son left handed what are the pros&cons

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shrek

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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
 
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?
 
I wouldn't worry about the colouring thing for very long - left handed people are statistically more likely to be artistically gifted!
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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!
Click to expand...
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!
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
miselemeas said:
Politics
Winston Churchill
President George Bush
Click to expand...

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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...


This should auger well for one of your sons.;)

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

Marion
 
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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