Feel Good Friday: On Being Left Handed

On Being Left Handed

Feel Good Friday is a regular series to give you a smile, a chuckle, or a nugget of wisdom to get your weekend off on the right foot!

On Being Left HandedI was filling out a form about my son the other day, and it asked whether he’s right or left handed. As of today, at two years and two months old, he hasn’t decided.

We’re leaning toward left handed, but he still goes back and forth quite regularly. I’m left handed (at least partially—I do the important stuff like writing and eating with my left, everything else with my right), so if he turns out to be too he’ll be in good company!

While I wait to see if my son’s going to claim the awesome identity that is Lefty, I’ll share these fun facts about being left handed.

8 Interesting Facts About Being Left Handed

1. Lefties are generally more creative.

2. Four of the last seven U.S. presidents were left handed. (President Obama, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Gerald Ford).

3. We lefties are often better at multi-tasking than right-handed people.

4. But at the same time, left-handed folks have more trouble processing their emotions.

5.  People used to believe being left handed was a mark of the devil. 

6. Women who give birth after the age of 40 are more likely to have left-handed children.

7. Lefties are more prone to allergies and asthma.

8. Famous lefties include Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, Angelina Jolie, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Jon Stewart.


Parents of older children, when could you confirm your kids were right or left handed?


23 responses to “Feel Good Friday: On Being Left Handed”

  1. Our middle son was left-handed. I should actually clarify and say my step-son so that the next sentence makes sense. At the age of 4/5 he was left-handed. His mother however, was dead set on making him right-handed so unfortunately he isn’t left-handed any more. It angered Frank and me but since he was spending more time with her, her decision prevailed in the end. I don’t know why she decided to curb that, much like I don’t understand some of her other decisions. I think it would be cool to have a left-handed child or ambidextrous one.

  2. Susanna is almost 2. For a long while I suspected she might be leftie, but it changes so I’m clueless.

    Ironically my Dad was born a leftie, but a childhood accident made him a righty. He still bats leftie and does a bit more that way though.

  3. Nobody in my immediate family is left-handed, but my dad was always quick to point out which pitchers in the MLB were “southpaws.” And I have an uncle who is ambidextrous, which I think is pretty cool 🙂

  4. Ah… YES!! My daughter is a leftie! She has asthma. And she’s creative! But she does process her feelings quite well… I believe that has to do with her mama being a therapist. 🙂

    She always used her left hand- I can’t remember when we decided it was to be- I remember trying to get her to use her right- or a teacher doing that or something- but she never could.

    She smears everything as she moves left to right, and because she grips her pencil/marker/pen with her entire hand like a fist. We worked TIRELESSLY through the years to change that- but my girl does what she does.

  5. Scarlet has always been leftie. And by five, I’d say it’s set. She doesn’t do anything with her right hand. She even kicks like a leftie with soccer.
    Des is still deciding! He eats only with his left hand if it’s a fork or spoon, and with his right if it’s his hands!

  6. My first little dude showed left-handedness when he was under a year, and stuck with that side. He was the earliest of my 3. You’re opposite my husband – he writes and eats righty but did a lot of sports lefty. We found out that he’s right hand dominant but left eye dominant. Neat stuff 🙂

  7. Very interesting! I’m right-handed. So is my oldest daughter. I think I knew she had a chosen/preferred handedness when she was about 4 1/2 years-old. For a while there I was beginning to think she was going to be ambidextrous – she used both hands so well!

    Thanks for sharing.
    xoxo

  8. I honestly can’t remember when the kids determined their handedness. Looking back, I seem to recall it was a topic of interest for a while, especially with my oldest, but now it seems like one of those milestones that I forgot all about!

  9. #6 – really? That is fascinating. We are all righties in my family, but we have plenty of allergies and asthma. Leave it to us to break the rules.

  10. I’m a lefty and so is Biz. We are definitely creative and right-brained in general. I’ve blogged about being a lefty and parenting a lefty. I even have a tumblr site called All Things Left-Handed! 🙂

  11. Interesting, Katie! I’m left-handed too and yes I heard that we are more creative. In my department, almost all of creative is left-handed lol.

  12. My husband I are are both left handed and between us exhibit most of the traits you mentioned. We do have allergies and I have asthma. Our kids are both right handed. I knew when they were around age 2 and developing food preferences and eating with utensils. Sometimes out of curiosity I would put a spoon in their left hand but they both eventually transferred it to their right hand! Both kids are somewhat ambidextrous.

  13. My son used both hands for painting and eating as a toddler. Today he is 6.5 and a right handed hockey player in training.

    My husband purchased a leftie coffee mug that says “I might be left handed, but I am always right!” Haha, sadly true. It has a whole where coffee pours out when a right handed person drinks from it…

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