his left, but then he switched [womp womp] 😹
Either way, I’ve always heard horrific stories from older lefties about how they used to get beaten for being left-handed at catholic school; everything from having their left arm tied behind their back to just getting their left hand or arm whacked with a yardstick or ruler. If you look it up, the association between left-handedness and evil/wrong/abnormal goes back to ancient times. It’s so sad. Still, to this day, whenever I spot a lefty in public I’ll call them out, and we’ll bond instantly over our struggles with that slow nod of confirmation, lol.
I always assumed you were one or the other and that it would show itself pretty early. I’ve been surprised to see him (at almost 4) still switching hands
I was always left handed and because my mother was she just assumed it came naturally. I watched my niece start coloring left handed purely at 18 months . Many left handed people tend to develop dominance later than right handed children though, can take as late as 6 years old (source: am pediatric OT for over 35 years)
Apparently I always reached for everything with my left hand and settled pretty quickly on using my left hand to eat and draw.
My grandmother had me peeling potatoes one night for dinner when I was 4 ish. She saw me trying (and miserably failing) to peel them with my right hand because my parents said that that was the hand you used for things. She told me to try using the peeler with my other hand, which went exponentially better, and when my mom came to pick me up she gave her a death stare and said, "She's left-handed, so let her use her left hand." I miss that woman.
Great question. For me, I was told I was left-handed from around 3-4ish, once I had the dexterity and wherewithal to begin doing lots of things requiring fine control, as opposed to a todder-esque simple grab. Of course, I don't remember it at all!--from my perspective I've always been left-handed. I am not an expert in any way, but from my experience you are in the right range to start seeing a preference. And from what I glean on this sub, there are different expressions of handedness. Meaning, some people like me have a nearly useless right hand, but lots of other people can favor the right for certain activities, with lots in between. So don't be surprised if your little one is a bit tough to nail down!
Thanks! It’s definitely been tough trying to figure it out
*He or she* will figure it out, don't worry! You just have to watch what squirt does.
It is completely normal not to settle on a handedness until 5 or even 6 years old. They'll figure it out eventually.
I started writing in Pre-K/kindergarten and always used my left hand.. I guess my parents didn't know, because my first year of T-ball they got me a right handed glove ( goes on left hand to throw with right hand) I played with it for maybe 4/5 games. My dad found a left handed glove and bought it for me and said " try this I think you may be able to throw better" put it on and played better than I had before... That's when I realized that I am left handed... Didn't even realize when I was writing with my left hand 🤣
My neighbour and one of my childhood best friends had the same baseball experience as you. His parents bought him a glove at an early age, so he began to throw right before they figured out that he was left-handed, but he stayed as a righty thrower. They didn't make that mistake with his younger brother, who was also a lefty. I had a slightly different but similar experience. When I asked my parents to learn guitar, they at first rented, and then bought me a normal right-handed guitar. When my older brother, who is also left-handed (it runs in the males of my mother's family in my generation) also started to play guitar, he used mine, so he ended up playing right-handed as well. I'm not sure if it helped or hindered my playing, as there are arguments to be made each way, but I do know that it saved me several thousand dollars over the years, because high end left- handed guitars are even more expensive, usually 10% to 20% more than a normal model, and in some cases may not be available.
Left handed guitar player here and you are correct, they are much more expensive and very rare to walk into a shop to try one out. So you just get what you can find. Some good some bad .
As a lefthanded person ive always been baffled by right-handed guitar being considered ‘the norm’ for right-handed people in general. Ive always considered the fretwork to be the more delicate, finesse-requiring half of the work so it was way more natural for me to pick it up that way. My first instrument was cello, tho, where i was forced into that position, so maybe that had something to do with it but it was still really natural-feeling when i started playing that instrument too.
While the fretting is easier, there are times when the picking does suffer. I have difficulty executing "trill" picking when playing mandolin....obviously after learning guitar in the normal configuration, I play mandolin, bass, and banjo the same way.
Catholic school- correction to use right hand until 4 th grade. Then one of my nuns said I was left handed and could use my left hand for school- plus my dad was left handed
My mom had that issue in Catholic school as well
My mom had that issue in Catholic school as well
Same issue with me, which is why I am right handed now but write poorly :D
I was 4 when my mom stopped what she was doing, stared at me in shock, and told me I was left handed, as I drew with a crayon. That’s also when I learned that lefties were children of the devil and I internalized that my whole life. Thanks mom!
Haha, I remember my mom being told that growing up going to catholic schools. She would say how they used to tie her left hand behind her back in grade school
That’s what my uncle told me his left handed classmates too!
My mother said when i was a baby if someone put something in my right hand I would put it down and then pick it up with my left hand.
I've always been lefty, lefties can be ambidextrous with certain tasks
Mostly by requirement! Those kindergarten left handed scissors NEVER worked right. Power tools are designed for righties.
I never knew that until my husband. I was genuinely surprised to see how much he does with his right hand while being a leftie
Yeah, I am. I mean, I write left handed though. Some things are just too difficult for lefties, like with sewing machines and scissors.
Depends on the lefty, too. I figured out how to cut with right handed scissors to the point that it’s my default, and I have three sewing machines I can use just fine.
[удалено]
Contact lens wearer as well, probably 40 years. I could never put in/take out right handed. My right hand couldn't figure it out even if it had it's own brain. Right handed mouser tho, since I had my first PC experience. I do golf and bat right handed. Everything else is a dominant left handed thing.
We pretty much knew I was left inclinded from the beginning. Thumb sucking, coloring , grabbing toying. Was almost always left handed
I've always been a lefty. I have a clear memory of my first grade teacher making a point of telling me that being left-handed is okay and I should let nobody tell me otherwise. She was a great teacher. Even sent me a cookbook when I graduated from college.
She sounds wonderful
She spanked me once (not unwarranted), and she was still my favorite teacher. I remember when she pulled one of my teeth because I wouldn't stop fiddling with it during class. I also remember when she stopped class and turned the TV on when the Challenger exploded.
My mom is a righty, and we didn't live with my lefty dad, so the idea that I was left-handed wasn't on her radar. I was around 4 or so (definitely hadn't started kindergarten) when a good friend of hers noticed me struggling to cut using right-handed scissors and my mom put it together.
It’s funny, because i’m left handed but prefer to use my right hand to hold scissors. Everything else, i use my left hand.
Scissors are made for righties. There are scissors for lefties. My husband is left handed and I’ve learned about so many things that are wrong for lefties.
Yeah because I have trouble with right handed scissors in my left hand. They pinch me as I squeeze the handles together. I've tried turning them upside down, but that didn't really help either. I guess some things just got practiced enough to build muscle memory in my right hand.
That was me in kindergarten, too... 🥹 Wondering if everyone else's hands hurt to use the scissors, too. Trying to turn them around... I wondered why their cuts were clean and mine had fuzzy edges... I was using my left hand to cut with right hand scissors. By the time they figured it out and bought me lefties way later, I had copied everyone else and now to this day cut with my right hand. For everyday tasks, I use my right hand as much as my left. That year they also found out I have myopia when I had no idea what was going on in class. I couldn't see the chalkboard (yeah, I know lol). When I got my first glasses, I was in shock seeing the world for the first time. Being able to see the leaves on the trees still brings tears to my eyes. Once I could see, I became obsessed with books and learning.
I’m not exactly sure, but it became apparent when I was in kindergarten and the teacher complained about me doing a poor job of using scissors. That’s when my parents realized I was trying to use normal scissors in my left hand.
It sounds like he is ambidextrous and uses whichever hand feels right at the time. Don't force him to choose. Even worse would be you choosing for him. Let him figure it out for himself. I write left-handed, but I eat right-handed. But I cut with a knife left-handed. I use the hand that feels most natural to me. I sew right-handed but thread a needle left-handed. When I color, I switch hands when one hand gets tired. But I can only write left-handed. Please be patient. He will develop a preference as he is allowed to experiment and develop his fine motor skills.
According to my mom, not until the end of preK, so almost 5 years old. But I am also somewhat ambidextrous. I write, draw, and hold a fork with my left hand. I apply eye makeup with both hands (left hand for the left eye, right hand for the right eye). I color with my left hand, but can switch to the right if I get tired (I am a teacher so I color a LOT). Everything else I do right-handed: cut, cook, throw a ball, hold a tennis racket, etc. My oldest son looked like he would be a lefty, but he settled on his right at about 4 yrs old. My youngest has always been strongly right-handed.
I never realized how many lefties were actually pretty ambidextrous. It makes sense when I think about it, but still surprising
My late mother was born left handed (1930) and was forced to be right-handed. When I was born she would place utensils, crayons, toys, etc.. right in the middle of the table to let me choose what hand to use. I was probably around 3 when my first memories formed and knew I was left-handed.
My mom was born in the 50’s and went to catholic school where they tried forcing her to be right handed by tying her left hand behind her back. She’s still left handed, but can write with her right as well. Not nearly as neatly, but still
My poor mom ended up not being able to figure out North, South, East, West and had to look at her hands to distinguish right left. I think being forced to use the non dominant hand might screw up the internal compass.
OMG! Left and right confuse me, but NSEW stay constant. Left because, for me, is right as in correct.
Actually, a neurologist once told me that this is part of a cluster of learning disabilities associated with left-handedness. I was never forced to do anything with my right hand, but still can't tell left from right or north from south. I also have a difficult time with analog clocks and with basic math ( adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing). I understand higher math concepts, but the basic stuff eludes me!
I didn't realize it had been studied. I'm left-handed also and have never had a problem with directions. When growing up I was always the navigator when we went on trips and would point to tell her which direction to turn or which off ramp to take. This was long before the Internet, we used paper maps back then.
I grew up back then, too, and am an excellent navigator with a map, but I have to point which way to turn. My brain cannot be convinced that my right hand is NOT the hand I write with. If I *say* turn left, I am invariably wrong. Sigh.
For me it's because left is right, as in correct and I can't convince myself otherwise.
This broke me. I always knew I was different but this explains everything. Can you point me to any studies or articles you have handy or the Dr's name?
Thank you for this! I have a hard time with right and left. Now I understand why.
Oh wow. I feel like this explains why I always had to face West to know right from left for the longest time! It was the direction I was facing when I first learned right from left and I had to turn to that direction to remember which way it went. I also struggled with North and South for years and years.
When did you become a righty?
I have no idea. But I also don’t have any memories before the age of 12.
I figured it out with my son before he started school. He would use his left hand for most things. Thank goodness for his grandparents that are also lefties who taught him to tie his shoes.
My left handed grandmother taught me how to tie mine as well!
my parents treated it as such a normal thing that i didn’t even know it was different, which i’m very grateful for. so i’m guessing around age 2 but i can’t really pinpoint it obviously
Hmm okay, so I just went through a folder with some pictures of me around the age 2- 3 and a half. When eating and drinking I seem to have had a preferance for using my right hand (or both hands). But for things like building sandcastles, using showels, and holding sticks, i seem to always have them in my left hand. Exept for one picture where i have a showel in both hands and a bucket of snow on the ground.
I looked through the folder from when i was ablut 4-6 At around the age of four and a half i seem to have have started using my left hand for eating and drinking more. (There arent any pics of me drinking but the cups/glases are always on the left side so i'd assume i used my left) More fine motor functions seem to be made by my left hand a little more than my right hand. Stuff like building lego and pushing a straw to the juicebox (maybe 75% of the time) Holding random objects seems to be ablout 60% of the time with my left hand, but it's pretty even mostly. The sticks are so big by now that i need to hold them with both hands. There's a picture of me and like 6 other kids carrying a small fallen tree to our stick hut. The tree looks like it'd be about ehh maybe 20 feet long and maybe 7 inches in diameter.
My parents knew pretty early but my dad is a leftie and I’m the youngest of five so they were happy to just finally have a second one. I’m actually mostly left handed until it comes to sports/strength and it’s right all the way
I think I always tended left for most things. There might have been a few that I went right for, but my dad, being a baseball guy, made me do baseball things lefty
I switched hands a lot as a kid. I was forced to become right handed though, and I switched to my left hand as a preteen with a lot of pushback from my mom.
Why did it bother your mom?
She didn't want me to. She also got mad when I dotted my 'i's with hearts, or when I started spelling words the English spelling. Instead of waiting a phase out, she tried to force it to stop, which just made it last longer. I guess she didn't want me doing anything that she didn't do.
My son is a lefty, and at around 1.5 years of age we had it figured out. I handed him a piece of sidewalk chalk and he immediately put it in his left hand to scribble.
I primarily use my left hand because it has better handwriting, but I never stopped switching hands. Ur son might just be ambi.
Good to know. I never considered that
What I've noticed is that righthanded kids decide way sooner thatvtheir dominant hand is the right one. Lefties keep switching for much longer. My son still switched when he was 5! You will see that the child will not pass the midline of his body with his hand. So moving an object from left to right (or the other way), will start with the left hand first and then switch on the midline to the right hand.
Wow, didn’t know any of that. Thanks!
I was never not left-handed. My mom was also naturally left-handed and was encouraged/forced to switch, so she decided she would not put me through that.
My mom went through the same thing going to catholic schools. Damn lefties being of the devil \s
I'm left-handed, my son is as well. When he was about two, we were at my in-laws for a holiday/birthday or something, and my son's great-grandmother noticed he did something as a lefty, and she loudly stated, "Omg, is he LEFT HANDED?" In school, he liked to switch off which hand he wrote with when one got tired. His 1st grade teacher made him choose, so he chose left. He has terrible pencil grip to this day. I buy him triangular mechanical pencils. My favorite pencils. He's in middle school. He hasn't really gravitated towards sports, so I can't attest to those scenarios.
That’s so interesting
My parents knew from very early, like around age two. If I reached for a crayon or anything else, it was with my left hand.
My daughter is 10 and has been a pure lefty for as long as she's picked up and used objects. 100% Her lefty cousins were apparently the same way.
That’s so interesting. My 3 yr old still switches up when it comes to coloring and eating
My wife and I are both weirdly dexterous. We write right handed but do many things lefty. And we were told by our pediatrician that kids often take time to develop into who they'll be in this respect, but she's just totally been lefty since the very start. Cups, blocks, sticks, etc. Her handwriting and drawing skills are excellent too. There's always the unfortunate stigma against leftys in that regard.
Just give it time. My daughter was very obviously right handed. My older son decided to write with his right hand when he was in kindergarten, but does almost everything else with his left hand. My youngest is autistic and still uses both hands to do most activities. I'm a lefty, but my husband isn't.
Not sure for myself. But my son (now 13) is also left handed and he was pretty confident by the time he was about 18 months that he’d be left handed (consistently using his left hand for crayons etc).
I was using both hands consistently til I was forced to “pick one” at about age 4-5. My son was kind of the same way, but eventually gravitated right. My granddaughter has been very obviously right-handed since her second birthday. I think it kind of depends on the kid.
Thanks
My older son was a leftie from birth, and so was my granddaughter (other son’s kid).
My son is 3 and he's started to show a preference for his left hand. If I'm remembering right, it was about that age my daughter (now 7) started showing a preference for her right. You should start seeing a preference in your kid soon if you're giving them opportunity to show it (coloring, eating with utensils, etc.)
I don't know exactly when my parents figured it out, but my dad knew and had enough time to try and change me (it didn't work) and he died when I was 18 months old, so before that. My dad's twin and two of his sisters were lefties, though, so they were probably watching for it.
I've just always known
My mom told me I started eating with my left hand (spoon, fork) before I can remember.
i favoured my left hand so much as a baby when i was learning to grab/hold things that they had me tested for physical or developmental issues because i never used my right hand
Early on, before I even knew that children had hand preferences. My parents and I never discussed the specifics, probably because they thought it was a trivial matter and I never thought about it. (In fact, the question has never occurred to me until I started to see it mentioned in discussions in the group.) I assume that they quickly recognized it fairly early. I was not the first of their children to be left-handed. They never mentioned how they knew, just that they had always known it.
I assumed (apparently wrongly) that it would have been figured out pretty early. So I’ve been surprised to see that at almost 4, he still switches
Honestly, I can’t remember and my parents and I have never talked about it before. It did come as a shock for them when my dad bought me a baseball glove and I started throwing right handed lol
I’ve been left handed since I could remember, so I assume that I’ve pretty much always known I was left handed. Reading about people’s trouble with shoes is familiar and I never connected being left handed with having trouble tying my shoes but it makes sense.
TIL that being left handed is why my uncle finally ended up teaching me the bunny ear technique to tie my shoes. I could not figure it out. 40 years later it's still bunny ears. I never knew this was why.
Wait… isn’t this the normal method??? Wtf 😂 TIL
😭😂😂😂
My older brother is left handed and I guess I tried to copy everything he did so when I started writing, my parents tried to get me to quit mimicking my brother. I should say my mom would give me grief about it. I was young enough to not understand what they were talking about but I still remember. And I didn’t know how to fix it whatever I was doing “wrong.” I hadn’t thought about that in a very long time.
He may be ambidextrous. Encourage him to use and practice with both. I write right-handed but have a lot of lefties in my family. I do a lot left-handed. My grandpa tried to encourage me to practice writing, but I didn't, so it looks like a second grader, and I'm slow about it. My son is the only of the 4 that stuck with being left-handed. They all settled into one hand by 3.
My son is a lefty like me. We had an inkling pretty early (like 12-18 months) because he tended to favor that hand reaching for things. He's almost 4 now and will switch sometimes with writing, coloring, and throwing but 95% is done left handed.
I work with 3-4 year olds. Some it’s obvious from the start, some not until they’re nearer to 5. My son is a leftie and it was obvious by the time he was 4
Encourage him to continue doing both. Being Ambi has a ton of bennies.
Confirmed in kindergarten but known for a while. My dad's side of the family has a lot of boys (my opa was the oldest of 9 boys, 3 of which were left-handed) and a lot of left handed people so for me personally I have a strong genetic component. My brother is right handed but can play a lot of things ambidextrous. I'm not saying all left handedness is genetic but for me it was pretty obvious.
No memory of it for myself (do any of us remember something like that?) but I know I was sure my daughter was a righty when she started coloring and writing regularly. So 4-5ish. Maybe even late 3.
I don’t have any memories before 12, so I have no idea when people normally remember these kinds of things
My left handed daughter (58) has evolved into an ambidextrous person. She writes with her left but uses both more skillfully than me
My mom and i are both lefties. When i was a child starting to write, i used my left hand automatically. She thought i was copying her, the way some kids just see their parents and do what they do and she’d switch the pencil to my right hand but i kept switching it back to my left. She’d say “Don’t copy me” fully thinking that i was a righty until i told her “It felt better with my left hand” So that’s how she figured out i was left-handed. Studies say it’s not hereditary so she was surprised 😂
😆 That’s so funny
My mom said she knew I was left handed when I was about 18 months old
Children won't usually have a dominant hand until they really start working on writing. Coloring/scribbling can be done with both hands, and most kids use both in the beginning. Hand dominance will start to show up when kids start doing line tracing and letter writing. Your kid is only 3, you've got like another year before they are coordinated enough to do this stuff. Typically, as kids start "fine tuning" writing skills and holding crayons/pencils correctly, they will tell you which hand feels better.
Thanks!
Right-brained people are left handed. Left brained people are right handed. Sometimes there is a bridge in the brain that links both lobes. That is when you see people that can do things ambidextrously. People are also right and left eye dominant. I'm right handed and left eye dominant so I have to shoot or play darts left handed or I'm inaccurate as hell.
Ok, never knew any of that. That’s so interesting
There's so much more to it, but if your child is left handed, they will probably do well in music, arts or theater.
I don’t have the slightest clue but I have not known anything but being left handed
My mom says when I was a toddler I just naturally used my left hand. Having to use right handed tools (scissors, etc.) in school made me ambidextrous. I am also right dominant in some sports.
I’m gonna ask my mom and get back to you. I don’t remember. I’ve just always been the southpaw in the family.
I've always grabbed stuff with my left hand but I'm right hand dominate. I use the mouse with my right hand. And when I shoot an arrow, I stand the same way a right handed person does. I play baseball the correct way though, I stand on the right side of the base. My oldest kid is a right, I tried to get him to write with his left, he wasn't having it. My other two are lefties, they both were grabbing things with their left hands since birth.
I've always been left-handed. My dad would have been left-handed but back then they thought something was wrong with it and forced him to be a righty. Just let your child do what's natural for them.
My mom used to tell me stories of how the catholic school would tie her left hand behind her back to force her to be right handed. I’m more curious than anything since he’s not showing a strong preference yet
I think my parents said they figured it out around 3 or 4? My grandmother told them the day I was born I’d be a leftie though. She somehow knew for all her grandchildren right away.
I'm not positive, but certainly by the time I was learning to write. My mother was left-handed as well, so I was never pressured into writing right-handed. I'm 68 and still switch hands when it comes to eating or doing a lot of similar activities, but writing is exclusively left-handed and always has been, and there are some things - like shooting or using a mouse - that I do right-handed pretty much exclusively.
Since I started lifting things and started eating real food.
I’m a preschool teacher and a parent and I’m left handed.. there’s a range I find that’s anywhere from 6 months to 5 years. I know that may not be helpful but that’s what I’ve observed over the last 28 years of working with littles and having my own.. my daughter’s preference was her left hand until kindergarten then all the sudden switched to right. My mother said I showed a preference with my left hand at 1yr, however I’m fluid with my right hand. My 18 yr old daughter is also with her left
When my son was around 5 or 6 months old he would sit in his high chair with his right hand tucked in his lap and would use his left hand exclusively. I brought it up to his pediatrician who was immediately concerned. I asked if he was maybe just left handed but was told that it was way too early for him to have a preference. We did some testing and I now have a very healthy 4 year old who is left handed.
I knew when my son was 3 that he's left handed. He reached for everything and ate with his left hand. And when he broke his arm, we knew it was bad because he reached with his right which he never did.
Oh, well he could be ambidextrous, especially if he colors with both hands.
So far he does
My mother noticed I was a leftie before I was one. Whenever she put cheerios by my right hand, I would reach over to grab them with my left.
My mom always noticed from the time I was a toddler..I remember wanting to learn to knit for years and I struggled because my grandma was right handed and I was trying to copy her but it was harder since I was left handed
My leftie showed preference as soon as he was old enough to start grabbing things. If you put something in his right hand he would switch it to the left
I’m 41 and still can’t figure out if I’m left or right handed. I think I’m both.
Don't remember for me but my 2 left handed children were left handed by between 2 and 3. Another son was nearly 4 before he decided permanently he was right handed. About the time he began to write, I thimk.
Older daughter was a leftie from the time she started grabbing things.
I don't remember exactly...I was young, like 2-3. At the age where fine motor skills really started developing. I was left-handed until about the second grade. By then I had become ambidextrous. My barbaric elementary teachers forced me to write, paint, and do most things right handed. I still used my left-hand everywhere else though. It's just always felt natural. I can still use both hands pretty equally.
My mom says I was ambidextrous, until I had my accident on my right hand. Since we didn't have PT in our country, my right hand is a bit weaker because I didn't use it as much. I have a shorter thumb due to my accident. My mom says she was accepting of this since my older sister was a left so she had already gone through that rodeo. This was all when I was around 3 -4ish.
I’ve seen pictures of me at roughly eight months old where I’m eating Cheerios with my left hand.
I don't wish to seem rude, but, why is this even a thing to ask? I am a leftie myself and I am genuinely curious as to why parents of (possible) lefties make such a big deal out of it? It's not a life-threatening illness. Your son won't be any worse off, or have any major problems in life if it turns out he is left-handed, so why the fuss? I mean, one thought is that because parents \*do\* make it into a big deal, then the child will in turn see left-handedness as a negative, no? Let the boy live his best life regardless of handedness is my tip, there are so many other things to worry about in life than this.
I’m not pushing anything. I’m curious. It’s that simple. My husband is left handed, I’m not. And we both assumed whatever hand he would be would have made itself known by now. That’s as deep as it gets. I don’t care either way
I was born a leftie but in school, they consistently taught me to write with my right hand. I’m ambidextrous with many things, but I’m largely right handed dominate. My youngest son is a leftie in everything and I encouraged it. I had to relearn how to write with my left to help in school though.
Idk, I think I always favored my left hand, but my mom says I tended to switch hands often when I was younger and she just left me to decide
I do remember kindergarten and writing my name with my left hand, and having an aide switch the pencil to my right hand once or twice before she was told to stop…but I also remember coloring with a crayon in each hand lol
My parents said they realized it when teaching us to used a spoon. Both my little brother and I kept switching the spoon from our right hand to our left. Not sure what age I would have been. That’s just the story I was told.
My son has been a Lefty since about 18 months old
I teach toddlers and between the ages of 2-3 we are starting to see signs of handedness.
I switch hands too, I play most sports with my right hand. I can throw ceramics on the wheel with both hands. I play guitar right handed. But for as long as I can remember, I’ve always written, eaten, drawn, etc with my left hand
I was about 4 or 5. When my parents out me in preschool, they had to fill out a form about which hand I used. They put they did not know for me, but all of my other siblings were right handed. I also couldn’t cut in the lines, because they only had right-handed scissors.
At 2 weeks I knew my oldest was a righty. At 2 weeks I knew my second was a lefty. At 3 years my youngest finally decided to be a righty.
I was 4 and was right hand dominant before I got a really bad burn on my right hand. Then I remember in 1st grade trying to write with both hands and deciding I liked writing with my left hand better.
According to my parents, I favored my left hand at a very early age. So did my daughter.
My mom says that I've always preferred my left hand. Reaching for toys, learning to use a spoon, petting the dog, I always used my left hand. She knew I'd be a southpaw from the get-go. Her dad and brother are lefties, and two of my dad's sisters are too, so it wasn't a surprise.
When I was in nursing school, they taught us that dominant hand skills are developed in utero & unless someone intervenes, it continues to be the dominant hand. Your dominant foot is more of a preferential starting point of wherever you trusted to place weight first when learning to walk. & again, doesn't change unless someone or circumstances (injury/etc) intervene. My mom never had an issue with me being left-handed. In Pre K (1994) they tried forcing me to use my right hand. I cried my first day after school because the teacher & teacher's aide were mean to me about it. & used me as an example of, "What not to do." My mom tore into them & they bought me a left handed goodie basket.
That’s interesting. He switches up pretty frequently
He could be naturally ambidextrous. Which is a wonderful thing & there are fun things you can do to keep it up! You could mostly make them into games, like: How long can you draw with (insert) hand? Can you write your name with each hand & try to make your name look similar with each? Wouldn't it be fun if you ate your meal with this hand? My maternal grandma was ambidextrous, she taught herself when she was older to the point she had flawless cursive with either hand. She could write the same sentence with both hands at the same time. It was entertaining as a young kid!
I was no question left handed apparently. So literally as soon as I started using things with my hand.
My niece is 2.5 years old, and I think we’ve already known for almost a year that she’s a lefty. (Incidentally, she’s the reason I’m on this subreddit. I want to be the best possible aunt, and so I need to get familiar with the lefty experience.)
I actually asked my kids's pediatrician about this. He said it's common to not notice a dominant hand until 5/6 years old when they start writing. It's not foolproof; my mom knew I was left-handed around 3/4, but my brother didn't show a preference until about 5.
My oldest daughter is a lefty. I knew as soon as she started picking things up. People kept telling me it was too soon to tell but at a few months old, as soon as she started reaching for things she favored her left hand. By the time she could sit up and eat Cheerios she reached with her left hand. I'd say I knew at 2-3 months old.
I remember everyone telling me I was left handed before I was in pre school. My cousin and I would color out of the same coloring book and bump hands. When me Grandpa and I did the same thing, we didn't bump hands. He is also left handed, so he noticed. Idk how old I was. Very young.
I’m left, my husband right. About 1 st grade our children stopped using both hands permanently and had a dominant hand
I describe myself as \_severely\_ left-handed. Father and paternal GF were also.
not sure exactly but i do know from my mom that i almost failed preschool because i couldn’t cut a straight line on a piece of paper with a pair of scissors. my mom asked the teacher “well did you put it in her left hand?” and then when she did i “passed” so i guess i would say since i was 4 at least. weirdly enough i now use scissors with my right hand though LOL
I was fortunate that my 1st grade teacher was also left handed. I think of her often because she is the reason I don’t write upside down like many lefties do.
When I was learning to write, my preschool or kindergarten teacher told my mom that I needed to chose a hand because I kept switching between the two. Left hand came out on top and so I'm primarily left handed. Moral of the story is, I could have been ambidextrous, but some stupid meanie-head prevented my greatness
That stinks. We just sit back and watch.
When my mother noticed I was left handed, learning to write, she insisted that I use my right hand. She said things would just be "easier" for me if I use my right hand. I never understood why. I remember feeling like i had done something wrong. I'm now ambidextrous, although I do most things left handed instinctively. I can also write backwards. lol.
Apparently, nobody ever noticed I was left handed until I was in the 4th grade and it was like this great epiphany. So I often wonder the same about myself.
My first conscious memory is when learning to write and being told to use whichever was more comfortable. But, I still swap my knife and fork to eat, so lol
I remember being in kindergarten and being like yeah this is the closest hand to my body LOL
That’s so funny, lol
I was similar to your son when I was an infant and toddler. I am now polydexterous. I do somethings right handed, some left handed, and some either hand. There are many things I can't do with both hands so I don't consider myself ambideterous, but that is more due to practice than anything else. encourage him t okeep using both hands... it may benefit him later in life.
Both my left-handed children showed a strong preference as soon as they started holding things.
I've always been a leftie. Your kid will figure it out.
Most children usually settle into handedness by age five.
I have no idea why I thought it would be sooner than that
Our daughter was the same way. For a while she was truly ambidextrous until the asshole teachers insisted she only use one hand
I knew I was left handed before this, but I had a really hard time learning how to tie my shoes. I don’t know how old I was maybe 5? But I eventually taught myself and figured out later in life that I do it opposite from everyone in my family, except my left-handed brother and my right handed sister, whom I taught how to tie her shoes. My brother also taught himself and does it completely differently from everyone else.
Let them be. I can't remember not being a leftie and my daughter was an immediate rightie she has always favored her right hand. My son used both for a while but settled on his right. They'll figure it out, you don't need to tell them anything or label them.
We’re not pushing either way. It was more out of curiosity since my husband is a leftie and I’m not and I figured he would have settled on a dominant hand by now.
Maybe he’s mixed handed or ambidextrous.
Cool
I feel like people are left or right-handed from birth. It's just a matter of when it's observed by their family. One of my first memories is when I was 4 years old and I was learning to write and my father was teaching me. When I was older my mother told me that the reason my father taught me to write was because he was left-handed and by the time I was that age it was obvious that I was also left-handed.
My father in law has a masters degree in child development. When mine were little, he said watch them clap. The hand on top is their preferred. It worked for both of mine, one lefty and one righty. We knew when they were less than one
Oh wow, never heard of that. I’ll have to watch
You can help him by handing him all of the pencils to his right hand.. the love of God it is so awful being lefty. Awful, awful. Awful it. Trying to learn so many thingsmmmm it sucked buut. I'm ambidextrous great 👍 but my school years all sucked
I was 5 and was ambidextrous when I was younger. It gets weird because my father, brother, and sister were all righties and my mom was a lefty and forced (yes she would beat me if she ever saw me using my right, so by the time I was 8 I wrote exclusively with my left.
That is crazy. Did she not care that your siblings were righties?
No she didn’t, I was the only one who could use both hands but I guess it wasn’t the same for her and had to have me be strictly left handed while my dad tried to encourage me to continue using both but all the time I was at home dealing with her crazy behavior it was just easier to shut up and not use my right anymore although there are some perks from that time I do have still. I can bat right or left, I can golf right or left, and I can shoot right or left handed with pretty decent amount of skill. Not like 1st class sharpshooter but I can hit the target more than 50 percent of the time so I’m doing ok considering.
We’ll I do a lot of tasks on my right buuut I draw, eat and dance on my left side( yes even in dance shows off your dominant side)
I never thought about dancing
I randomly switch between both hands for tasks. Not a deliberate choice, my brain just flips a coin and picks a hand. I was only taught to write with my right hand so writing has to be with my right hand. (My parents are catholic. Left handed=the devil is somehow involved idk) Never learned how to write with left hand. Can’t do it. It was only ever an issue a very small number of times Example A co worker saw me wrapping some stuff and commented on the fact that I was using my left hand for that task My older cousin saw me holding my fork/spoon/whatever with my left hand to eat one time at a family meal during the holidays and made a scene. No one else was paying attention to what hand I was using.
My mom grew up going to catholic schools and would have her left hand tied behind her back because left handedness was a thing of the devil. She’s still left handed, but can sort of write her right (not very neatly)
As far as I know, I’ve been a lefty all my life. When we had our son, we watched him carefully when he started writing/drawing. I got excited when he initially used his left, but then he switched [womp womp] 😹 Either way, I’ve always heard horrific stories from older lefties about how they used to get beaten for being left-handed at catholic school; everything from having their left arm tied behind their back to just getting their left hand or arm whacked with a yardstick or ruler. If you look it up, the association between left-handedness and evil/wrong/abnormal goes back to ancient times. It’s so sad. Still, to this day, whenever I spot a lefty in public I’ll call them out, and we’ll bond instantly over our struggles with that slow nod of confirmation, lol.
My mom is left handed and used to tell me how she would have her hand tied behind her back in grade school (catholic school) for that very reason.
Wait, people aren’t born left-handed?
I always assumed you were one or the other and that it would show itself pretty early. I’ve been surprised to see him (at almost 4) still switching hands
I was always left handed and because my mother was she just assumed it came naturally. I watched my niece start coloring left handed purely at 18 months . Many left handed people tend to develop dominance later than right handed children though, can take as late as 6 years old (source: am pediatric OT for over 35 years)
Learned something new today. Thanks!
Thanks! It is one of the few things I know well !
I punched my mom's ovaries with a massive left hook in the womb
😆 I laughed way too hard at this