I noticed early on that my 4th born child had a tendency to use his left hand more than his right. By the time he was two it was quite clear he was a lefty.
Not being a lefty and not coming from a family with lefties (there are a few scattered about the family tree, but not in my immediate family) I wasn’t sure what to expect or what to prepare for as he grew older.
Recently, I asked on the Raising Arrows Facebook page what should I keep in mind as my little lefty starts school and heads out into the right-dominated world. I’ve compiled all the great ideas I was given along with some others I’ve gleaned from close friends who have trod lefty land either themselves or through their own children. {Feel free to add your own in the comments section and I’ll add them to this post.}
REMEMBER: These are just suggestions from my readers and not things you have to change or do.
The lefty world fascinates me…probably because I’m not one and have taken a right-handed world for granted!
General
*Some readers said they didn’t change anything and just adapted.
*Make sure they learn to do things with both hands.
*Let them learn to hold things incorrectly and make do.
*Don’t try to change them
*Lefties tend to get good at using both hands.
*Lefties are typically quite creative and have an easier time remembering things.
*Teach skills using the mirror method – child sits facing you and “mirrors” what you do. This also works great for lefties who are trying to teach us righties a thing or two! 😉
School Related
*Let them turn their notebook upside down.
*Buy top spiral bound notebooks and writing pads.
*Buy “lefty” notebooks from Amazon
*Teach them to write underneath their writing so they don’t smear.
*Left-handed writing guide from lefthandedchildrten.org
*Make sure they tilt their page opposite of a right handed person.
*Let them use the back side of their notebook paper so they write toward the center.
*You can make a left-handed binder by punching holes in the opposite side of the paper.
*Learning to use right-handed scissors is a must in order to function in a right-handed world.
*Find scissors with same size finger holes so they can be turned either way. (example from my favorite school supply site: Discount School Supply
)
*Pencil sharpeners are backward and very hard to use. A battery-operated pencil sharpener might be the way to go.
*You can change the buttons on your computer mouse so right click is your left hand index finger – you can do this in Windows by going to START>CONTROL PANEL>HARDWARE>MOUSE You will see at the top of the BUTTONS tab: BUTTON CONFIGURATION. Here you can change your touch pad and mouse to LEFT-HANDED.
*Handwriting Without Tears is a lefty-friendly handwriting curriculum.
*Dry erase boards are difficult for left-handed people unless you have a fast drying marker that won’t smudge as you write or these cool dry erase crayons!
Socially
*Credit/Debit card pad “pens” at grocery stores are often too short.
*Be conscious of seating arrangements at your family table.
*One reader mentioned buttons on shirts being a pain for lefties.
*Doors open to the right, so opening doors can be interesting.
Music
*Music is a “gray area.” Some lefties like to have things set up especially for them, but as one reader said, “Part of the fun of knowing how to play the guitar is being able to pick up ANY guitar and play it.”
Another reader, a music teacher, says she does not recommend changing anything.
Sports
*Also a “gray area.” Playing ball right-handed might be a good idea, but then again, we all hear about those left-handed pitchers.
*Lots of people mentioned getting a left-handed ball glove; however, one reader says she catches a baseball with her left hand in the mitt then takes the mitt off and throws it left handed!
Miscellany
*Power tool guards need to be switched around.
*Get them a pump shotgun that ejects shells out the bottom rather than an over & under that can eject shells into the lefty’s face.
*Handi-crafts (ie knitting, crocheting) are very handed and can be taught more easily if the child uses the mirror-method (explained in the General section)
*Pampered Chef products are made for either hand because the founder of the company was left handed!
**********
There are a lot of newly invented “lefty” items on the market. I looked through Amazon for lefty products and came up with everything from left-handed guitars to left-handed chopsticks (seriously?!) If you are in the market for a left-handed story book for your child, they have that too!
And if you really want to dig deep into the left-handed products world, you have to check out this site:
Lefty’s Corner
They have a left-handed can opener (never would have thought of that!) for your budding chef and left-handed surgical scissors for your budding doctor.
Whodathunk?
Holly Rutchik says
These are all very good – but I must say as a leftie myself – I wouldn’t make too many changes for him (with the computer and so on) the world is made for right handed people and if things are made to fit him he won’t learn how to use his other hand which he really needs too. I LOVE being a leftie and am not telling you to change him at all – just saying that the number 1 thing by far is letting him just figure out how to make do and use his right hand if he has too 🙂 Oh yah, and watch out for doors – opening doors still seems to be hard for me and I am 30 🙂
Amy says
I never would thought of doors! lol And, no, I don’t plan on changing too much, but I thought all the suggestions were fascinating!
Kelly says
Thank you for posting this. My 3 1/2 year old is a lefty and I have been wondering what I can do to help him.
Jena says
Wow, that’s quite the list! While it’s interesting to read through I have to say that as a lefty myself it really hasn’t been any issue. I guess I’ve never given it much thought. About the only inconvenience I can remember is on the rare occasion that I played ball other people were always confused about which arm/hand I should use. Other than that, no problems! 🙂
Courtney says
Very interesting ideas. My husband and I are both lefties, as are two of our three children. Our third is 11 weeks old so we’ll have to see which way he goes. I was, and still am, very particular about pens and pencils because I am constantly smearing my writing. And there is always shuffling seats when all of my extended family gets together so we aren’t all bumping elbows. I am quite good with my right hand though. I think that’s an advantage of being a lefty. You become a little better at using both hands.
Cathy says
I have two daughters that are lefties. I don’t really remember doing much different with my oldest one. She adapted quickly. I just remember having a difficult time helping her learn to write. Her grandfather, also a leftie, helped her learn to write her name. Now, with my 4 year old leftie, I often call on the assistance of the older one. Learning to cut has been one thing that the older child helps with easily. When I try to help, I’m the one that has the hard time, LOL.
Amy says
I’m surprised at how well my leftie is doing with writing. They do adapt quite well, don’t they?!
Rachel says
My son (2.5) I think is a lefty, too! Luckily, I have a relative who is two, have had a lefthanded music student (I’m a harpist), and my fil is ambidextrous.
For many years, my mother has taught knitting and crochet. The latter, especially, is very handed. What she told me her lefty students had told her was that, when it comes to learning by watching, they do best sitting opposite their right-handed teacher–it’s like looking in the mirror for them. They’re already used to reversing everything that way anyway, so having someone consciously try to teach them left-handed was just confusing. Obviously, it’s a bit different for a child, but the whole sitting-opposite-so-they-can-mirror-thing has been useful in my teaching efforts too.
Right now, the main difficulty we run into is that my son is learning how to use utensils at the table, and he tries to mimic his righty parents. It’s been a mess. For this particular task, we’ve been learning to eat left-handed so he can mimic us, and I’ve been remembering to place the utensil on his plate with the handle sticking out to the left. Obviously, you’re beyond that point, but maybe it can help someone else.
Thanks for the great post! Your timing was excellent for my needs!
Amy says
You mentioning utensils makes me realize my leftie is my messy eater. I don’t know if it has anything to do with him being left-handed, but I may have to see if he’s having trouble holding his utensils and needs a little more help with it. 🙂
Karla says
I don’t know if this will work for your older child, but for younger children the reflective method works well. I’m a lefty and still seat my son across from me when eating. I think due to this no matter whether he’s a true lefty or righty he will eat with his right hand. He’s better able to see and mirror how I eat and has been a very neat and skilled eater since before the age of two.
Anita Chamblee says
Hmmm….My almost 15 year old son is our only lefty. He does write overhanded which drives me crazy, but he doesn’t seem to be able to write from under the line. He is much more coordinated than his older brother and sisters, loves to draw and paint and does them well, and plays the piano beautifully. He did have a little trouble learning how to play the violin and gave that up. I haven’t noticed that he has any trouble using a computer mouse with his right hand. And now that one of your commenters mentioned it, he does seem to have trouble opening doors. I have taught my boys to open the door and stand behind it to let women pass through first, but when he opens it (with his left hand) he is not as behind the door as he should be and is often in the way. I thought he was just being awkward, but now I see it is because he is using his left hand which puts his body in a weird position. It just now dawned on me that doors open to the right!! Oh, my!
Katy says
I am a lefty in a righty world. I grew up during an era where you changed the child. I remember my teacher coming over, putting my pencil in my right hand and slanting my paper the opposite way. I finally learned she could tell how I was writing by the slant of my paper and would write with my left hand on wrongly slanted paper, which is why I can write upside down now.
Now, we have two sons that are righties. But I swore if I had a lefty they would not be treated that way. It’s not a deformity that needs to be corrected. It’s the way our brain is wired and is part of our makeup (like our hair color).
And, a little joke for your son:
If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then left handed people are the only people in their right minds.
My grandmother was a lefty and she helped me learn to do many things. But, I have learned to live in a right handed world. Everything is backwards for me, but it’s all normal now as an adult. I would like refrigerators to open on the opposite side (but everyone else in the house is a righty), cabinets to open differently, spirals and notebooks to be opposite, scissors, and the list goes on. But, I will say, I just got used to it and function very well. He will adapt and will learn how to adapt those things that he can’t (shooting, musical instruments, and so on).
Amy says
Thanks for your insight! Keian hasn’t noticed the world is different yet, but it has been fascinating to me to see how right-handed our world is and how us righties don’t even realize it!
Katy says
It really is a right handed world. But, honestly, it’s OK. MOST things are pretty easy to learn for a lefty (even those like me that can’t even draw a tiny straight line with her left hand). When it’s all you know, it’s what you learn. Imagine if you were a lefty that lost their left arm very young… you would learn to do things as a righty because it’s all you ever knew.
Bekki says
One great tip my mother learnd as she taught me (the lefty) is to have me stand in front of her and watch her demonstrate what she was doing. Because that way I was seeing it exactly as I would do it. This was helpful with sewing and other small tedious tasks. I now teach my children this way as they are all right handed!
Amy says
That’s an interesting way to do it! Neat idea!
Amanda says
We have lots of lefties on both sides of our family, and I’m a lefty. I was surprised that other lefties needed these accommodations. It’s never been a big issue for me. I do agree that learning to use right-handed scissors is a must. I never had any trouble with baseball bats, I just stood on the opposite side.I do slant my paper a good bit in the opposite direction. I think this helps me have “good” form with my writing since I don’t write upside down. I don’t think being a lefty is something you really have to prepare for that much.
Madeleine says
I’m like you, about 50% of my family (immediate and extended) are southpaws. I don’t ever remember being taught differently for eating, or writing or whatnot, but that is probably because my dad was able to teach me left handed things easily and my mom could easily teach my sister right handed things. I never realized stuff was designed for right handed people… I just used it with either my right or left hand whatever was easiest for that product. I bowl right handed because that is what I saw others doing. Sure it might have felt awkward at first, but that was so long ago I can’t remember, if it was too awkward I just gave up, otherwise I just accepted I was awkward. I do always remember having to ask my dad which hand was supposed to go on top for putters and bats in sports. I do play tennis left handed because I took lessons and they always asked. I remember in class they would always say “is anyone left handed?” and then they would separate us and teach our lefty group individually in PE.
In reference to utensils I do remember one time after my parents got divorced eating dinner with just my mom and sister, I was probably around 10 or 12 and they looked at me and said I was eating funny. I didn’t really know what they were talking about but they were really concerned because they thought I was having bad manners. They then realized I was just doing it funny (not really even sure what it was, I may have had my fork upside down or in the wrong hand, or holding one utensil while I was cutting instead of putting it down) because I was left handed. I also always make sure to rearrange the seating arrangements so that all the lefties are on one side of the table. It makes it a lot easier I think when you have so many in the family.
danielle says
I have TWO lefties!
Both by Design…although one of them was born with a brain malformation and is now missing his left hemisphere soooooo… 🙂
LOVE this post!
Someone may have already mentioned this but the Crayola Dry Erase crayons are perfect for white boards! They don’t smudge off.
Also…right brained people tend to be better with long term memorization and creative arts! And a slew of other things, I’m sure.
Anyway…thanks for all the great links and tips!
…danielle
Amy says
I’d never heard of the dry erase crayons! Thanks for sharing!
Amy says
I live in a household of 5 and 3 (Hubbys 1 and the other 2 are my youngins) of them are leftys. I let them (youngins) do things as they needed. They both play sports so we did make sure we found them the proper gloves for a left handed person. They never ran into any problems being left handed and they do exceptionally well and I am proud of them for all they have accomplish.
Sheila says
Thank you so much for this info. My three sons are right-handed, and my three daughters are ALL left-handed! (Third daughter started out leaning right, and now, at 20 months, she’s definitely favoring her left hand.).
Sheila, Mama to seven in September…
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama says
I’m not a lefty and I don’t have one, but I have to comment as a music teacher.
DON’T change any musical instruments for them. All instruments require technical skills from BOTH hands. If you are lefty, you will have an easier time with some skills than others. For example, I taught violin. If you’re right-handed, you learn the bow easier. If you’re left handed, you learn fingering more easily. But eventually you’ll become very flexible with BOTH hands. I can do things with my left hand that I can’t with my right, because of my musical training. It’s simply a trade-off and there’s no reason to switch things up. (And yes, I studied with left-handed teachers…who felt the same.)
Amy says
I wonder if my musical training is why I do not have a total right dominance despite being right handed? Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Miranda says
I’m a lefty and proud of it :). I honestly can’t remember that I had to change anything while I was in school – you just adapt. Being a lefty isn’t a disability and it certaintly can be worked into anything you do. Now, granted I don’t play any instruments or such, but with writing or using scissors – you just adapt. So I never had to change anything just because I wrote with my left hand.
Karen says
I have two lefties and two righties! The oldest two are right handed and the youngest two are left handed. I did get left handed scissors for the first leftie, and a battery pencil sharpener – neither of them can use manual sharpeners, but on the whole we haven’t made any other adaptations. They all go to school and have learned to use a computer mouse right handed as that is where they are positioned at the school computers, E tells me she paints right handed so she doesn’t smudge her paintings! They both have their own ways of making things work for them and I haven’t interfered – I prefer them to be able to work out their own solutions that work for THEM, rather than me fix something that doesn’t need to be if that makes sense?
Amy says
Another thing I’d never thought of…pencil sharpeners! lol
Renee says
I am a lefty and so is my 4 yr old. My advice is to not do anything. Do Not make them do Anything with their right hand. I repeat Do Not make them use their right hand. My handwriting is so messy that most no one can read it because in elementary school I was made to sit on my left hand and write with my right. I was made by everyone to use my right hand for everything from eating, writing, music and sports. My advice is really let them be. They learn to cope with things. They will learn to do things how it works best for them. Ex. Writing they will turn the page or the pencil/pen to work best for them etc. Everything I do is messed up because God made me left handed but people thought that God was wrong and tried to fix it. So when I do things with my left hand its not right and when I do things with my right its not right. God knew what he was doing when he made these beautiful blessings left handed. Hope that helps some.
God bless
Renee says
Just want to make clear that I am saying to not Force them to use their right hand or adapt everything for them. Its best to let them do it on their own if they need to. They will learn how to do with what God gave them. If you change things and they grow up with it always changed for them they will not know how to use things or do things any other way.
Amy says
I don’t remember this being a common practice in my school, so it really confounds me how someone like my aunt would be forced to become right handed. Why did teachers think left-handedness was so bad? Perhaps because most people are right handed and they thought they were doing a service by teaching the child to live right handed? Just makes no sense to me. What they did to you sounds humiliating! 🙁
Renee says
Im sure it was humiliating but as it was in kindergarden and 1st grade I dont really remember much. Im sure they thought they were helping. I would hope and pray they dont do this anymore as it was more than 30 yrs ago. Sorry to hear your aunt had to go through it also. I have never heard of anyone else going through it.
Stacy says
Hubby and I are both lefties. We don’t change the mouse settings, but we do move the mouse to the left side of the desk for our own comfort. Our kids can use it on either side, as they need. It always confuses guests who ask to use the computer, LOL!
Pam says
Using a computer mouse – now that’s something that I as a lefty have a very strong opinion about! DO NOT change the settings – just change the position of your hand.
When I first started left- and right-clicking, I was excited to discover that I could reverse the mouse settings – and I quickly discovered that this was the wrong way to solve the problem. Why? Every time I used another mouse – a friend’s computer, a public computer – the mouse was “wrong” again. And every time someone used my mouse, they were frustrated!
Let me tell you the easy way to do it. Rotate the mouse about 45 degrees clockwise. Lay your hand on the mouse with your index finger on the left mouse button and the rest of your fingers off the left side of the mouse. You are now comfortably grasping the mouse between your thumb and three fingers of your left hand, with your index finger on the left mouse button.
To left click, press down. To right click, lift your index finger and place it on the right button. Simple! It’s also easy to roll the scroll wheel in the middle from this position.
Once you have developed the habit of grasping the mouse in this way, you’re home free. You’ll automatically be comfortable using any computer anywhere – requires no extra thought and nobody is confused when they use your mouse.
The only thing I do differently than a right-handed user is move the mouse to the left side of the keyboard. That’s easy to change, and it doesn’t confuse righties who use the same computer.
Amy says
Now that’s a good idea! Thanks for sharing!
Honey @ Sunflower Schoolhouse says
Thank you for sharing all these fabulous ideas from your readers.
We have five children and wouldn’t you know it, the very last one is a lefty. Right from the start she has always been left dominate. I haven’t thought much about how it will affect her other than printing.
Thank you for this post.
Blessings
Honey
Jolie says
All of the kitchen tools from The Pampered Chef are designed for left or right-hand use because the founder, Doris Christoper, is a lefty. My son is left-handed. We love the Handwriting Without Tears program. It says to be sure to put copy words above or to the right because looking to the left means a lefty looks to where his hand is covering the paper. It also says to tilt the bottom left of the page up and to be careful of a correct hand position and grip, not letting a lefty hook his wrist.
Amy says
I didn’t realize that about Pampered Chef! Another reason to love their company! 🙂
Teresa says
No left handed in the family of seven. But my husband did teach the oldest three to bat lefty. He says it has many more advantages in baseball. They all catch right handed so finding a glove is easy. Now just finding a size 11 mens cleats cheap is my only complaint.
Annie says
I am left-handed and have always felt that I was a member of a special group of people. I am proud to be a lefty, as a child in school and at home I met the inconveniences, and they were inconveniences, of functioning in a right-handed world with challenge and an attitude of an over comer.
I have to attribute my positive attitude and success to my Mother. Mom who at an early age was forced to use her right hand by a teacher who would crack her knuckles with a pointer if she were found writing with her left hand made me feel special that I was a lefty. She encouraged me in my writing skills and guided me in sports. Mom would always outfit me, even though very hard to find, in the best of left-handed sports equipment. I still have my left-handed baseball glove which my lefty daughter uses today.
Mom would talk with coaches and remind them not to discriminate against me. When I was in elementary school and learning to write early in the school year, Mom would schedule a conference with my teachers to make sure that it was understood that I would not be ostracized in any way and be allowed to write with my left hand.
Anyone who encourages a Left-handed child to switch against his/her will is very sad. In me 20 years of research I have talked with many people that were forced to switch which caused emotional and physical problems. Haven’t you seen the movie “The Kings Speech” King George stuttered because he was forced to switch handedness as a child. Please don’t do it. And how are we ever going to know the true percentage of Lefties if their parents make them switch. For more information see: http://www.lefthandedinfo.com
Carey says
Great suggestions! We also used this Left-Write Writing Guide for our lefty? http://www.lefthandedchildren.org/left-write.htm
Laura says
My husband and I are both right handed and our oldest two (7 & 5 – both boys) are lefties and our youngest (2 – girl) is right handed! The oldest is VERY dominantly left handed, however the second is only “mostly” left handed – he writes, eats and throws left handed, but does most other things right handed (batting, golfing, most role play – guns, swords, etc.).
We haven’t done much accommodating. I make sure they learn to write with proper technique and paper positioning, but we mostly let them figure out where they need to change something. The only thing of note that I’ve done for school is tear out all workbook pages and let them use regular notebooks in whichever direction they want because the binding hinders their ability to write/draw.
They both have leftie ball gloves and doors can sometimes still be a challenge!
Mrs. Mary Joy Pershing @Learning to Live a Surrendered Life says
I am a lefty too. For our computer/laptop I have a wireless mouse and I use it on the left side. I have always put my mouse on the left…can’t seem to do it with the right. LOL
I love being left handed. There are many things that I can do with both hands which makes it neat.
I loved some of the suggestions you got! Especially the fact that Amazon has left handed notebooks!!!! That would be wonderful!!! I have to turn them over now and see the cardboard backs. Not as fun!
Thanks for the suggestions!
Mary Joy
Amy says
I am just fascinated by how much left-handed stuff there is out there! It’s a whole culture! lol
Lisa M says
Amy, our 4th child is left handed as well, just like my husband, and I appreciate all these tips! We bought those dry-erase crayons last month, and they are so neat! Never thought about them being better for our left-handed son! 🙂
Reggie says
To be honest, I have never understood why left-handed people intrigue and perplex us righties so much. Perhaps it’s because my daddy is left-handed so there are things that I saw growing up that just make sense, or perhaps it’s because, while I write and eat right-handed, there are a number of random things I do left-handed. I believe the greatest disservice a parent can do for their left-handed child is a) force them to learn with both or only their right hand and b) continually call attention to the fact that they’re ‘different’ than the norm, whether done negatively or not, this causes extreme self-awareness, and not in a good way. So they use the opposite hand than you! That doesn’t make them a science project to be examined under a microscope. My daddy’s a mathematical genius and a ‘master technician’ in his field, and my baby can pick up a rhythm like nobody’s business. Their gifts will typically be different than a righties, but no less a gift.
Reggie says
I should clarify, I am not directing my ‘vent’ in my previous comment towards the author, as I believe her post to be encouraging and helpful. I am, however, attempting to catch the attention of the parent who feels it necessary to somehow fix or change a child that God made left-handed for a reason. I have met a few of them and apparently it has become a pet peeve of mine. My apologies if I came off too harsh sounding. But no apologies for addressing what I feel to be cruel and unusual punishment on a child who was merely created differently than yourself.