Our world is set up for right handed people. That makes sense because the majority of people are right hand dominant. But that small group of 10% or so that are left handed have to deal with some pretty tricky things. Sometimes I put myself in my youngest son’s shoes and imagine what his day must be like as a lefty. He has to button his shirt with his less stable hand and drag his arm over the bumpy spiral part of his notebook at school. The ink he writes with can get blurred by his fist if he isn’t careful. I taught him how to tie his shoes like I would, which doesn’t really feel natural to him. Most of the time, only right handed scissors can be found, which means he has to clumsily place them in his right hand and struggle to cut paper.
We found even more difficulty in the kitchen. I started teaching my kids how to cook by letting them take turns planning and creating a meal each week. We call it My Meal Monday, and it’s lots of fun. I thought my youngest son was absolutely terrible at peeling vegetables…until I realized the peeler only works if you use it in your right hand. When he held it in his left hand the blade was essentially backwards and useless. He also has trouble using our manual can opener. Picture it. It’s made for turning with your right hand only.
He never complains. In fact, there’s probably a dozen other things that are difficult for him to do that I don’t even know about. I’m embarrassed to say I bought him his first pair of left handed scissors only last month (he’s 9!!) because his struggle to cut paper had never crossed my mind until then.
I should have thought about it sooner. After all, I’ve taught preschool for four years now and handedness is something I definitely consider with all of my 3 year olds. Every once and a while a child enters my 3’s classroom with an announcement from the parent that they prefer the left hand. More often, a preference for the left hand shows up at some point during the year and I point it out to the parent. 3 years old is a typical age to discover a hand preference. It’s rare for a child to enter Kindergarten without demonstrating a dominant hand. (That is a concern to address with a pediatrician for sure.)
We knew my son was left handed by age 3. He uses his left hand for everything! We had to buy him a right handed baseball glove when he started baseball in first grade. The good news is these days they make a left hander’s version of almost anything you can imagine…even can openers.
One strange thing, though, is that he bats right handed. I never could figure that out because he is an extreme lefty. Finally after doing some internet research, I discovered there’s such a thing as eye dominance also. In baseball, kids usually place their dominant eye closer to the pitcher. My son is indeed left eye dominant so this makes sense. Want to find out which of your eyes is dominant? With both eyes open, point your index finger at a photo or object across the room. Close one eye at a time. When one eye is closed your finger will either appear to jump away from the object or stay steady on it. Whichever eye is open when your finger stays on the object is the dominant eye.
There’s lots of information about lefties online, some of it accurate and some not I’m sure. Some sources link left handedness with higher risks for dyslexia and mental health issues. Some websites say lefties have an advantage in sports. I don’t know about all those claims. I’m still researching and trying to figure out what being a lefty means to my son. One of the best things I ever did was ask him what it’s like. He told me all about what’s hard for him to do and what doesn’t bother him at all. That was the day I found out he had trouble cutting with scissors. I wish I had asked him sooner!
I found a book I want to order called Your Left-Handed Child: Making things easy for left-handers in a right-handed world by Lauren Milsom. I think it will help me gain even more insight. There’s also a cool online store that’s based in San Francisco called Lefty’s The Left Hand Store. My family is taking a vacation to California this summer, so I plan to take my son to the actual store so he can bask in all things left handed!
One thing I know for sure- Lefties are super awesome! He’s the coolest kid ever and his right-handed momma is crazy about him.
Do you have a lefty, too? I’d love to hear from some other moms of lefties in the comments!
My son is 18 months old and is definitely a lefty. At day care he corrects his teachers too! My mother in law is a lefty so we have someone for advice luckily. In the Army I learned that I shoot better left handed, if you make a triangle with your first fingers and thumbs, focus on a point, and slowly bring said triangle back towards your eyes focusing on that point. You’ll navigate that triangle towards your dominant Eye. (Learned that in basic training lol)
My husband and I are both left eyed, left shooting right handers as well! I think it’s so interesting how both eye and hand dominance affects how we do things. thanks for commenting!
As a lefty, the biggest issue I remember from my childhood is definitely scissors! Thankfully many scissors made now can be used either way. We have the opposite issue in our house. My husband and I are both lefties and our oldest two are both righties (verdict is still out on the toddler). We are constantly questioning whether we do something left-handed or if we adjusted at some point and learned how to do things right-handed (like using a can opener). With sports we have found that sometimes it is easiest to have our children mirror us.
2 lefties raising righties didn’t even cross my mind!! That’s so cool to think about, and I bet it’s very interesting! I can see how you’d have to think hard about how you do things- whether it’s left or adapted to right, or some unique mix of the two. Maybe we could trade kids for a day- haha!
I am a lefty and I use a straight potato peeler, the other kind just feel so weird. I also purchased a Kitchen Aid can opener that has seemed to work great for me and my righty husband. I will never forget while taking home making in high school the teacher kept dismissing me during sewing saying that she would teach me later and she never did – the shirt I made looked so horrible!!
Oh my goodness, I didn’t even consider how awkward a sewing machine would feel to a lefty. If I had to use one set up opposite from what I’m used to I would totally fail!