My 31Month Old Writes with His Left Hand Is It Normal

Today - August 13th is National Left Hander's Day. Everyone in my family (except for me) is a lefty. Left handed people are supposed to be more artistic and more creative people. The only problem he'll have is sitting at the dinner table next to a right handed person.

Why would you change it? That's an outdated practice that's no longer done because there's no reason for it.

Why does he need to be right handed? My son is almost 4 and is left handed.I have never thought of trying to stop him from using his left hand. Is it such a bad thing that it needs to change?

I am right-handed and don't know at what age is too late, but every person I've ever known to have been "switched" had problems related to being switched. It has something to do with messages sent from the part of the brain telling the hand to write getting mixed up.

Left-handed people are high achievers. Research shows that left-handed people are high achievers because their brains are structured to widen their abilities, an attribute that is genetic (something to be proud of) and on account of the enhanced governing of 'language centers' within the brain. A number of mathematical, artistic and sporting geniuses were and are left-handed. Left-handed persons use visual stimulus to process information, not the sequential processing style like us right-handed folk use to disseminate information, and instead are good at applying themselves to multiple tasks with the help of the synthesis method of breaking down information and finding a solution.

There are a number of famous left-handed people. The list includes, to name a few:
~ Presidents of the United States of America: Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and the current President Barack Obama.
~ Legendary personalities: Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Fidel Castro, Helen Keller.
~ Musicians and Composers: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr.
~ Artists: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci.
~ Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Tom Cruise, Robert DeNiro, Greta Garbo, Whoopie Goldberg, Cary Grant, Angelina Joli, Nicole Kidman, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe.

Why would you consider switching him?

I think perhaps your attitude about this is what needs to be adjusted. Leave your son alone.
Leftys rock.

I agree with everyone else....WHY on earth would you want to change him?? You will be asking for trouble if you force him to use his right hand instead of his left. This is a natural instinct of his...the right side of his brain is dominant...which controls the left side of his body...so this is the way he is SUPPOSED to be!! My Mother was forced to change from her natural predisposition of being left handed to using her right hand...(back in her day ( she was born in 1908) they believed that the left hand was "evil".) She believed that was why she was so "clumsy" all of her life.
Please don't try and "change" your son...let him be the person he is supposed to be...we don't want cookie cutter children..we want them all to be their own person.
I am a leftie and the only problem I ever had was scissors and manual can openers which I had to learn to use right handed...and today they make BOTH of those for us lefties!!

Why change it? I would encourage him to write and use scissors and whatever with his preferred dominant hand. Sure, maybe he'll need lefty scissors but it's not a handicap. I would not change it. Frankly, I think teaching your child that he's "wrong" is wrong and could hurt his self-esteem.

.

No, the hand a child writes with cannot be changed. Not sure why you would want to either.

Hi mom-

Why ever would you want to 'adjust' it? I have a few righties...a fulltime leftie...and some 'ambies'...

They all do fine!

Best Luck!
michele/cat

Why would you want to change what hand he writes with?

Forcing them to use the hand that is not dominant can cause a bunch of learning problems later on. If he's a leftie let him be one.
I always put something in the middle in front of my child and let them pick it up with whatever hand they wanted to. One of my sons got pretty good at using both hands. I can use both, though my left isn't as good as my right. I have lefties in the family and many friends that are lefties.
This isn't the middle ages where it was forced to be right handed and lefties were killed becuase it was "evil".

Don't try to "fix" what isn't broken!
I'm a proud lefty and have no issues with it. It seems to be that the only people who have an issue with lefties are righties.

DO NOT DO THIS! It's how his brain is wired and I believe that messing with it can cause problems down the road. Yes, it's a little harder to be left handed, so you might need to get creative to help your boy find a comfortable writing style, etc., but otherwise, it's not an issue.

If someone is giving you a hard time about this, tell them to butt out. They probably have some cultural or religious leftover bias that they don't get has no basis in reality.

Please PLEASE, do not change it! I very good friend of mines parents did this to her and her hand writing is AWFUL. She hates it, and she has no coordination at all. Just let him be.

why would you want to change it? lots of people are left handed. There is nothing wrong with that

If it's not that important to you...I find it strange you would get on a forum of thousands of woman and ask how to change it. There is no reason to change his writing hand. That's nonsense.

If it's not that important then leave him be. My sister and my Dad are left handed. It causes NO problems...........I guess I'm confused why you wouldn't just let him be what he's supposed to be.

Please understand that being left handed is not a "habit". It's not something that needs support to overcome. Just curious, where did you get the idea that it needs to be "adjusted"?

Fun facts:
-A disproportionate number of US Presidents have been left handed. Including four of the last five.
-One in four Astronauts are left handed; which is significantly higher than the general population.
-4 of the 5 original designers of the Mac computer are left handed.

I'm not a lefty and all three of my children favor their right. I have one child who is ambidextrous-ish. He didn't favor either hand for a long time but eventually favored his right. He once broke his right arm and didn't seem the least bit fazed by having to use his left. To this day he is able do most things as easily with his left as his right, but usually uses his right. Even so... I would never attempt to change th dominant hand of my child.

LOL...I'm sorry, but I did laugh out loud. This child was born a lefty, don't mess with mother nature my dear!

There's nothing wrong with being left-handed!! Why would it matter what hand he writes with? You don't want him to think that there is something wrong with him by trying to make him use the hand that does not come natural to him. I do most things left-handed, but bat and swing a golf club right-handed. Let him be his natural self. I'm not sure why this would matter to you?

My husband is over the moon that our last child is clearly a lefty. Better for baseball! Lol.

Why would you want to force your son to be left handed?
This is not something to be "adjusted". Left handedness is normal for some people - it is a brain thing. Here is a link to a simple version of the explanation:
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/lefthand.asp

My son is left handed, my sister is, and so was my father. Back when my father was a boy it was not that big of a deal. In the 60's when my sister was in kindergarten, it was an issue for her teachers - so at school they punished her when she wrote with her left hand...ridiculous! But once my my mother got a hold of the teacher - my sister was free to use her dominate left hand.

Again, why would you want to force your child to be something that he is not? Left handedness is natural to him - let him be left handed. My son likes that he is unique in that way and, hey, they make left handed scissors now.

God Bless

Don't know that you can do it. See no reason to do it. My daughter is four and left handed and it works for her so I see no reason to make her change. I would not even try.

no!!!! Do not try and switch him! It isn't like it used to be, oh my goodness you can find all sorts of things for left handed people now, it is not like it is a handicap! You will cause self esteem issues and also probably cause him to have poor handwriting if you try and switch him.

If he is a lefty then that is how is brain is wired and you should not try to change it. My husbands parents did that to him and he has nothing but anger about it. Is there something that you feel would be wrong with him being left handed?

I'm left handed and there's nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't change it. Think of yourself in his shoes. It would be confusing to have someone try and make you write with your left hand instead of right. Don't stress over it or make him stress over it or feel self conscious about it.

I promise there's nothing bad or wrong with being left handed. Actually, there's advantages to it. You learn to live in a right hand world - makes you almost both handed. I can do so many things with either hand. I've seen right handed people try it, and it makes me giggle because they are SO right handed since they've never had to try to adjust to things. I'm glad I'm left handed.

My personal opinion (and I am surprised at how strongly I felt this when reading your post!) is to leave him be. He's made exactly how he should be. When he's learning to write, though, help him not hook his hand. I don't hook my hand, but I had to learn to not. I write just like a right handed person, only with my left hand - and I have excellent hand writing too - people often want me to write things for them because they really like it.

There's really nothing wrong with being left handed. When you give him paper, tilt it so that it's so that it's angled for a left handed person (top of paper to the right, bottom of the paper to the left), it'll help him not hook his hand.

You can't make him right handed with encouragement...and there's no reason for it. He IS left handed.

why would you want to change it. let him use whatever hand is more comfortable :) my daughter likes to write with both hands time to time. i would never try to make her use one or the other

I'm not sure why you'd even consider changing it. It's natural...not a preference. I really it makes a few things more complicated, but only in the short term of learning to teach with the opposite hand.

If you FORCE him to change, it can cause all sorts of delays. Don't even consider it! (Don't know why you'd want to?)

Hey, I'm left handed...do I need to be 'adjusted'? LOL

Left handed people are cool! Celebrate his coolness and let him be left handed.

If a child is left-handed, the child is left-handed and personally I do not understand why anyone would want to adjust that. However, my grandmother did everything with her left hand but write (use scissors, eat, etc). She went to Catholic school and in that generation it was "wrong" to write left-handed so the nuns repeatedly hit her hand with a ruler every time she tried using her left hand. Eventually she wrote right-handed and it was something you woud never consider neat but it was legible. I would never recommend this tactic and I was mortified when she told me about this.

please don't give this another thought. i can't believe in this modern day this is still even considered. ridiculous.

He is who he is. He is left handed, do not mess with it.

Do not force him to change or even suggest he should change - don't make him feel he is different for this!

I am left-handed (except for using scissors and up-at-bat) - and most people do not realize I am because my writing is very neat (unless I'm scribbling notes to me) and does not show anything different from most other handwriting.

My brother is also left-handed and his writing was more typically messy in h/s but has gotten some better now. However, he writes with his paper pretty much lined up with his desk along the bottom edge - and has to turn his hand to write - UGH! Hopefully your little one is following more of the way I write - I am a mirror image of the way most right-handed folks set their paper to write! Much easier on the hand as you hold a pencil the same way the righties do!

People who loose their dominant arm at any age "switch" to "other-handedness". That still doesn't make them righties/lefties; it makes them people forced to use their non-dominant hand.

It's just like forcing kids to eat broccoli. You may be able to get it in, but that doesn't mean they like or want it.

Leave the kid alone.

Why would you want to? It's part of who he is, it makes him unique. It's like trying to force a shy person to be outgoing. It's unnatural.

My DD is 8 years old and she is left handed. She is perfect just the way she is and we have taught her that being left handed makes her "special", because not very many people are. She has never had any issues being left handed, so I am not sure why this is an issue for your son. I would not worry about trying to change him, let him be who he is. My DD is the star of her soccer team and she kicks with her left foot. Left handed does not carry the stigma that it did so many years ago. Don't try to change your child's dominate hand.

My husband and daughter are left handed, it poses no issues for them. Not sure you would want to switch?

Updated

My husband and daughter are left handed, it poses no issues for them. Not sure you would want to switch?

Most of the people in my family are ambidextrous... except for my sister who is left handed. If you are a back sleeper and were told you needed to adjust to sleeping on your stomach... what do you think the odds would be of you waking up on your back? It's not like being left handed is a handicap ;) Embrace it!

along with everyone else... why would you want to do that?

My middle son used both hands for a while but once he went to preschool at 3 and started writing he used his left only. Until then he would mostly use his left to eat,color,throw a ball,or play with whatever but there were times he used his right. We were pretty sure however he was a lefty so school just confirmed it. My husbands grandparents are ambadextris(sp) although grandma used left hand to write so she was probably a lefty but was made to use right hand back then. Also there has to be a left handed person on both sides of the childs family in order for them to be left handed. I just learned this a few months ago.

My son is left handed and started using his left hand more starting at age 5 months.

Generations ago children were forced to switch handedness (my grandmother was). It was very difficult and truly served no purpose. Besides lefties have an advantage in a number of sports. Other than having to use the silly green handled scissors, I do not recall having had any problems being left handed. Your child will be able to learn things like tying knots and knitting by sitting in front of you looking at you rather than sitting next to you facing the same way. It may be simpler.

I didn't read all of your other responses, so please excuse me if I repeat.
I don't know that I would say that kids are born to use one hand or the other, but certainly most kids show a dominance to one side or the other. It really doesn't matter which side. Whatever your son naturally does is perfectly normal for him. I've even heard about moms that tried to force their right handed kids to become left handed because on average lefties have higher IQs! Crazy! As if you can boost your child's IQ by making them write with their left hand. :)

Although it is a cool trick, learning to write with both hands should not be tried until after your son learns to read very well. Ambidextrous kids often have a very difficult time learning to read because they don't have a dominant side of their brain.

Lol! Do you mean he's writing with both hands? It takes a while for their hand orientation to develop, and yes, at his age it is pretty normal. My children did the same thing.

Just as a matter of interest in the discussion, left handers have a generally lower life expectancy (sorry lefties!). This is due to many safety features (such as emergency stop buttons) on industrial and other machinery being located for right-handed people. So my husband, who is a lefty and finds this with all the machinery he works with, repeatedly tells me.

Some grown ups can use either hand. Whatever feels normal for him.

Often children show L/R handednesss from a very early age. He may not continue this way, but it is highly likely.

Of course they can use either hand. Lol. It is terribly old fashioned to think otherwise.
My grandparents were both teachers and they tried to force my dad to be a righty. Guess who is still a lefty?
And he has lovely handwriting, I might add.
Let your child use the hand he prefers. :)

What an odd question...of course it's normal to be 'left-handed'. My mom can write almost identical w/both hands (ambedexterous). I can write w/my left as long as it's vertically like on a chalkboard & w/something I don't have to 'hold' like a pencil. My mom said I was left-handed then switched for some reason. So maybe yours is just trying it automatically or seeing how it feels. But yes, it's quite normal to be left-handed!

I don't know if stuff was deleted from the original post (a lot of the answers seem to be answering a question that I don't see) but here is my input:

I'm left-handed, my DH is right handed. We have 4 kids. The oldest is ambidextrous. She started writing ambi when she was 3 before she learned how to read. She loves to read and has great reading comprehension. She can switch between hands in the middle of writing a sentence or paragraph and there is no difference in her handwriting. Her 1st or 2nd grade teacher told us we needed to get her to choose one hand over the other. We told said teacher to jump off a cliff (figuratively speaking) My younger daughter started writing with her left hand but eventually switched to her right all on her own (she has learning disabilities that may or may not have had something to do with it). Myself and both my girls are very creative artistically. All my guys started right handed and have stayed that way :-) They all have analytical, engineer type thought processes.

So my thought is if your son wants to use both hands for writing let him. If he uses just his left, let him. If he uses just his right, let him. They are all normal ways of writing.

It's quite normal when children begin to learn to write )or as they learn other skills) that they will 'experiment' with using either hand. It could be that your child does have a tendency to be more left handed than right handed, but that isn't necessarily true. Whatever the handedness is for your child, you need to try to let him use whichever hand he is comfortable with for the time being. As he continues to grow, he will begin to show what his true handedness is. He could also be ambidextrous... either totally or partially. I happen to be one of those, and can tell you that it is not a bad thing to be able to use both hands almost equally.

You wrote this awhile ago but I just saw it - my son, now 4.5 started showing signs of a dominant hand nearing the age of two. When he used a spoon he'd either automatically put it in his left hand - or - we'd notice if he was using his right hand he wasn't as strong. Now it's very apparent as he's been in preschool and does things such as catch, coloring, etc. etc. So, to answer your question - I think they are just born to use one or the other.

Our daughter is predominately left handed...has been since I could remember.

I used to joke that she would get tired of using her left hand so she just switched until that hand got tired.

Updated: Forgot to answer the questions...I don't know really. My husband is Ambidextrous too...so it very well could be. I couldn't use my left hand if my life depended on it.