Anyone try to make your left-handed kid be right-handed?

Aeriplain wrote:

My dad told me thousands of left handed people end up in emergency rooms each year from accidents caused by using right hand power tools with their left hand. But he just makes stuff up so its probably not true. That said, scissors are far from the the only thing designed for rightes. Most pants have zipper that can only be reached from the right because of the fly. The flusher on most urinals is on the right. I am sure ther are many more things that I have never noticed, but thats probably because they are small and don't really matter so much.

Really? I'm a lefty and have absolutely no problem with these things. Do you think our right hands are so useless that they can't be used to flush a toilet or open a zipper? Good grief. If anything, lefties are just more ambidextrous as they grow up doing such things as mouse-clicking and zipper-opening with their weaker hand.

Crooked Arm wrote:

I'm a left BUT:

I use scissors right handed

I kick right footed

I throw frisbees right handed

I golf right handed (but bat left handed)

Oh, and my son is right handed, but left footed.

Some weird genes floating through my bloodlines.

There are very few lefties in my family, and my brother is one of them. He golfs righty (with a plus-handicap), bats lefty, shoots a basketball right-handed and kicks right-footed. In his regular everyday life he does everything left-handed.

Ambidextrous wrote:

I write with my left hand and kick with my left foot. However, I throw and swing as a righty and am right-eye dominant.

I play tennis, throw a ball and eat with my left hand and kick a ball with my left foot. I write with my right hand (although, I can write with my left but not as well--I use to practice writing it as a kid, so somewhere I got switched?), I swing a golf club and bat with my right and wear a watch on my right side.

To the OP, my daughter is left handed. I noticed early on as an infant that she was going to be dominant on that side. I would never or have tried to switch her. I would tell your wife not to do it. Not a big deal these days.

My daughter and my father are both left handed for everything they do with fine motor skills (writing, manipulating small objects, cutting) but are right handed with their gross motor skills. Apparently this is fairly common.

el tigrecito wannabe wrote:

My wife was naturally left-handed, but her grandmother tied her hand to her waist and made her become right-handed--true old world style.

Now, our one-year old boy is favoring his left hand and my wife wants to force him to become a righty. Her reasoning is overall life convenience--the world is made for right handers.

I am right handed.

I am apprehensive to mess with nature. What if he is destined to be a genius left handed violinist, golfer, or pitcher, and we are dooming him to a lifetime of right-handed mediocrity?

Advice, please.

It certainly didn't hurt Larry Bird -- left-handed but shoots right. Makes it easier to dribble and shoot off the 'wrong' hand when he needed it.

I did it. I was left handed until I was 6 years old. My parents were worried that I'd have trouble using things that are for right handed people (ex- scissors, desks for right-handed people, etc). My parents didn't "physically" force me, but being a lefty has its disadvantages when using a desk and scissors in school. I think that's when I started to teach myself how to write and use the scissors with my right hand in 1st grade.

Now I'm mostly right handed, with the exception of a few skills such as cutting (with a knife) and throwing a ball. There are few minor tasks that I use with my left hand such as hanging clothes on a hanger, holding and drinking from a cup with a left hand, and grabbing items with my left hand.

haveing to use righty scissors on my left hand was one of the most painful experiences of my childhood. I've heard of a company that makes stuff for lefties, like notebooks with the metal spiral on the right and such.

when I was little I would try to handshake people with my left hand

That's nutty. Let him use the hand he feels most comfortable with.

An above average number of presidents were left handed, so if you switch him, it will make it harder for him to become president!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070303202.html

leroy wrote:

the only sport where I would not want to be left handed is golf.

there are WAY fewer options for left handed players when it comes to buying clubs.

other than golf, being left handed is an advantage in every sport I can think of.

oh ya, in field hockey all players must play right handed. (not that males really play field hockey in north america anyways)

I disagree. Both of my boys, age 3 and 5 have shown preference to swing (baseball and golf) left handed, although they otherwise favor the right hand.

They especially like to play golf, so I bought them a small set of left handed clubs (kids size I). There are also size II and III.

No problem finding LH golf clubs.

Lefties are more accident prone. I just done a quick google search and found a lot of articles on anything from higher vehicles accident rates to power tools. It is more than just what hand you use but also which side of the brain is more dominant it seems.

Interesting reading.

:*&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

A short excerpt from one of the articles in the above search:

'Left handed people are almost twice more likely to suffer a serious accident than right handed people! A study done with 1896 students over 4 years, it was found that the probability that a left handed student had a car accident was 85 percent higher than that of a right hander. Also the probability of a left hander being hurt using tools was 54 percent higher and 49 percent more likely to have an accident at home and 20 percent more likely to have an accident at work or during sport. Most of these accidents are due to the fact that lefties have to cope with a right handed world.'

http://hubpages.com/hub/More-Left-Handed-Madness---Why-I-Hear-Voices

Mr. Obvious wrote:

My daughter and my father are both left handed for everything they do with fine motor skills (writing, manipulating small objects, cutting) but are right handed with their gross motor skills. Apparently this is fairly common.

Good point. I would also guess by not being strictly "Left handed" would cause less of an accident? (Reference to joho's article) I'm in my forties and I've only been in one car accident and that was back in HS. Btw, I wasn't the one driving.

Also want to add, I use my right hand to cut with scissors and knives. Thus far, my daughter who is in middle school has not had accidents with cutting paper and has never been to the ER. (knock on wood..) She is able to do certain things with her right hand/side as well.

I throw/write/eat whatever right handed, bat left handed, kick left footed, hockey and golf left handed, tennis i do whatever.

I am all that is man.

According the the letsrun message board, lefties are socialists destroying our country

I am not only left handed but dominate left eyed (there is a test that can be done for this.) Trying to switch someone who is predominately left handed can cause learning disadvantages so I would advise against that. There are very many famous and learned left handers including most of the Royal Family of England(Queen Victoria, Prince Charles, Prince William and Queen Elizabeth II. Although, there may be some difficulty with use of certain power tools, teaching diligence with safety is all that is needed. I have used many different power tools over the years and have never had an accident with one. I can say I do hate using can openers however due to most of them just seem to jam up on me :)

Let the lefty be one naturally and just teach them safety as all should be with anything that needs it.

left handed people ARE a curse!!!

one more dipshit mentions barak husein as a left hander is a f***ing retard. you want to claim that...person??? he's yours.. i'd kick-start his face into orbit if i could. he's gonna bring about a second revolution might be the only thing he's good for...let the rest of us thin out the heard..

any lefties have trouble driving vehicles with a manual transmission?

belly button wrote:

what about innies vs. outies?

You sure that it only applies to belly button? Think about it.