I have two children. I have a 5 year old daughter and a 3 year old son.
With my daughter, she was obviously right handed from very early on. She would almost always grab for toys with her right hand and when we started preschool work, at age 3, she would grab pencils and crayons with her right hand. She would use her left hand regularly, but she was right hand dominate.
My son however, seems to not show a preference for one or the other. I noticed that he used both hands very equally but I figured once we started using crayons and pencils he would show signs of one or the other. Yeah, not so much. We started in a preschool work book today, which involved coloring, drawing pictures, and tracing letters. He swapped between his right and left hand. No signs of a preference yet. I suppose he could be ambidextrous.
What age could you tell if your kids were a righty or a lefty?
I kind of thought that most kids were obvious at earlier ages. I mean my daughter was a righty from early on.
I don't remember what hand he throws a ball with or what foot he kicks with, but when he swings a bat he switches sides.
It is pretty adorable actually. I guess I will wait and see if he picks a hand or just continues to use both.
I've read that kids often switch back and forth as old as 2nd-3rd grade before they finally stick with one hand. My lefty was obvious at about 10 months and very consistent. My righty took a little longer to be obvious but also didn't switch. Every kid is different.
When they could eat a thin liquid soup without spilling!
I have 2 lefties...3 righties...one 'ambi'...and one that would have been a lefty, but due to nerve damage, uses her right.
I really would not worry, and I certainly would not 'force' a choice. He will figure it out.
The world could use more switch hitters!!
I knew when my son started coloring that he was a lefty. He does everything else right handed, except for his writing, and he can hit a baseball great with left or right.
I knew I had a lefty when she was 2. My son wasn't truly a righty until kindergarten (and he still does a lot with his left). My other son is three and I've never thought he would be anything but right-handed. I think handedness is a matter of degrees and two of my children are firmly on their respective sides. My other is closer to the middle, barely on the right-handed side. I think it takes the kids closer to the middle longer to figure out which side works best for them.
I still don't know about my 4 year old. He's in his second year of PreK. My husband and I thought he was leaning left, but at the end of hte year parent/teacher conference, his teacher said she thought he was a righty.
When my niece was in PreK, her teacher would place a crayon or pencil in front of her in the center so that she had to choose. It wasn't until more than half way through the school year that she began consistently using her right hand (my mom and my BIL are both lefties, so we knew it was a possibility). She was 5 1/2 by then.
Kids are funny!
Give him a ball and see if he throws with a particular hand. Let him swing a bat and see if he swings left or right. Try kicking the ball. I am right handed and cannot kick left, I would probably trip over the ball.
about a year to 18 mos. DH is a lefty, so we were on the look-out. By 2 it was very obvious - eating, toothbrush, pens - all went left. Of course there's the occasional right hand usage...but it's pretty favorable to left.
I could tell my daughter was right-handed almost from day 1 - mainly around her first birthday, she almost always used her right hand to grab and pick up things.
Some kids are naturally ambidextrous. I knew that my kids were right handed by the time they were 12 months. That's when they started using the Jumbo Crayons. I probably knew it before then but that was the first that it was set in my mind. Sure enough now at 7 and 4 they are both securely right hand dominate.
My daughter is left handed its been that way since she could feed herself. She does everything left handed
My son is four, and it's been obvious for a few years. It was never obvious with me as a child, because I'm completely ambidextrous.
In my years working with that age level I have found that about half the kids, if not more, switch often at age 3 and into the start of 4 yr olds. Usually I pay attention to which side gives better results and almost always one side will be the one they can write a straight line with or that they can color and control it better. If he isn't doing that then let him use both, but make sure he uses proper grip no matter which side he uses.
