Left handed child

I still don't know which hand my LG uses,as she eats with her left and at times write with it but also uses right.Can it be confusion?I will start monitoring...

Apparently you should let them choose so don't encourage any particular hand although you don't realise you are encouraging a hand when you use your own dominant hand.

Ideally you should encourage cross over so that they balance the sides of the body.

Jems the teacher said even before the assessment that Dylan should write on a chalk board so I will have to paint a wall outside with blackboard pain.

Shame CIP. Yes people were encouraged to use the right hand in years gone by. The problem is that we are genetically wired to be left or right handed.

The issue I have is that by showing him things with my right hand I am unintentionally encouraging him to use his right hand when he is most comfortable using his left.

None of my family members are left handed and Neil is very right handed so I never thought Dylan would be a lefty.

Thanks everyone for your replies and tips. Most helpful.

My dad is right-handed when writing, but plays all sports left-handed. If asked to hold a cricket bat or baseball bat, he always bats left-handed.

I am also right-handed when writing, but with day-to-day things i'm equally as comfortable using both right and left hands. In fact, just for fun, I used to thoroughly confuse my class-mates when i woudl stand in front of the white board with a pen in each hand, and write normally with my left hand and mirror-image with my right hand - at the same time.
Althuogh that could just be cos i'm weird

Another good way to strengthen both hands is crumpling newspaper. If you hold a piece of newspaper (just one sheet) in each hand and then crunch it up into a tiny ball, using only the one hand. Preferably trying to do it in both hands similtaneously. It's good motor co-ordination but helps strengthen both hands as well.

Being a lefty you always feel like the odd one out, especially in group exercises and that might lead to kids often choosing to use the right hand, like in playing sports, out tennis instructor told me to stop playing tennis because I didn't have a strong grip with my right hand, I used left and was fine but he was forcing me to use right so I just stopped playing.

I couldn't do group dances because my steps were always off and it took me a while to understand that I can dance but my steps are just different because I'm a lefty.

But in class I was always the first to understand new things and teachers liked that and I also have a very long memory and my doc said its because left handed people use more of their right-side of brain which is responsible for memory. this helped in school because I always remembered word for word all the lessons in class.

I am also in favour of developing both hands. I am right handed but can do most things with my left hand as well. Including writing. It creates a nice stirr in class if I suddenly switch hands while writing on the bord, or if I hold white bord pens in both hands and then write on my left side with my left hand and then switch mid sentence to write with my right hand on the right side of the bord.

MissesMom, I also did babygym and if you read the babygym book they say that if a baby rolls over to the right hand side, his left side is propably dominant. Stefan rolled to the right for about 3 weeks before attempting the left. Claudia started off rolling to the right and then suddenly swithced and only rolled to the left for a couple of days. Now she does both equally well.

Julz - did they give you some exercises to strengthen? Get those big pieces of chalk and let him draw on the walls, pavement outside, big pictures. Very good apparently.

The back muscles control and support the body, arms, then hands etc.

Do like "hug" exercises to music.

Very interesting. My gran was a lefty, and forced to become right handed in school.
My Sisiter is a lefty, my DH Lefty and of course Em is as well. We could tell almost from the start Em was a lefty - she always favoured that side.
I have a feeling Kate will be too, cause even now her dominant hand and arm with movements is her left one.

However in babygym we are taught to encourage both sides - not of course for writting ect, but playing and so forth. my DH plays sports with both hands.

Yes, on average left handed people are smarter and earn more. Majority of Dr's are left handed as well (which may well explain the hand writting...)