Left Handers, any difficulties?

So it looks like my lad, who’s 3 the end of Sept, is a leftie.

This is great when he’s got a ball at his feet…. he’s got a sweat left foot and I’ve got him shouting Bale when he scores… but already he has to use his little plastic golf club upside down and I know he’s going to be limited with guitar choices, but then again I’ve got a feeling he’s more of a drummer… do they make left handed drum kits ??

Sorry bad jokes aside… I know there are no obvious disadvantages and it not something I’m worried about at all…. but I was wondering what difficulties might he face and is there anything we can or should do to help.

Lefties, how might your life have been made easier as a child ?

or

What have you done to promote your left handed child progress.

I like being left handed, just to be a bit different, must admit to slight disappointment that none of my 3 daughters are 🙁 Only problem I have is I have to be careful with some pens if they have wet or gel ink as a left hander smudges their writing with their hand as they go across the page, as a positive knifes and forks are on the natural side for us lefties!

?

I am a leftie – scissors are an obvious problem ~ I learned to use right handed ones as they were the only ones seemingly available but lefty ones are in schools now

When I was his age (ish), I couldnt make up my mind which hand to write with, so my dad decided I would be right handed.

I do everything else left handed/footed instinctively and my handriting is truly awful. Were doctors to see it, they would laugh at how bad it is. My point is, don’t force anything right handed on him. Unless you want him to be the next Jimi Hendrix 😕

I’m pretty sure everything made for right handed folk can be made left handed? Apart from screwdrivers, for obvious reasons.

Scissors are the biggest thing. Make sure he has some left handed ones

Kevin has got out of the ironing for the last 22 years because we dont have a left handed iron

One of my sons is a leftie.
More understanding teachers would have helped when he started school,some of them were beyond belief . 🙄

To add balance I’m a left hander but kick a ball with my right foot,cut paper with my right hand ( well use scissors anyway my fingers are not that sharp )
There was a real stigma in the early 70s (born 67) at school and teachers would snatch the pen out of your left hand and put it in your right one, this may have lead me to be semi ambidextrous although my writing is shite with my right hand still, but probably is where the other right handed stuff came from.
I cannot kick a ball with my left foot for toffee so I’m a bit **** up really

Edit – Tracey the ironing board is the only thing that drives me crackers,if its set up for right handlers I am knackered and have to turn it round which then winds the missus up

You might find he’s ambidextrous.
I am (mainly for sports) and it is quite handy..and, as my various team mates would say, a little weird. Especially cricket: Bat left handed, bowl/throw right. Golf: Driver/irons left, putter right.
I started playing golf right handed because my dad thought I was right handed. It wasn’t until I turned his 6 iron upside down and hit it further than he did that made him realise I was a lefty..

pita tbh 😐

never been an issue, was given left-handed scissors, ruler etc as a kid but couldn’t use them as i was so used to using RH ones

the only problems are smudging ink when writing, but no-one writes any more, and left-handed cheque books would have been nice but they’re obsolete as well

Ye – I’m a leftie.

I’d actually disagree with the scissors thing – the reason why is as goes through life he isn’t always going to have his ‘special’ scissors to hand, and will need to make do with whatever is around.

personally I’d refuse to use any ‘special’ left-handed stuff as I don’t see the need, I’m not disabled so don’t want any ‘special’ stuff. I now naturally pick up scissors and use them with my right hand.
I can happily swap cutlery from hand to hand part way through a meal, and will pick up a cup with whatever hand is nearest. (it used to drive my mum mad when I was a kid as if she asked me to lay the table for dinner I’d put everything on the wrong sides)

I suggest you just pass him things and let him choose which hand to pick things up with…

He’ll be fine – just encourage him to do whatever feels right.

+1 on not bothering with left handed scissors.

Only issue I had was smudging writing, both with a pen or pencil. Ended up using 2H pencils as they were slightly harder and tended to smudge far less.

As a leftie, even the writing thing/smudging is avoidable with the paper angled more steeply.

One thing they may struggle with early on in school life is tying shoelaces and school ties (if they still wear them) as you tend to get show in a way that suits right handers better.

As picked up on above, learning to cut right handed (with scissors) is a useful skill, using them left handed leaves rubbish fuzzy edges with school scissors on paper.

Finally, with some sports it’s easier to obtain equipment for right handers (golf, kayak paddles etc) although even this isn’t as bad as it once was.

Annoyances? Things that have a directional grip pattern when they don’t have to. Stuff like pliers, drills, automatic weapons…

😉

I’ve found a fountain pen made a massive recent difference to my handwriting. Lefties tend to push the pen instead of pulling it, so a low-drag fountain pen instead of a ballpoint doesn’t catch on the paper.

Get him to play hockey, lefties are a real PITA to mark and manage, gives him a real advantage.

The only thing I think I ever struggled with particularly was learning to tie shoelaces – because my right-handed parents taught me to tie them right handed. My little sister could do it before I could. As I still remember this I can only assume that it scarred me mentally.

Other than that, he’ll just end up being able to do more stuff with either hand than most people. I’m not ambidextrous by any means, but can throw, play cricket/squash, use tools etc with either hand, which I reckon is down to learning to tie knots, use scissors etc the ‘wrong’ way around.

Oh, and he’ll probably find that if he has to sign anything in a shop, he gets the pen thrust at his right hand.

automatic weapons

the hot, spent cartridge of an AK47 fires towards a leftie rather than anyway, as I found on a dodgy trip in Slovakia

the joys of being ambidextrous

Not sure about the ink smudging thing either. I worked with a right-handed Iraqi guy for a while who’d obviously learned to write right to left in Arabic, and I asked him if he had trouble smudging ink with a fountain pen. The issue had never occurred to him once in 55 years, so he grabbed the pen and wrote to see how he avoid it. He just arced his hand around the script automatically, no bother. So if right-handed Arabs can manage it, surely left handed Euros can too.

I used to play brass instruments, where you operate the valves with your right hand, then I took up the French horn which is the only one where you use the keys with your left hand. It took about a day to get used to it. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. In the days of 16 bit home computers I taught myself to use the joystick with my left hand so I could hammer the fire button more quickly with my right – that became more natural after a while. Interesting that, because whilst I had just as much dexterity with either hand, I could never hammer the fire button as quickly with the left.

I went out with a leftie too, she taught herself to use a mouse with her right hand (without difficulty) because it was too much trouble to keep swapping them over at university computers. I also try to use tools with either hand too so I can switch when one gets tired.

I don’t think it’s as hard as all that to swap side, except possibly writing or other things requiring extreme dexterity.

Oh and whilst I am a true rightie, I instinctively get on a skateboard the goofy way round.

I don’t know why some things work in both hands and some don’t – I’m perfectly happy using mice and trackpads with my right hand, but not spanners.

Annoyances? Things that have a directional grip pattern when they don’t have to. Stuff like pliers, drills, automatic weapons…

This +1 – my wife bought a mug with a handle on a slight angle, great for right handers but a pain for me… Things like turnstiles in the Underground and the keyhole on the outside of the front door are always on the right, too. Minor things, but irritating.

Oh, and he’ll probably find that if he has to sign anything in a shop, he gets the pen thrust at his right hand.

Also a pain.

Forget the left-handed scissors, they won’t have them at school, in the workplace, etc., and it’s not hard to learn. Likewise rulers etc. Writing’s probably the hardest thing, teach him to angle the paper properly and not drag his hand.

There is a slightly higher probability of dyslexia in left handed people, be worth keeping an eye out for this (although the probability is still small).

Oh, and make sure he learns to use a mouse with his right hand, much better – leaves the left free to write notes / type.

Lefties are better at doing skidz – fact!

In more useful (well, not really) news, I’ve never had a problem being a leftie. Computer mice are a right thing, you use it all the time so it’s never likely to be a proble. Apart from that, the only other rightie thing I do is play golf – golfing left-handed just seems weird and always has done.

There is the minor problem of the Devil controlling most of my actions, but as he clearly likes skidz I can deal with that

I find I do some things left some things right, am reasonable with both feet pretty much.

I find it hard to use left handed scissors, much prefer a right handed pair in my left hand :S

Play guitar right handed, eat right handed, peel spuds right handed but would bat left handed in cricket/rounders, throw with my left.

A right old mess up really, either way it has neither helped nor hindered me really.

I have never understood why some left handed guitarists, bassists and drummers play the other way round. How many left handed pianos, violins, saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, etc have you seen? You use both hands and the left hand has arguably the more difficult job on guitars and is the centre of the groove on drums (snare). Play conventional (so-called ‘righty’)!

Ooh yes legend, I use a mouse in the right hand which leaves my good hand for keyboard short cuts etc. I can use the mouse in my left if I need to, came in handy when I broke my wrist!

There are a few tools that don’t work quite so well like files with a cut pattern the wrong way but I can’t think of much else. On the up side a disproportionate number of architects are lefties, no self respecting cricket team would turn down the chance of a left handed spinner and left handed sailors have the tiller in the favoured hand on the start line on starboard tack.

Freakily I’m left handed as were all my serious girlfriends(4) and my wife.

I know this isn’t a right-on thing to say but do wish that I’d been ‘persuaded’ to use my right hand.

Wot a struggle with being taught to knit!

I’m a leftie but only really kick a ball and right lefty. Throw righty bat righty eat soup lefty. Err

I am a leftie…sort of. The only things I do with my left hand are write and play snooker. Everything else is done with the right like throwing, chopping, golf and w**king. I cant throw with my left to save my life.

I’m a leftie and: play guitar, box, iron and use most stuff right handed. I can’t use my left hand for other stuff apart from writing its proper weird! I can use both my legs for football. Yup I’m an odd one.

chiefgrooveguru – Member
I have never understood why some left handed guitarists, bassists and drummers play the other way round. How many left handed pianos, violins, saxophones, clarinets, trumpets, etc have you seen? You use both hands and the left hand has arguably the more difficult job on guitars and is the centre of the groove on drums (snare). Play conventional (so-called ‘righty’)!

Why should I? If they made clarinets that were left-handed, I’m sure left-handed players would use them…

As others have said scissors!! Also worth checking for dyslexia!?!

You may well find he does some thing leftie and some rightie – this can be confusing as well as great.

But mainly scissors!

I’m a lefty. However, I play golf and cricket right handed.

Tracey – Member

Kevin has got out of the ironing for the last 22 years because we dont have a left handed iron

Eh?
Can’t he just turn the ironing board round?

I haven’t ironed anything since the 80’s so this might not work… 🙂

Same as pejay I have to be careful with some pens else I end up smudging the ink.

Kevin has got out of the ironing for the last 22 years because we dont have a left handed iron

Do you hold his tea for him too? Every mug I’ve ever came across has been right handed. 😉

I only have lefty guiars

Nothing else is an issue or ever has been