my son the southpaw

June 4, 2009 7:18 PM

My baby is left-handed. I'm not. What I should be getting or doing for him as he grows?

It's probably not a big deal, but I have no personal experience with it, so I figured I'd ask. Are there things I ought to know about raising a lefty? Specific things that lefties need (other than scissors, which I am aware of)? Particular things I need to be doing or watching out for as he grows?

Thanks, hive mind!

posted by streetdreams to grab bag (57 answers total)

Speaking as a rightie father of two leftie boys: ice hockey sticks. Baseball gloves.

Also handedness is very fluid in young children. Kids start out one way but sometimes flip. And don't assume they'll use the same hand for everything.
posted by unSane at 7:26 PM on June 4, 2009

My youngest daughter (now adult) is and was a lefty. I raised her just the same as the rest. One thing-I homeschooled my kids for four years and it happened that I had to teach her cursive. I was freaking out about teaching a lefty. What wound up happening is she taught herself from a book and her handwriting is better than the rest of the family's put together.

In other words, I don't really think there is anything particular you need to do. If a need comes up, you will know it, and be able to handle it at the time.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:26 PM on June 4, 2009

I don't think hand dominance is fixed much before 3. If this is really a baby (<2?) that only uses a left hand, you might want to rule out a movement or neurological disorder.
posted by lilnublet at 7:28 PM on June 4, 2009

If it's a boy, I'd recommend a set of left hand tools.
posted by torquemaniac at 7:28 PM on June 4, 2009

Honestly, I don't think you have to do anything. I'm a lefty. I grew up in a house full of righties. I, as many left-handed folks do, learned to do quite a lot right-handed, like dial a telephone or swing a baseball bat. Lefties adapt to the right-handed world quite well. It's really not that big a deal, and you're overthinking if you're ready to run out and buy special left-handed gadgets. The only piece of special left-handed equipment I had growing up was a left-handed baseball glove.

I've never owned a pair of left-handed scissors in my life, either. That's crazy talk.
posted by MegoSteve at 7:30 PM on June 4, 2009 [13 favorites]

If your baby takes to sports, some gentle stressing of ambidexterity (easier to accomplish for the naturally left-inclined) will be something he'll be really thankful for later on. Get him used to throwing/hitting things both ways.
posted by aswego at 7:30 PM on June 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

What MegoSteve said. Even the baseball glove might not be necessary -- just wait to see which hand they want to throw with. It's much more likely that they'll have ambidextrous tendencies (i.e. write left-handed, throw right-handed) if both you and the father aren't left handed.
posted by one_bean at 7:32 PM on June 4, 2009

Growing up lefty, but breaking my left hand three times and thus living 7 months of right-handeddom, I can offer you very few things that actually make that much of a difference. Left-handed scissors are useless. I'm very particular about my writing implements if only because my hand smudges softer graphite and most inks when I write. My Catholic school nun didn't convert me with the beatings, she only made me hate Catholics school nuns (and flaunt my leftiness). I'm very glad that I learned to fight both left- and right-stance. It made me the smallest kid that no one picked on twice. Left-handed also usually means being left-footed and left-eyed, but not always. Oh, all school desks are made for right-handed people, even the one left-handed one per classroom feels like it is.
posted by mrmojoflying at 7:34 PM on June 4, 2009

Gently encourage partial amidexterity. Let the kid go with the natural hand, but suggest the use of the non-dominant hand just for convenience. (I fucked up my right - dominant - arm a few years ago, and it was handy - heh - to be able to do mechanic work with my other hand with very little trouble.)
posted by notsnot at 7:37 PM on June 4, 2009

Best, I think, to stress getting along in a right-handed world. Maybe a left-handed baseball glove, but probably a right-handed guitar, y'know? To nth MegoSteve, left-handed people adapt easily. Oh, and don't be shocked if he learns to write with a hook.

For what it's worth, I'm left-handed.
posted by box at 7:42 PM on June 4, 2009

I grew up left-handed; my father was also left-handed, but I don't think there were any special adaptations in our household other than joke cups designed to be held with the left hand. Lefties tend to be more ambidextrous than most right-handed people, so I don't think there's anything you should do. Most important is not to force your son to use his right hand when he wants to use his left, and to make sure his teachers are aware of that too. My maternal grandfather was forced to learn to write with his right hand (in the 1910s), and he never really mastered writing, and it left him with a distaste for education.

WRT scissors: I had lefty scissors in kindergarten; they were crappy. Decent scissors can be used with either hand, as long as the kid figures out that the two blades have to press against one another.

The main thing that bugged me as a kid was that, like most lefties, I write with an inverted posture (better known as a hook). That means that my hand smudged what I wrote in pencil or in erasable pen. If your son complains about that, let him use a pen. I have a good friend who's right-handed and who writes with the inverted posture, so it's not unique to lefties, but it's far more common with us.
posted by brianogilvie at 7:42 PM on June 4, 2009

If it's a boy, I'd recommend a set of left hand tools.

It's it's interested in banging on things, regardless of gender, I'd recommend a set of left hand tools.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:42 PM on June 4, 2009 [32 favorites]

Don't make a big deal out of it. As someone who had a big deal made out of it (to the point of being forced in school to use my right hand), it's really no big deal. If there are problems cutting things, the scissors can make a big difference (it's not just the grip, it's how the blades are aligned) - I *wish* I would have had left-handed-scissors in school...
posted by jkaczor at 7:43 PM on June 4, 2009

(Though I can do a lot of things right-handed (pretty common among lefties), I'd still rather be more ambidextrous.)
posted by box at 7:46 PM on June 4, 2009

The only thing my (right-handed) mother couldn't teach (left-handed) me was how to tie my shoes. So my left-handed aunt taught me. My mom taught me crochet by facing me when she showed me demonstrations, so I could mirror her exactly and we'd both be using our dominant hand.

I can't use left-handed scissors, and my kindergarten teacher was a little disappointed - I was her first left-handed student after schools started being required to have one pair of left-handed scissors available in the classroom or something. She was excited to have a use for them.

I was going to list other examples where I am right-hand dominant, but other comments have said it - everyone is differently balanced. Most left-handed people I know function just fine in a completely right-handed world, and just write left-handed. I've only once met someone who was so hemispherically dominant that he struggled if things weren't oriented to using his left hand. I play most sports (badly) left-handed, with the added insult that when I switch to my right-hand I am usually much better at them, but it tends to feel uncomfortable so I switch back. I am decent bowler if I remember to use my right hand.

I draw and paint with both hands, switching only when one gets tired. I feel no difference between them.

Oh, and don't freak out if your kid writes backwards for a little while (mirror writing) - it's not indicative of demonic possession or anything, it's just something left-handed kids sometimes do when they're first learning to write.

My mother was kind of worried by it though.
posted by annathea at 7:48 PM on June 4, 2009

I am a lefty that grew up hating left-handed scissors when I found myself using them at school (although that might have been because they were left-handed safety scissors, and therefore incapable of cutting butter). In any case, they certainly aren't necessary (as MegoSteve said).

I don't remember being raised with much in the way of lefty-specific items. I did have a lefty baseball glove, which was great, but I don't think any lefty items are necessary outside of the world of sports equipment. I loved books about lefthandedness, so that's one thought, once reading age arrives.
posted by pemberkins at 7:49 PM on June 4, 2009

Lefty, here. The scissors are nice, but not ultimately a big deal. (My mother tells me I had lefty scissors in second grade and purposely left them in the scissor caddy in class so the other kids "had to see what it was like to use the wrong kind.")

Top-bound notebooks can be easier to write in than side-bound, and when you get to the age of silverware, it's nicer to sit to the left of right-handed people to avoid the elbow-knocking problem. As an adult, grabbing an appropriately positioned seat is the only meaningful concession I have to left-handedness. All of my kitchen equipment and home maintenance tools are normal, for example. I'm not even sure what a left-handed hammer or screwdriver would look like.

Some fine motor skills, like tying shoelaces, may be frustrating to teach and learn. If you can get help from a lefty to teach those skills, great; otherwise, try doing it mirrored facing one another and have him copy you that way, as opposed to him sitting on your lap and copying you.

Oh, and don't assume that he'll need a left-handed baseball glove, etc. I find I'm differently handed for different things. I write and eat left-handed; I bat and do mini-golf right-handed; in tennis I switch back and forth, and I am equally terrible with either hand.

Expect him to always have ink or markers or pencil dust all over his hand. It's pretty much inevitably the result of dragging your hand over what you've already written or drawn.

lilnublet, handedness actually starts pretty early. We had a solid idea for both of my children before they were a year old and have turned out to be correct; one is a righty and one a lefty. Being dominant in one hand so early on is in no way a neurological concern.
posted by Andrhia at 7:53 PM on June 4, 2009 [4 favorites]

As a lefty I concur that you shouldn't feel like you need to make concessions about the left handedness. I was bought a left handed glove for my first few years of baseball, but ended up using a right handed one eventually. I remember being a little confused as to why I didn't do everything left handed, but I think its very common for lefties to be mostly ambidextrous. You can buy the left handed scissors, but they actually made me angry when I was little. They aren't just made upside down for us poor lefties but also are so dull they're useless. I still have no idea why this was always the case. And because his writing will smear, invest in some special pens that dry quickly and please, please do not encourage calligraphy. Also, you may want to think ahead for seating arrangements at dinner. If he's going to be sitting next to someone, make sure his left hand is on the outside. It'll save elbow mash ups.
posted by Unred at 7:59 PM on June 4, 2009

I, too, thought that you can't tell whether a child is right- or left-handed before age 3 or so. A pediatrician quoted here says that hand dominance before 18 months can be a sign of motor development problems.

On preview, seeing Andrhia's comment -- well, it is 50/50 getting it right. OP, I'd mention it to the pediatrician next visit, if your child really is favoring one hand heavily as a baby.
posted by palliser at 8:03 PM on June 4, 2009

Here's a pediatrician on the Dr. Spock site on handedness development: "And sometime between six and nine months, most begin to show a clear preference for reaching for a toy with their right hand, regardless of whether the toy is placed on the right or left sides." We're not talking 100% use of one hand for all things, guys. Don't scare the OP. There's no reason to suspect a problem solely from the words "baby" and "left-handed."
posted by Andrhia at 8:08 PM on June 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

Also a lefty, pretty strongly. I figured out how to use most of the right-handed stuff growing up, but needed left-handed sports equipment. Musical instruments can also be an issue, but I'd encourage your son to learn to play the right-handed versions - it'll make things much simpler.

There's quite a few things that are annoying when you're a kid, like notebooks, as mentioned above, can openers, pencil sharpeners, school desks, shirt buttons, fishing reels, and so on, but he'll work it out. Don't be surprised if he figures out some creative solutions - I didn't tie my shoes the "right" way until I was a teenager, for example.

The hard thing for you will be teaching him some of these skills, like how to throw or swing a bat. The natural thing is to stand behind him and guide him through the motion, but it'll feel totally awkward and backwards to you.
posted by chbrooks at 8:09 PM on June 4, 2009

Adding one more voice saying the same thing: I'm left handed and I've never used lefty-scissors or any such thing. I write, eat, bat, kick - and do most other things - left handed, but if I need to use a tool of some kind that normally sells for rightys, I just adjust. I play righty guitar, for example.

I'd say do nothing and your kid will work it out.
posted by crapples at 8:12 PM on June 4, 2009

The single biggest problem for lefties has been sorted out during my lifetime: ink.

When I was in elementary/middle school, my papers were always horrible smears from my hand dragging over them. By the time I got to high school, the quality of the ink in disposable pens had improved to the point where it dries and sticks fast enough to be a total non-issue. Today, I never even notice it, though maybe my abject failure at cursive is related.

Otherwise, just leave the kid alone, and buy the appropriate baseball glove (it may very well be righty, as mentioned above); it really won't be an issue 99.99% of the time. The only trouble I've ever had is hitting a two-handed backhand in tennis; I play most sports right handed (even the ones I learned from lefties), but because my left is my dominant hand it tries to control the backhand too much. Not really a life-changing problem.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 8:14 PM on June 4, 2009

Mirrored skills are definitely a way to go. I have to tell you, though, that I'm biased, because I grew up in a family that was 50/50 L and R, so I had it easy.

As for concessions, other than writing-based ones, it's going to be something he'll have to determine on his own. I would advise against certain things, like moving the mouse to the left hand and 'left-hand mode-ing' it. No computer lab in the world is set up like that and it's just weird when you go to visit someone's house and their computer is all backwards. Besides, then you can have the pleasure of mousing with one hand and taking notes with the other! Oh, and typing is easy. We lefties get slightly more of the common letters.

Other random concessions *might* include furniture arrangement/seating, but it's up to personal preference. Be flexible when he's a kid and he'll figure out his own preferred arrangement of the things around him.

Teach him, when he comes to be writing age, to turn the paper to the right. It means less likely cramped hook-hand writing style. I turn my paper almost 90 degrees head to the right, which is extreme, but turning the page allows for fluid hand movement. (Learning Arabic was weird, let me tell you, almost freeing from a writing standpoint.) But sure, I still have ink on my hands. Ink doesn't dry that fast - and erasable pens are the worst.

I do own left-handed scissors, but only because they are heavy, drop-forged, sewing shears. All the other scissors in the household are handed-neutral. The ones without 'ergonomic' design usually are. There are no minor tools that need handedness. Chainsaw, sure, but like Andrhia said, what the hell does a left-handed hammer look like? Or power driver?

Sports equipment will be able to be determined later. I shoot right handed because I'm right-eyed. My field hockey coach was adamant there was no such thing as a left-handed stick. (She was wrong, but whatever, I sucked with either hand.) The same thing with instruments - a lot aren't handed, and in some there are benefits to doing it left-dominant even though it's 'set up' for righties. Guitar, for instance.

Eating: I don't choose the left-handed seat, because I'm just all elbows with both hands eating. I do eat 'continentially' with the fork in my left hand and knife in the right; when people switch their utensils after cutting, like they do in most of the US, I think it's bizarre. Just let him pick up the utensils in whatever hands he wants; there's no good reason to 'correct' this.

re: Andrhia and lilnublet: 'only' would be a concern. There's a significant difference between 'preference for left' and 'not using right hand', and it comes up on well-baby evals; any pediatrician worth her salt would make a note of it.
posted by cobaltnine at 8:15 PM on June 4, 2009

Don't get left-handed scissors for awhile, because your kid will never see another pair again outside of home. I'm left handed, and can use scissors with either hand because every school and craft thing I ever participated in had only righty scissors. The same goes for computer mice- don't bother with a left side mouse.

I batted left handed, and had a lefty glove. I sew left handed. I've never been able to tie my shoes so that they don't come untied, and I finally figured out last year that it was because I was making a right-handed bow (as I was taught) on a left-handed starting knot. Try Ian's method for an easy way to teach a shoelace knot.

I did calligraphy as a hobby for many years, and can still do a decent job with uncial and gothic lettering. It was actually much better than my cursive. Now I draft, and the one thing that I really wish someone had leaned on me about was how to properly hold a pencil. I hold it with my finger wrapped around it, which make finer motor control more difficult.

I agree that you should not be surprised if a lefty kid forms a lot of backwards letters when they start out. It was much easier for me to pull the pencil (of course), which meant a lot of letters were easier to draw backwards.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:21 PM on June 4, 2009

nope, nothing special. I don't know if my mother (right-handed) had problems teaching me how to tie shoelaces, but I remember learning when I was little, and have been tying shoes ever since. Seconding the sports equipment, it'll probably be obvious which side is being used, you will be able to buy equipment for that side without much issue. Oh, and scissors do make a difference. not the crappy grade school don't cut butter ones (they suck!) but actual, good scissors. I've got a couple of pairs of 'em at home, and they are much easier to cut with than right handed scissors.
posted by defcom1 at 8:22 PM on June 4, 2009

I'm a lefty, but I swear that I could tell that my kids were right handed while they were still very very young. I am shocked that almost everyone hates left handed scissors. I LOVE them. The ones in school were terrible, but now that I have good sharp grown up scissors, I will only use the lefty ones. (And since I buy and use the scissors the most, my right handed family gets to mostly use them or sometimes ambidextrous ones...but they don't sew.) Right handed ones hurt.

Besides erasable pens and pencils sucking, chalk boards and marker boards are impossible to write on without smearage.

The only really awful thing I used to run into was those horrid right handed half desks in some classrooms.
posted by artychoke at 8:27 PM on June 4, 2009

As a left-hander who'd gone to kindergarten in the early 80s, I'd had a teacher who would CONSTANTLY snatch my pencil/crayon out of my left hand and try to get me to use my right hand. Somehow my mom found out (although I honestly don't remember how), and subsequently sent in a note to the teacher telling her to knock that the heck off, and I know that had it continued she would have gone down to the school to address the matter in person. With that in mind, the only advice I have is to keep your ears open to what your child says or does when he first starts school or daycare, and be ready to insist upon his right to be a lefty to his teachers - I doubt the practice of trying to "make" someone a right-hander is all that prevalent these days, but then again I wouldn't have expected it to have happened back in the 80s, either, but apparently it sometimes did(!)

Odds are good you'll never have a problem but just in case you do, I'm sure your son would be just as appreciative of your intervention as I was of my mom's (I'm still a lefty, fwiw ... thanks, Mom!).
posted by DingoMutt at 8:39 PM on June 4, 2009

As some others have suggested, on the off chance your son takes an interest in baseball, encouraging left-handedness (or ambidexterity) will yield an advantage for him, especially if he wants to pitch. So I'd definitely go for the left-handed baseball glove when he's old enough (unless he really, really wants to play shortstop) - but teach him to bat from both sides of the plate.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 8:43 PM on June 4, 2009

Another lefty here. As an elementary school teacher, I was taught (rightly or wrongly) that left-handed boys can have a tendency towards language and reading difficulties but I don't know if there is any recent research that supports this idea. Current practice in education is not to attempt any kind of hand change and I would think it would be rare to find this happening in the US.

I hate left-handed scissors. I do struggle with hand can-openers to the point of not being able to use one. I also try to sit to the left in a booth so I have room to move my elbow without bumping my dinner partner. I taught all of my right-handed kids to tie their shoes, swing a baseball bat, and even to crochet by using the mirror (sitting across from) method as mentioned above. I used left-handed sports equipment, golf clubs and baseball gloves. And I do move the computer mouse to the left hand but don't switch the buttons.

Oh, and soup ladles are always backwards. But basically, he will do like the rest of us lefties in a righty world, figure it out on his own or struggle, struggle, struggle with the dang can-opener.
posted by tamitang at 8:49 PM on June 4, 2009

As a lefty I prefer right-handed scissors, as you're supposed to keep the scissor hand still and move what you're cutting with the other hand. I have much more control.
posted by zsazsa at 9:21 PM on June 4, 2009

I grew up righty in a left handed body. My brothers are left handed eaters and writers yet right handed throwers. I learned to do a lot lefty because of them. Sitting next to a lefty at the table when you are a righty causes clashes especially in two or three boys close in age. So I began to eat with my left hand (using a fork of course). When I hurt my shoulder about 8 years ago, I purchased a lefty baseball glove so I could still play with my kids. I was learning to throw with them. I now play softball with both hands depending on the position I am playing. I play third base righty and when I am at first, I use my lefty glove.

My point is let your boy do what is natural and adapt. YOU should learn to do things lefty to help rather than him learning righty or needing special left handed assistance.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:27 PM on June 4, 2009

Mom knew I was a lefty, so for kindergarten, went out and bought me a pair of left-handed scissors. I promptly picked them up with my right hand because cutting right-handed is natural for me, as it appears from this thread it is for a lot of lefties. So yeah, don't just assume left-handed means exclusively left-handed and try to force left-handed everything on him.

However, be aware that sometimes the kid will definitely need to learn a task left-handed because he won't be really good at it otherwise. I mean, I've all my life just naturally translated right-handed tasks into left-hand or learned the task right-handed by mentally, sometimes even subconsciously, switching the "importances" of the what each hand does, if that makes any sense, but when I tried to learn to throw pottery, my instructor refused to teach me left-handed, meaning the wheel was turning . . .um, clockwise, I think? (it's been a long time) and I had to learn right-handed. I figured, "what the heck; I can do this," but spent three semesters trying to become proficient and never did--I could make a thing out of clay on the wheel, but I couldn't decide to make something in particular out of x amount of clay and then repeat. It was always a surprise what would come out of that lump of clay. And it was all because of the awkwardness of the hand positioning in the shaping stage. It's been long enough now that I kind of want to go back and try again only left-handed (counter-clockwise) to see if I could master the craft with the more natural orientation.

I cannot write or draw right-handed either, but I can write backwards extensively!

(Is there a point to this patrish?) So I guess what I'm trying to say is what many others have said: You're going to have to just play it by ear, but for the most part, your kid will figure it out on his own.

congratulations on your sinister child!
posted by miss patrish at 10:28 PM on June 4, 2009

I just found my old handsaw back in the workshop, which has an offset handle attached to a pivoting bolt in the center of the blade and a locking screw with a notch on either side of the blade, making the thing safely flip-overable. My parents gave me that. Back then, I never saw (hah) the special point, but I now remember that I, in fact, usually had the handle at the left, suited to my (lefty) technique (as opposed to flipping the saw around when I cut at the other side of the workpiece. I would turn the workpiece around). Smart tool, that, and a nice gesture.

I've been using lefty scissors only later in life. There is an (not too awkward) technique of pushing the blades together in a functional fashion even if they are set up for right-handed use, so I am used to that, and tend to push lefty scissors' blades apart as an automatism. I cut with my left hand.

Otherwise, less is more. Left-handedness is a characteristic, but no special status, and many kids dislike too much attention being given to it. However, depending on the country you're in, you might have to protect your kid for negative attention.

I have seen some left-handed people use the computer mouse with their right hands for some reason. I wouldn't do or encourage that.
posted by Namlit at 11:30 PM on June 4, 2009 [1 favorite]

The only things that I must insist on as a left-handed person are left-handed golf clubs and straight spatulas (the slanted ones for making eggs over easy are not only a pain, but dangerous where hot food is concerned).

Nice to haves are a left-hand portfolio that holds the pad on the left side. I always hated spiral-bound notebooks as a kid. And three-ring binders.

Pyrex measuring cups have the measurements on the wrong side and watch out for things with spouts. I have a set of dry measures I would like to stomp on the floor and grind to dust.

Sometimes designers try to be helpful and make the thing so right-handed a left-handed person can get really irked trying to use it. For instance, the water fountains at my school always made me move my books from my left arm to my right in order to use it. The button was on the left. Grrr.
posted by rw at 11:39 PM on June 4, 2009 [2 favorites]

Just adding to the ambi/you just don't know/let it be crowd. My son writes and eats lefty but throws right in both football and baseball. We've always just let him figure out what hand is more comfortable for him.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 3:20 AM on June 5, 2009

If it's a boy, I'd recommend a set of left hand tools. (torquemaniac)

If she's a girl, I'd recommend a set of left hand tools.

(Godammit, girls like to build things, too. One of my most fervent desires is to have a DeWalt cordless drill.)
posted by ocherdraco at 4:57 AM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

What DingoMutt said about the ignorant teachers: if your teachers are forcing some handedness, get them to knock it the heck off. My earliest memory is crying in front of the class while my witch of a kindergarten teacher forced me to use my right hand under the grasp of her fat sweaty fist.

Seconding what others have said about not worrying about it much. Honestly, there's nothing that I use for left-handed people, and I find the scissors uncomfortable.

The biggest difficulties for me ever are food-related:
1) learning chopsticks took a while ("just do what i do, only with your left hand!!" isn't always easy to grasp)
2) being cognizant of seating at dinner tables, to try to avoid elbowing someone next to me.
posted by whatzit at 5:32 AM on June 5, 2009

All of the "if it's a boy -- if it's a girl" talk is a bit out of place. The OP said right in the question that she's talking about her son.
posted by Jaltcoh at 6:28 AM on June 5, 2009

Left-handed scissors had green rubber handles when I was a tyke, which made them both unique and awesome. They might not be totally necessary (although I did a lot of paper-folding, rather than cutting, when using right-handed scissors as a kid), but come on, GREEN HANDLES!! Bite it, Righties!! Woo!
posted by joelhunt at 6:40 AM on June 5, 2009

If he ends up learning a 'handed' plucked string instrument, such as a guitar, banjo or mandolin, you may want to let them play a right-handed one instead of getting a special left-handed model.

This is more convenient, yes, but more importantly, it makes your fretting hand your dominant hand. I'm very left handed, but I'm glad that I play guitar and banjo right handed, because what I fret is usually more complicated than what I pick or strum.

Adding bowing to the mix changes the equation, so I'm not sure if this advice applies to violins and the like.
posted by umbú at 7:25 AM on June 5, 2009

Three ring binders and spiral notebooks aren't that bad. You just, put the spiral on the right and use the notebook back to front.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:32 AM on June 5, 2009

I'm left handed. The only things I have trouble with are spiral notebooks (the spiral gets in the way when you're writing; get the kind that flip from the top or that have a flat binding), soft-lead pencils (smudgy, because your hand rubs over the text after you write; mechanical pencils are better) and scissors that are molded specifically for the right hand (regular scissors with normal flat handles are fine, specifically-designed left handed scissors are unnecessary.)

None of these will be an issue for a baby, of course. Don't try to train him into being right-handed or ambidextrous; it will be frustrating for both of you and will have no effect anyway.

If you don't make a big deal over what's the right-handed way to do things and what's the left-handed way, he may end up arbitrarily selecting the "right-handed" way for certain tasks. (I golf, bat, and play guitar right-handed, simply because nobody ever told me there was another way to do it.)
posted by ook at 7:36 AM on June 5, 2009

I'm left-handed. The only time this has been an issue for me was when I was about 6 years old, attending day camp. The counselors there taught us how to play baseball, and they taught me to play right-handed—or they tried. I wound up being completely messed up at baseball, and batted lefty, caught with my left hand, and threw with my left hand (I would take the mitt off). Poorly in all cases. I didn't know to say to the counselors "hey, I'm left-handed, is this right?"
posted by adamrice at 8:16 AM on June 5, 2009

When I was a kid the left-handed scissors always seemed to be what the teachers used to stir up the glue, so they were utterly useless. I learned to use scissors with my right hand, and now lefty scissors feel weird when I use them.

Nthing the bit about teaching him to turn the paper. And that distinctive "hook" when writing is the sign of someone taught to write by a person who doesn't know how to teach lefties how to write. My mom is left-handed too and was quite adamant about that when I was a kid.

I see people encouraging ambidextrousness and I'm kind of puzzled. I'm not sure how much of that can be encouraged and how much handedness is wired in. Some lefties are more ambidextrous than others. I cut and throw and mouse with my right hand, but I'm left-eyed and goofy on a snowboard. Just let him figure out what works for him as he grows up. Turnstiles are a giant pain in the ass, especially the ones where you have to swipe a card as you go through (I'm looking at you, BART.) And yes I always try to maneuver for the "left-handed seat" at a dinner table.

My my answer to the horrible desk chair situation was to commandeer two of them. I sat in the one on the right, pulled the one on my left close and used it for a writing surface. Occasionally teachers made noises about it, but I always prevailed, especially where there were no lefty desks, which usually sucked anyway. Absolutely let your son know that he can shape his environment to fit him as best he can, and back him up if he needs backup.
posted by ambrosia at 8:23 AM on June 5, 2009

I think being left-handed had a large effect on my personality throughout life. Encourage the child that it's fun to be different. America has a left-handed president, and Brittain's next two kings will be lefties.

Different sports have different requirements for handedness. Baseball you can play with either hand pretty easily. Ditto football and basketball pretty much. Hockey and lacrosse require a lot more ambidexterity. Good players can switch stick hands as needed, to keep the ball/puck farther away from a defended, so learning to play righty is a good idea. Plus in practice drills people tend to pass without looking, so you're constantly crossing your body to catch on the wrong side if you play lefty. If you learn righty you'll be able to do both much more easily.

Seconding the note about stringed instruments (though I played a woodwind primarily). Playing "righty" lets you use the frets with your dominant hand, which is nice, but more importantly, it lets you pick up anyone else's guitar and be able to play it.
posted by davextreme at 8:42 AM on June 5, 2009

Three ring binders and spiral notebooks aren't that bad. You just, put the spiral on the right and use the notebook back to front.

YES. It took me until college to figure this out. Right-handed classmates were completely baffled as to why a person would want to work backwards though a spiral notebook.

As others have said, your kid will probably prefer his left hand for some tasks, his right hand for others. I write with my left, but that's about it.

I've noticed my left hand has better fine motor skills, but my right arm and fingers are a bit stronger. Left hand can pick apart tangled knots, right hand can open stuck jar lids.

And, yes, left-handed desks blow. Because they're used less often, they're replaced/repaired less often and -- at least in my elementary and middle schools -- can end up in pretty bad shape (or sometimes pristine shape because they've been sitting in storage since they were purchased). I was a squirmy kid anyway, and often ended up sitting in a righty desk, turned 45 degrees to the right so the desk supported my writing arm. Never considered it much of a hardship until encountering the ridiculous tiny folding writing surfaces in college lecture halls.
posted by katieinshoes at 8:47 AM on June 5, 2009

I have seen some left-handed people use the computer mouse with their right hands for some reason. I wouldn't do or encourage that.

A left-handed co-worker does this, and she finds no problem; indeed, she says there is a benefit in being able to click through a document and write notes at the same time. I tend to agree; I am no good with the mouse in my left hand, and switching constantly from mouse to pen can be wearyong.

I asked a left-handed girlfriend once what the most notable single frustration for lefties in a right-handed world was, and after a moment's thought, she said "Soup ladles are right-handed only."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:54 AM on June 5, 2009

As a lefty, the one thing I absolutely encourage you to do is to find someone that is left-handed to teach your son to throw properly. The proper motion for throwing a baseball or football is not instinctual, and he will need a lefty to mimick.
posted by _Skull_ at 9:35 AM on June 5, 2009

Give him art lessons. Left-handers are right-brained. That's where all the creative areas of the brain are. Other forms of creative stimulation as well.

Keep him away from fountain pens. ;-)
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 10:28 AM on June 5, 2009

Cobaltnine has so good advice about turning the paper through 90° or so that's worth reiterating.

If there is one, and only one, thing I could have wished for it is that early on some had taught me to pick the knife and fork and reverse them so that the knife was in my right hand and the fork in my left. It might not seem much but it wasn't until I was nearly forty that someone pointed out that the way I attempted to eat pizza was by pressing down hard with the knife in my right hand to try to hold the slice down, while stabbing with the fork in my left while trying to tear chunks off it. It turned out that I was not the only lefty at the table doing this, and its not the only daft thing I do when eating with a knife and fork. Had I been told this early on a lifetime of messy eating might have been avoided, rather than being left with a near unbreakable habit.
posted by tallus at 12:49 PM on June 5, 2009

Just want to agree with all of the lefties on the computer mouse thing. I use the mouse with my left hand, but that's because of painful RSI in my right hand. I didn't used to. Don't switch the button settings for left-click/right click, it will just make it hard for the poor kid to hop onto somebody else's computer (and vice versa) when the need arises later in life.
posted by Andrhia at 12:49 PM on June 5, 2009

and reverse them so that the knife was in my right hand and the fork in my left.

the knife in my left hand and the fork in my right.

damn it.
posted by tallus at 12:51 PM on June 5, 2009

When I was a kid I was pretty much ambidextrous. Somehow I chose to write with my left hand but ended up playing sports (ha ha...more like "if a ball comes rolling towards me I would theoretically kick it with my right foot) with my right and cutting with my right. I was glad of this when I got older, because I didn't need "lefty" things. If your child shows any signs of being ambi, I recommend guiding him towards being a righty at least where sports and scissors are concerned.
posted by radioamy at 9:12 PM on June 5, 2009

Here's a pediatrician on the Dr. Spock site on handedness development: "And sometime between six and nine months, most begin to show a clear preference for reaching for a toy with their right hand, regardless of whether the toy is placed on the right or left sides." We're not talking 100% use of one hand for all things, guys. Don't scare the OP. There's no reason to suspect a problem solely from the words "baby" and "left-handed." --Andrhia

I can give an anecdote for this. My son preferred his left hand from the moment he could pick things up. We never encouraged or said anything to him or his teachers as he grew up in case he changed as he grew, but he's now a very lefty 9 year old, and there are no 'development' problems. If anything he's more coordinated than I am, though that's not saying much.
posted by eye of newt at 5:51 PM on June 6, 2009

Wow, until I read through the rest of the responses in this thread, it never occurred to me that only lefties can mouse with their right hand on a computer and take notes at the same time. I assumed everyone did that. I do switch hands when mousing, though- if I'm just surfing or not typing much, I'll cross my left arm in front of me to mouse with my right-handed mouse. I had a CAD mouse in the 90s that was neither left nor right hand oriented and it was the coolest, most precise pointer ever. I think it's still in a close somewhere.
posted by annathea at 5:59 PM on June 19, 2009

My sister is a lefty, and very smart, successful, and creative. Her only issue was the aforementioned smudged writing, and a frustration with typical notebooks. In high school, she started getting notebooks that were spiral bound at the top (like a reporter-style notebook) instead of on the side, and she found it a lot easier to use.
posted by tastybrains at 10:24 AM on March 25, 2010