How do you switch left-handers to become right-handed?

Question

I have a soon to be 2 yr old daughter who I am sure is left-handed. I don't want her to be left-handed. No matter how often I tell her to hold her spoon with her right hand, she will switch back to her left when I am not looking. I would not give her treats unless she takes them with her right hand. Recently she has been scribbling and she does that with her left hand too. I never expected to have a left-handed child... both my husband and I are right-handed.

What should I do to convert her? spank her?

I have a left-handed friend who was converted to become right handed. Her mum tied her left hand to the back of the chair so she wouldn't write it it.

I don't live in the western world. I live in Indonesia. It's not very acceptable to be left-handed as the left hand is the hand meant for washing your butt. In Indonesia, it is not table manners eating with your left hand... you have to use your right. Receiving and giving things to people should always be done with the right hand. Using your left hand is rude and if you accidently do, you are supposed to apologise.

There's no such thing as child services in this country. Parents whip their kids with bamboo sticks.

Answer 1

ohmy god...shes just two..her brain is still developing...give it some time and dont push it on her.. dont spank her for it..and i hope that thing with yer friend is just a something somebody told you..thats cruel...being mean isnt a way to make the braion work...it will actually be a bad experiance for the child...dont spank her..my daughter used her left hand for everything..now she uses mostly her right...( shell be in school soon..so they will push for her to use a certain hand im sure)

Answer 2

You make me sick. I am left handed and very proud of it! My great uncle was left handed and back then everyone thought it was the work of the devil and made him switch to right hand. Now he can use both hands to do things, so you will never change her. Left handers are brilliant people. They are very artistic and creative. I hope that if you spank her or tie her hand behind her back Child Protective Services takes her away from you! You are a horrible mother for thinking not giving her treats when she uses her left hand. Don't you know what you are doing to your child?! Maybe you should have grown up a little bit before having children.

Answer 3

I am left handed.

I grew up in a family of all right handers.

I was spanked, had my homework torn from my book by my dad because it wa done with the 'wrong' hand, was teased, tormented about being 'the devils child', and was basically tortured over being left handed...

I am still left handed... none of that stuff helped or changed me.

allow your child to be who she is... you can play games of writing with this hand and the writing with that hand...and encourage use of both hands as this can be helpful in developing her brain but do not reward or punish her in anyway for using one hand or the other. Some kids will alternate for a few years between one hand or the other, some kids adopt the hand their classmates use when they start school... some kids just are left handed or right handed and stay that way....

It is no big deal..

If she remains left handed simpy remember to buy her left-handed scissors to use remember that to you she will look awkward when she is writing.

Answer 4

Dear God please let this be a joke. What's the problem - you think this is an imperfection? Do you think this imperfection reflects on you? Seriously if you do any of those things you deserve a visit from CPS and your daughter deserves to be placed in a more loving and accepting household.

Go back and read what you wrote, does that sound like a loving parent? If you think so I suggest YOU GO TO A PSYCHIATRIST!

P.S. So you are now saying just because you don't live in the Western world, you have to let others decide how to raise YOUR child? I don't care where you are from - just because some cultures think they can get a wife by stealing them and raping them doesn't make it okay. There is no excuse for being abusive to your child -whether your culture accepts it or not.

Answer 5

Don't do anything! If she's left handed, she's left handed. Trying to change her could cause problems down the road, like bad handwriting. If she's meant to use her left hand, then she's probably better off doing things with that hand, even just for stability and safety purposes. It will be her more coordinated hand, and trying to force her to do things with her right could make her apppear less coordinated down the road. Being left handed is certainly not something to punish over...don't spank her, because it's not her fault that her left hand is more comfortable.

Sure, being left-handed has its disadvantages (like ink or graphite on the side of your hand from dragging it over what you've written, or having certain things (sports, in particular) being taught for predominantly right-handers, which makes certain motions not feel natural), but in the long run converting her really has no purpose. Instead, you could encourage use of both hands, rather than one at the exclusion of the other. Being ambidextrous definitely has perks...like for sports....even for something silly like cutting food....I don't have to put down my knife AND switch my fork into the other hand because while cutting with my left is more comfortable, I have no problem eating with my right.

Being left-handed is not the end of the world...so let her explore it and if she eventually switches to her right hand, great. If not, she's extra special :)

Answer 6

I echo pretty much everyone else here - I'm left handed as well. Never had an issue, yeah I had to learn to use scissors with my right hand, but you know what, now they even make lefty scissors! Check out the first link in my sources that has famous people (including presidents of US, whoa, imagine that!) who were left handed. I pray for your poor little girl. Being left handed is in how she's wired, not a defiant act she needs to be punished for. You are really messing with her mind when you 'reward' her for using the hand doesn't come natural to her.

What I really don't understand is...WHY? What's the difference?

Answer 7

Your kidding me!?!?! Why would you do this? I am left handed and there is nothing wrong with it. All three of my children are right handed and I would of loved for one of them to be also. But that is the way God made them and I would never change it. I have never heard of people punishing their child because of the way they were born. Just let it go and do not take away treats from her because she uses her left hand. Since you are right handed and act this way, I can honestly tell you that left handed people are smarter because the are always in their right mind.

Answer 8

I know somebody that was left handed and forced to become right handed. It messed him up pretty good. He still has writing problems.

As others have pointed out, this is not the 1800's. There is no shame in being left handed. There is only shame in the ignorance of parents who believe this is a problem.

If you love your child, let her be herself, which apparently is left handed.

Answer 9

Theres nothing wrong with being a left handed person. The brain decides the hand. Left handed people are better at art and music. Be proud that you have a child with that abilities and that she even has two hands. Be greatful for what you have and not what you don't. Ask her pedatriciatan.

Answer 10

In the old days it was said that to be left-handed was to be of the devil! Surely you aren't thinking like that!I was made to switch when I started school, the teacher did it to anyone that used the left hand. I was made to feel degraded and bad.It was not a good beginning. My handwriting suffered also. I had been writing family names and small words before school age.I did a research paper on left-handedness in college. My information was all opposite of what most people thought,especially some of the old medical and psychological manuals. The left-handed people I interviewed were all above ave. to genius in intelligence. Their use of the left didn't hinder them in the least. When allowed to be themselves and not marked as wrong or different the kids were able to succeed in school and have great self-esteem. I worry about your daughter's esteem if you have already started letting her know that she is doing something wrong all the time.Never use treats to train anyway because kids need to learn to want to achieve just for themselves. My 3 siblings were righties and we had all righties except two. Both of them are very intelligent and successful in their careers.My sister sat across from and faced my niece to teach her crochet because it was the perfect solution to the left-handedness. I do hope you will allow your child to be herself and never put that doubt of being bad or wrong into her little heart. God made us just like He wanted. Celebrate her uniqueness!