I have often been asked in class when we can expect our children to decide whether they're left or right handed. "Not yet" is usually my reply and I do believe it's beneficial to allow children to decide in their own time. As you will see in Liz's article below, this is not something that we can force. We should continue to provide plenty of opportunities for children to use both hands to perform tasks so that they can decide which hand is more dominant themselves.
Here's an article sent through by Liz Victor - owner of the Toptots franchise.
Left or right handed - Liz Victor
Many parents are concerned when their toddler starts to reach with his left hand. We live in a right handed world and many fear that the child will be disadvantaged should he be left handed. Being a parent of a left hander does have its draw backs.
I urge you not to encourage the right hand over the left if your toddler is showing signs of using the “wrong” hand. There is so much research that shows a child’s dominance is determined in utero and therefore genetic. If both parents are lefties there is a more than 50% chance that your tot might be left handed. If one parent is left handed it drops to 17%. If neither parent is left handed it’s only a 2% chance.
Toddlers tend to show handedness at around three but some will take much longer to decide. During this time they will use both until such time as the brain decides that the left or the right is the one to use.
As the hand is wired pre birth it can result in some problems with handwriting and fine motor activities if we force them to use the incorrect hand.
It’s a bit like wiring a house. The electrician comes in and pulls all the wires through. If all the connections are made correctly and they all link up to the DB board in the correct way, the lights and plugs in the house work well. If the electrician traces a wire incorrectly you might find that when you switch on the kitchen light the lounge light comes on. This is what happens in the brain when a tot is genetically left handed and forced to use the right. You could unintentionally be causing a learning problem.
Some research indicates that left handed people do better in fields that require a good sense of spatial relations, such as art, architecture and athletics. They can be prone to more accidents though; this might just be because they are forced to live in a right handed world.
Make sure your lefty has the tools he needs like a good pair of left handed scissors, this will make his life so much easier. There are websites devoted to left handedness that supply left handed mugs etc and yes you get left handed mugs!
Embrace your lefty he is special do not try and change him.
Here's an article sent through by Liz Victor - owner of the Toptots franchise.
Left or right handed - Liz Victor
Many parents are concerned when their toddler starts to reach with his left hand. We live in a right handed world and many fear that the child will be disadvantaged should he be left handed. Being a parent of a left hander does have its draw backs.
I urge you not to encourage the right hand over the left if your toddler is showing signs of using the “wrong” hand. There is so much research that shows a child’s dominance is determined in utero and therefore genetic. If both parents are lefties there is a more than 50% chance that your tot might be left handed. If one parent is left handed it drops to 17%. If neither parent is left handed it’s only a 2% chance.
Toddlers tend to show handedness at around three but some will take much longer to decide. During this time they will use both until such time as the brain decides that the left or the right is the one to use.
As the hand is wired pre birth it can result in some problems with handwriting and fine motor activities if we force them to use the incorrect hand.
It’s a bit like wiring a house. The electrician comes in and pulls all the wires through. If all the connections are made correctly and they all link up to the DB board in the correct way, the lights and plugs in the house work well. If the electrician traces a wire incorrectly you might find that when you switch on the kitchen light the lounge light comes on. This is what happens in the brain when a tot is genetically left handed and forced to use the right. You could unintentionally be causing a learning problem.
Some research indicates that left handed people do better in fields that require a good sense of spatial relations, such as art, architecture and athletics. They can be prone to more accidents though; this might just be because they are forced to live in a right handed world.
Make sure your lefty has the tools he needs like a good pair of left handed scissors, this will make his life so much easier. There are websites devoted to left handedness that supply left handed mugs etc and yes you get left handed mugs!
Embrace your lefty he is special do not try and change him.
A couple of activities to help encourage hand dominance
Activity 2 You will need 3 dishes Small marshmallows or smarties To do Place a dish on either side of your seated toddler and one in the centre. In the two side dishes place the smarties or marshmallows. Encourage him to pick them up using both hands at once and place in the centre dish. The brain has to use both hands to decide which one is stronger. | Activity 1 You will need 2 play hammers Polystyrene and golf tee’s To do Place the golf tees into the polystyrene and let your toddler hammer with both hammers one in each hand. If he only wants to use one let him. 
|
RSS Feed