How do you teach a child to be left handed?

Question

When I have a baby, I want it to be left handed. How do I teach it to be left handed? What are the steps in teaching it?

Answer 1

Whatever hand they naturally want to write with is what you should let them do. Its child abuse to force them to have your choice of dominant hand.

Answer 2

Baby Left Handed

Answer 3

You can't. They're either born that way or they're not. It's like asking how you can teach your child to have brown eyes or something. Back in older times, left handed students were often forced to use their right hand like a "normal" person or else be punished....but that didn't make them right handed. You can teach your child to become fairly adept with his left hand, but he'll still be right handed if that was how he was born. It's not a taught thing. You're born with it, it's genetic, and generally has to do with which side of their brain they use the most. Most people are right handed, which means they're left-brained (left side is for logic and numbers and such). A lot of artists (the right side of the brain is stronger for creativity) are left handed, but not all.

It's not really YOUR choice anyway. You shouldn't try to force a child to be something that it's not.

Answer 4

You can't very well control this unless the right side of the brain is more dominant. However, years ago nuns would often "correct" children who were left-handed to be be right-handed, because it was thought that anyone writing on the left was sent from the devil. So I suppose it can be done the opposite way.

We do, as you know, live in a right-handed society. Our civilization has been built around a tradition that regards the right hand as preferable to the left. Hand tools, machines, even doors were designed on the basis of this attitude. So when your child is a toddler and starting to write, other than saying "No!" and switching the pen to the other hand, there's not so much you can do unless you're a strict, ruler-slapping nun.

Answer 5

Whilst I'm sure you can attempt to encourage your child to do stuff with their left hand by always handing stuff to them on the left, I don't believe it's possible to teach a child to be left handed (tho there are those that don't agree). The hand that a person naturally uses for writing etc is determined by which side of the brain is the dominant one. eg. If the left side of the brain is dominant, the person is more likely to be right handed (apparently it goes in opposites)... Check out WIKIPEDIA for more theories on left handedness..

Answer 6

It's a fact the researchers have found that a child is either right handed or left handed in the womb. In the womb the baby prefers sucking one thumb verses the other. Studies have been done to show that these babies continued to use that hand for life. A great show to watch is "in the womb".

Answer 7

You can not teach a child to left handed. Handedness is something that they are born with. They have seen fetuses in the womb favoring one hand over the other, so long before the child is even born, it is already right or left handed.

Answer 8

That will be a decision made up by the brain. There is a program on The National Geographic that was called "In the Womb" that talked about the newer type ultrasonography that allows them to be able to see the baby in motion such as with sucking the thumb. That they are now even able to see which is going to be the baby's dominant side.

When your baby gets older just watch what hand it holds things with such as a pencil and you'll know that is their dominant side. Once you discover their dominant side don't try to change it to the other.

My mom said that her mom tried to do that with one of my uncles (who was showing the tendency toward), to make him right handed instead of left handed and the father had to tell grandma to leave my uncle be.

Even though my uncle does write with his left hand he can do other things with his right hand too, and when he played baseball in school he was a switch hitter.

There's nothing wrong with teaching a child to learn how to use both hands just because so that they can know how (and I tried to learn to write with my right hand and it was a challenge as I am dominantly left handed) but pls don't change whatever their dominant side ends up being so that there won't be problems later on such as can occur sometimes with learning disabilities.

Answer 9

You cannot teach a child to be left or right handed, they are born either way. Physically it is impossible and you have no control. You can tell which hand they are dominant in easil, just watch what hand they eat with, hold toys with, or hit with. Im sorry but you have no control over this trait.

Answer 10

My mother was left handed as a child, in those days which is about 100 years ago. (I am 66 years old now) society considered it a defect. So they tied her left hand so that she could not use it, and was forced to use her right hand. Eventually, when she was older she was able to write with her right hand, not with her left. But she was able to use her left hand for other things. However I feel this is cruel, and abusive behavior to do to a child.

Answer 11

You cant teach your baby to be left handed.....
You are either born left or right handed!