Is there a way to tell if your child is going to be left handed or right handed?

Question

What age would you generally know by? My son is 3yrs 7mths old, he writes and colours with his left, but he uses a fork or spoon with both hands. Should we start to teach him to write with his right hand? Any ideas??????

Answer 1

I would say he is going to be left handed, if he is writing and coloring with his left hand. If he is using his left hand just let him be, let him decide which hand he feels most comfortable with.

Answer 2

There was a paper published about this in ... don't remember which journal, roughly August 2005. I only remember it because I was pregnant at the time. The stats weren't fantastic, but the gist of it was that you can tell even before birth. They said that there was a very strong correlation between what hand the baby sucked the thumb of in utero (seen by ultrasound) and handedness as an older child.

As in, if the baby is seen sucking his right thumb on an ultrasound, chances are pretty good that she'll be right handed. It was a little less strong with boys, if I recall, specifically left handed prediction.

Again, remember, the stats weren't great. But it was interesting!

My son was consistently sucking his left toe. I have no clue what that means.

Answer 3

That sounds exactly like me when I was small. Today, at 24, I write with my left hand, but eat and play sports right handed. I don't think my parents worried about it much since one is left handed and one is right handed and they both taught me to do things. Let your son do what he naturally does. He will do what is most comfortable for him. So long as he's developing on course and is a happy little boy, let him be who he is.

Answer 4

Just wait it out and let it develop naturally, forcing him is not a good way; be patient. Its possible he is ambdextrous. I would lean towards the right hand though, because that is what he eats with, and eating is a primal instinct. I am right-handed, but I do some things left as well, such as play hockey, turn on lights, and save the world. Or, you could try the mideval approach, and tie his left hand behind his back for 2 years, that would make him righty, though I don't suggest that.

Answer 5

My daughter is 5 and she writes and things of that nature left handed but does other things right handed. I'm beginning to wonder if she is just going to be ambidexterious and be able to use both. Don't worry about it though - Just let your child decide what hand to use when you sit down and write with him - even if he does change hands each time.

Answer 6

Let him decide. My son was 3, nearly 4, when I saw that he was using his left hand almost exclusively...sometimes it seemed like he was experimenting, seeing which he preferred.

He's now 5 and eats with his left hand exclusively. No surprise, since my husband's brother and my mother are lefties.

Whatever you do, do NOT force him to use his right hand! I have a second cousin whose teacher gave her a really hard time over her being left-handed until her father gave that teacher what-for! (Lots of relatives on my maternal grandmother's side are lefties.) My second cousin was starting to go a little nuts because of this!

Answer 7

Let your son decide what he's going to do with each hand.
There's nothing wrong with suggesting he use the hand you prefer, however don't force it nor discourage the hand he prefers. In fact, it's to his advantage to encourage him to learn how to use either hand with each task.

The worst thing to do is insist he not use his left hand, if he's more comfortable doing so. My parents did that with me. I'm naturally right handed. I never understood, even to this day, why they always insisted I use only my right hand. Out of defiance and because I broke my right arm on 3 occasions when I was growing up, I had little choice but to learn to do very many things with both hands. There's a great advantage to being able to use either hand to perform any task.

Answer 8

My son is just about the same age as yours (4 in July) and he does exactly the same thing. Mine is writing already, and he uses his left hand. Sometimes he'll put the pencil in his right hand and write on or two letters but he definitely greatly favors the left hand. Left handed he can hold the pencil correctly, but right handed is more awkward so we don't really try to push him to use his right hand.

Answer 9

What hand your child chooses has to do a lot with eye dominance. Right now both eyes are pretty even, but as your child ages one will become more dominant making it more essential to use one hand or the other. Encourage your son to use both hands, this is definitely a wonderful skill to be encourages and nurtured.

Answer 10

My son is the same way, but he eats and picks things up with his left hand. My husband tries to get him to do things with his right, but it all comes down to what he wants and he is only 1 and a half.