Have you ever wondered whether your child's dominant side is the right side or the left side, i.e. which side of his brain controls his actions.
There is a reason why I have been debating on this issue. I have lately been wondering whether my two year old daughter 'Ru' is left handed or right handed. Lots of friends have previously asked me the question, "Is she left handed?" while interacting with her. I had never really thought about it seriously till now. I have started looking at whether she is really left handed or right handed.
We have always seen that she has a strong left hand. But, her right hand is also strong enough. Hence, I taught her to hold the pencil/crayon with the right hand and also to cut with the right hand.
I have been wondering if it was wrong to teach her to hold the pencil on the right hand (i.e. if she is left handed). I do not want to force it on her.
I am confused. I searched the net on left and righthandedness. Here are some tests to check out if your child is left handed or right handed.
Some more tests
Here is my analysis of her left or right handedness after doing the tests.
LEFT HAND
She picks up spoon, box, bag from the floor or chair with left hand.
She holds the bat in her left hand while playing to hit the ball.
She throws the ball with her left hand when playing catching the ball.
RIGHT HAND
She opens a jar with her right hand
Holds out her right hand to take a biscuit (but picks up a crumb from the floor with left).
BOTH HANDS
She can hold the spoon with both hands and eat.
She writes with the right (as taught by me but can also use her left hand)
She uses the right hand for cutting (as taught by me)
She combs hair holding the comb with both hands.
She picks up a glass of water with both hands (So unable to test which hand is stronger)
RIGHT/LEFT FOOT
She stamps with right foot.
She kicks sometimes with her right and sometimes with her left foot.
Climbing stairs with right foot first. Climbing down with left foot first.
RIGHT/LEFT EYE
Which eye is used by your subject to look through a tube? Left eye
My conclusion: Since she can use both hands, I think she is mixedhanded. I think a few more months down the line, it will be more clear whether she is right handed, lefthanded, mixedhanded or ambidextrous. Do share your views to help me sort out the issue.
There is a reason why I have been debating on this issue. I have lately been wondering whether my two year old daughter 'Ru' is left handed or right handed. Lots of friends have previously asked me the question, "Is she left handed?" while interacting with her. I had never really thought about it seriously till now. I have started looking at whether she is really left handed or right handed.
We have always seen that she has a strong left hand. But, her right hand is also strong enough. Hence, I taught her to hold the pencil/crayon with the right hand and also to cut with the right hand.
I have been wondering if it was wrong to teach her to hold the pencil on the right hand (i.e. if she is left handed). I do not want to force it on her.
I am confused. I searched the net on left and righthandedness. Here are some tests to check out if your child is left handed or right handed.
Some more tests
Here is my analysis of her left or right handedness after doing the tests.
LEFT HAND
She picks up spoon, box, bag from the floor or chair with left hand.
She holds the bat in her left hand while playing to hit the ball.
She throws the ball with her left hand when playing catching the ball.
RIGHT HAND
She opens a jar with her right hand
Holds out her right hand to take a biscuit (but picks up a crumb from the floor with left).
BOTH HANDS
She can hold the spoon with both hands and eat.
She writes with the right (as taught by me but can also use her left hand)
She uses the right hand for cutting (as taught by me)
She combs hair holding the comb with both hands.
She picks up a glass of water with both hands (So unable to test which hand is stronger)
RIGHT/LEFT FOOT
She stamps with right foot.
She kicks sometimes with her right and sometimes with her left foot.
Climbing stairs with right foot first. Climbing down with left foot first.
RIGHT/LEFT EYE
Which eye is used by your subject to look through a tube? Left eye
My conclusion: Since she can use both hands, I think she is mixedhanded. I think a few more months down the line, it will be more clear whether she is right handed, lefthanded, mixedhanded or ambidextrous. Do share your views to help me sort out the issue.
9 comments:
I also been wondering my boy would be a leftie or rightie. I'm a leftie though.
I could see he uses his both sides of hands. But I think he would use his left hand more. Hmm...let me try out the tests on him and see. Thanks for the info.
I have no use of the info that this blog has to offer...rather I don't even have any interest in the topic...but it is still amazing to know that you can explore soooo much with a baby...and it is more interesting to me because the subject of experiments is RU BABY!!! :D
My boy using both hands now...
Hi Wonderful Life, Do let me know what are the results of the tests for your son.
Hi Little Prince's Mummy, They are at an age when they enjoy using both hands and slowly get comfortable with one.
Hi Neelanjana, Welcome to my blog. I can understand that you dont have interest in the blog 'coz its not relevant to you. Once you have kids, it will probably be more meaningful to you. Thanks for coming. :)
It is my 1st time dropping by ur blog..nice blog.
I also keep asking myself..whether my son is left or rite handed?? My hubby is left handed and I noticed my son like to use his left hand lot esp when wave Bye Bye. The weird thing is that my son palmline for both hands are straight.
I understand when they are younger, it's hard to see if they are left or right hand.
I have a grown son that is left handed. When he was a young boy he used both hands to eat, carry things, etc. He kicked a ball with either foot or hit a baseball with a bat using both hands. We tried not to influence him at all. We never placed a fork, spoon, or pencil in a specific hand.
Today he is very left handed, but he does shoot a rifle like a right handed person. My husband did not know how to teach him to shoot the other way. Oh well, he does fine.
I think he may play golf right handed also.
We live in a very right handed and left brained world. Our children will adapt. My suggestion, let them change back and forth. Don't try to influence which hand your child uses.
I have written an article on my blog titled "20 Ways to Encourage Creativity in Children". You might find the article of interest. The web site address is http://www.mycreativityblog.com.
Enjoyed your blog!
~Terry
Thanks a lot, Terry Holliday. Appreciate your suggestions and your opinion on how to handle a child who is using both hands coz you have experienced it first-hand ;) with your child.
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