Survey on lefthanders’ school experiences
Here is a survey on school experiences
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I looooove being a leftie! It makes you stand out and be different. It wasn’t easy in school because even though we had some desks for lefties, there always seemed to be a rightie sitting at it! I think the hardest thing was learing to write left-handed with a right-handed teacher. My dad teases me that I do everything upside down. I am the only one in my family who is left-handed. I’ve always had to make adjustments. Thankfully, my experiences had made it easier to spot another leftie. I always tell them- us lefties have to stick together! By the way, you can also say that lefties think with the right side of their brains so that means we’re the only ones in our RIGHT minds! haha
It’s great being a lefty despite the set backs. We always persevere no matter what.
I am a 6th grade math and science teacher and a leftie; I struggled through school like many lefties not really knowing what I was doing wrong. Now that I am older, I am trying to find strategies that will help left-handed students understand the math concepts. I have learned from some of your comments, great ideas. Does anyone else have any other math strategies they would like to contribute, especially when it comes to problem solving, fractions or number sense?
I’m still in school, 14, and I’m a south paw. I know people who are left handed, like my dad, and were taught to write as a Right hander would! But I didn’t, I thought back. You can’t conform, I’m being told that I will die early because on average left-handers die 9 years earlier than my right handed chums. So I came back with “at least I will earn more money than you over my lifetime JERK!” which usually shuts them up, and I love being different. I also have ADHD and most people accept me for that. But thara are those people who think they are better than you, don’t take it, fight back. I mean, I am stange because my Right eye is the stronger eye, I cut with my right hand, but I don’t care. It’s me, I use right handed items, and have recieved alot of injuries from right handed devices, but oh well, it’s life. Don’t conform and be yourself, people love you for who you are, I know no left-handed girls at my school. But I love left-handed people so much, they are SO free spirited, and thats it, sorry for the long comment, Don’t conform. Love who you are south paws! I love you ALL! Peace.
Tom,
Do you know I do not know not one person who is left handed personally except for my self!! So leftys we are pretty cool!!
I was the only left hander throughout my school years. I had real trouble because there was no left handed equipment around in those days.My teachers tried to get me to use my right hand but I always refused because it wasn’t natural for me. They gave up in the end and let me be. Now I am the father of 2 left handed boys aged 10 and 13 and they are also having trouble ar their school because it doesn’t know how to handle left handed children even though there are a few more around than when I was at school. I have bought them left handed pens and scissors to help them a bit with their schoolwork at home.
I’m a Mom of three boys of 9,4and 2yrs old . The two elders are left- handed , the youngster we don’t know yet (he eats with both hands, and picks up things with both hands) . Me and my husband are right handed , and this left -hand stuff is really new for us ! My dad and my mother-in-law are left-handed , that’s where my lefty came! But as my father is older , he learned to write with his right hand(awful handwriting!) but and eats with his left hand ! My mother-in-law writes and eats with her left Hand , but uses the right-scissors (there was none left-hand stuff for her as a youngster !) And she is really very good in knitting, tricot and those fine handworks ! And see, sometimes she teaches me(right-handed) Tricot !
At the table usualy we have 3 left handed ,4 right handed and 1 unknown ! And yes , many times my fork, knife and spoon dissapears ! Guess what ? My lefty picks it up ! But it’s Ok ,I’m accustomed !For all my life this was very tricky due to my lefty-dad ! Best Wishes from Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil ; for you all : lefty dealing with righties and righty dealing with lefties !
I was recommended this website through my cousin. I am now not positive whether this put up is written by way of him as nobody else understand such specified approximately my trouble. You are incredible! Thank you!
I was told that when I was younger some lady made a big deal of me being left-handed while at the dentist. My grandma who was with me at the time freaked out. She had told me that being left is a special thing, and tried to make it feel like a good thing. I have some lefty friends, and my brother is also left handed, and sometimes we talk about how using right handed stuff is weird/hard. Sometimes my right-handed friends would join and ask why it is so hard, so I’d tell them to do it left-handed (expecially scissors). That’s when they understood. Another thing is that I got my nick name (Southpaw) in marksmanship do to the fact that I am a lefty. However I have also ran into people who are mean. They say if I mess up it’s because I’m a lefy. Someone else tried to find out how people become left-handed and they found a site that says you have to have a brain disorder. So now according to him I’m mentally retarded. But other then that one person who has issues with lefties, I am proud to be a lefty and don’t mind be part of that 10%
Hi my name is Lilyan but everyone call me lily for short . But all my life for me growing up i look around and i see all right handed people around me . For all the right handed people have it so easy . But when it come to us left handed people we have it hard . because you see us sitting at a end of the table all the time we can sit next to someone who not a left handed person. In my family there are more right handed them left handed people . there probably i when to say me and my cuz and my aunt and grandma are the only one that are left headed in are family . in my house . I’m the only left handed in the house . my mom and dad my sister and brother all right handed . i always feel odd or out of place at time and when I’m at school i still feel the same . I same time get made fun of cuz my left handed and i always have people watching how i do thing . like how i write or cook or bake and i thing it really wear they watching and it creep me our after time . it been so hard for me growing up because there really nothing out there for us instill now .
Dear Lilyan
Am from India, I too had the same inconvenience as you have now. But as the days pass and as i grow it started setting me..Now an 26 years old, working as a lecturer.People will always see different things. Later, you can feel you are special and mindy. take care..blessings
I am a “lefty” and it may be the greatest gift I have ever received. I see things differently, I do things differently and I am truely unique. I see soulutions that most people (righties) never see. Embrace differences and enjoy the different eyes and hands you get to see the world with.
I really hate it when everything in school is right handed. its really tough to adapt to these sorta things. i also hate the fact that righties call lefties ditzies or bimbotics!
yea i know it really hard when your the only one who left headed . then like a teacher make sign set make you sit next to a right hand person and you cannot really do nothing cuz you always hitting each there when you write or do thing . i know how you feel .
And I’m one of those “lefty bloggers” who wrote that post. Lisa and I had a good laugh at the music slteceion.But I notice you didn’t challenge anything factual about the post so I’ll just report that you agree with our assessment of the event.Thanks!
My 9 year old daughter is a lefty, but my husband and I are right-handed. We have been watching her closely to see how she adapt to daily tasks like eating, reading, writing etc. She uses her folk in the left hand comfortably, but struggles wth her knife in her right (obviously eating right-handed). However if she switches she cuts better with the knife in her left hand, but struggles with her folk in her right?? Her writing is beautiful, although joining up she says is tricker and makes her writing look messy. Just a month ago she started group 11+ tutoring at a private school where they are taught to think differently (problem solving style). The tutor said they get them to think differently not to be clever, but smarter. She always feels like she’s not as clever as the kids in her class at school, but in the tutoring session she says she finds she knows the answers more. Her friend she goes with has commented that she is really clever in tutoring class, but not as clever at school?? Do any of you lefties out there have any idea why this is and can you share you experiences. My daughter lacks a lot of confidence at school, although it’s apparent she can do it taught another way. Can you help me to understand how she feels and share your experiences or offer me some advice – thanks.
Could it be that your daughter is dyslexic? This might explain why she is responding better to this different way of teaching. There does seem to be a link between left-handedness and dyslexia. Our daughter, who is 14, is left-handed and dyslexic, two out of three of her half-brothers are also left-handed and dyslexic. School can be a real struggle for her and she lacks confidence particularly in English and Maths but following an assessment for dyslexia several years ago she now gets a lesson of learning support a week and also extra time/less questions in tests/exams. I am right-handed and don’t always appreciate how she has to adapt to using right-handed equipment at home or in school. She never complains and just gets on with it but I have spotted some handy things on the online shop to surprise her with.
Emma, I am a lefty and both my parents were right handed, as were most of the people around me, growing up. It did not occur to me that I was overcoming obstacles unfamiliar to others but that some things felt awkward and required more effort. My mother taught me to use scissors in my right hand, simply because it was easier for me to be effective with them. She also had a left/right potato peeler. She made every effort to assist me where she could but regardless there were some things I was better at than others. For example, I was not proficient with needlework and whenever anyone tried to help me (a right hander) it was always upside down and I had to turn it up the right way and carry on, so “help” was not much help. It would have been nice to have received instruction from a left hander. There were other skills like crocheting and knitting that never held any interest for me because of the logistical challenges learning from right handers like my mother and teachers. The school made no effort to recognize or accomodate left handedness, in fact my mother recalled a open evening where the teacher made a comment about my less than stellar handwriting and when my mother said it was n’t bad for a left hander, the teacher was unaware that I was left handed. Unlike your daughter I was not good at handwriting. My joined up or cursive handwriting was very poor, due in part to learning to write with a pen and nib, so dragging the back of my hand through the newly crafted writing.
I have not percived left handed as a negative, but instead made me more independant and good at tasks that required problem solving because every task I encountered required problem-solving!
I had trouble cutting food on my plate with a knife and devised a method of holding a slice of meat with my fork in the left hand and used a pulling/cutting technique to “cut” it. I used this technique until the muscles of my hand were strong enough to use the knife as it was designed. My parents did buy me a small size knife and fork set which really helped. Bread was easier – but I use a bread knife or large knife (to cut a joint of meat) in my left hand. I was not particularly “clever” in my junior years but by the time I was twelve or so, when I started doing more challenging mathematics and science (problem solving type subjects) at school. We moved and I changed school areas when I was eleven, going from a comprehensive area to an area where the eleven plus was still used, so was given an IQ test to determine where I should be placed. The head teacher from the junior school thought, since I placed in the middle of my class that I was secondary school versus grammar school material, but my IQ test scored very high, much higher than the position in class indicated. I am not/was not dyslexic. In spite of the less than stellar start, I ended up with 9 O-levels, three A levels in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry and a joint honours degree in Geology and Chemistry. I am a Professional Geologist specializing in water supply. My only reason for telling you this is that I work with a very high percentage of left handers – if I think back over my career, it is probably about 50%, so it is a matter of your daughter finding out her interests and where she excels and just doing it – and for her parents to realize that it might be off the beaten track! I was pretty shy at school which could be lack of confidence but later successes and strong support from parents really were important.
Hope some of this might be helpful. I am sure that it is a challenge for RH perents with a LH child. From my experience, it was not a negative but a positive. Interestingly I have learnt a lot from this website and the Left Handers articles and they have helped me realize some of the challenges I have – like hugging, for example! Regards, Helen
I remember when i was learning how to write in cursive, my teacher and mother were both perplexed because i would write with my left hand angled at almost a 45 degree angle. I was actually trying to recreate this, but i now find it quite uncomfortable. Anyways, my teacher’s solution was that i angled my paper to keep my hand straight. And to this day, i still angle my paper…must be habitual.
The fact that I was left-handed was no shock to anyone. Both my father and mother are lefties. Even my younger brother is left-handed. I do sympathize with a few of these other lefties who went to catholic school, however. I went to catholic school for 1st and 2nd grade, but luckily, my teacher was a saint (figurative) and i was never corrected like some of these lefties were.
my father has 5 brothers and sisters all right-handers!
everyone has one child left-hander!!! it is weird and funny! i hope my child will be a left-hander just like me <3
As a child, I tried to use my right hand,and one day my dad suggested I try using my left hand(this was back in the early sixties),and I was so comfortable that my parents became my advocates in my left-handedness. I am the only left handed person in my immediate family. All of my daughters are right handed. Like all left handed individuals, I have to sit on the outside when eating with friends,if not I bump elbows with the person sitting next to me.
Learning to crochet, was a challenge I had to sit in front of my grandmother in order to learn, that wasn’t a problem because my grandmother was very patient in teaching me.
I have to say that being left handed hasn’t been a problem, I adapted with learning to use scissors, and such. Learning to write was not that hard, and I am told that my handwriting is really nice.
i know how you feel . when get to a holiday family all get together i have to remind my family I’m left headed so i have to sit on the end of the table . after tell them they all look at me and say oh ok i so forgot about the okay . what do the do sit me next to some who right headed . so i always eat with my elbows in it make it even harder to eat but it work one way or anther lol
At my rural school , my first grade teacher tried to switch me in to a right hander by hitting my left hand with a ruler. i didnt understand why. so when i started to studder, my mom asked me questions . So i told her the teacher was hitting my hand and slapping me on the back, for using my left hand. needless to say shit hit the fan. yep still a lefty and though as hell.
OMG, I thought I was the only one who got “knuckled” for being a lefty. When I was in Catholic school, a had a nun – I will never forget that old bat -used a yard stick on me if she couldn’t reach me. My knuckles looked like I was scraping the floor. Like your mother, my mother reacted the same way. In Catholic school – “the devil is on your left shoulder and your guardian angel is on your right shoulder” – therefore, she tried to beat the devil out of me! My mother beat the devil out of her. No one messes with a Sicilian mother. This was back in the early 50′s. I studdered, too and couldn’t read in front of a class. Those nuns were sadists. My sister is left-handed and my two nephews are left handed. Out of 7 people in my department, only two are right handed. Needless to say, we think the two are the odd ones!
My mom, my sister, my uncle and I are lefties and in my country in South America, “zurdos” (lefties) are underestimated. I went through a lot of pain when I grew up including being hit by using the “wrong hand” or “evil side of human” but even with the beatings and punishments I use my left hand. When I was in high school, the gym teacher put me as the pitcher in baseball. I and my friend were left-handed (she was a pitcher too) and we were blessed because when the opposite team players tried to hit the ball, they were unlucky. That only happened when my friend and I pitched. In one occasion I was throwing the ball with my left and caugh it with my right-hand baseball glove when my dad saw me. He was furious with me and told me that lefties were not allowed in the family. I still did not listened to him so as a result I went to live to my own apartment. My fiancee is right-handed and he does not care if I am lefty. Lefties are intelligent since I was a valedictorian and I still being smart. I am going to college for four majors and four minors and I have over 60 awards, diplomas and outstanding achievements.
In Peru people used to see lefthandedness as a good sign: “In ancient Peru, it was believed by the Incas that being left-handed was a sign of good luck”.
source: http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/didyouknow/lefthand2.asp
I had a very old fashioned kindergarten teacher. Although she didn’t make me switch hands, it was hard to do lessons and such. I already knew how to write because my mother (Mom of three lefties) taught me. My teacher continued to try and change the way I wrote, apparently I did it wrong, until my mom went in and fought for my right to be a lefty. I’m now in high school and still have trouble when it comes to binders and notebooks (Just a thought, left handed loose leaf paper). I still can’t cut anything in school, I bring it home and my mom cuts it for me (She’s a righty). My school refuses to get left-handed scissors, and some of my teachers are jerks to me when I say I can’t cut anything out. The desks are a pain since they are designed for righties, and I always have to sit on the end of the bench when eating in school. Although this might be the wrong area to put this, I also work as a waitress, and find it extremely difficult when giving people their water and silverware to put everything on their right side, because I automatically go for my left side. I guess living in an opposite world is just something us lefties have to put up with. Although I have trials, I LOVE BEING LEFT HANDED!!!!
I’m a lefty and I always bother people by shoving my right hand onto their paper. I also smear my work. In gym, we only have righty stuff and I’m a real klutz there. But I love my left-hand!
hehe i agree Jade
At school, we have these weird desks, whereas the top part you write on would either be on the left or right side. So me, a lefty, has a right handed desk, and it’s SO hard to deal with!! I even got so desperate, that I tried writing right handed. And I turned it in that way! I got it back the next day with a C-. My teacher talked to me about and ordered a new left handed desk just for me and changed my grade!!! Then this other guy did the same thing. But he’s right handed. Hmmm…
I am the only left handed person in a family of seven, both parents are right handed, so even in the family I struggled. In school, being Catholic, I was forced to sit on my left hand as the teacher saw me as outsider until my mother decided to discuss the matter with her. Secondary school was split between between here and Ireland. Once again teachers were very indifferent to my left handeness. At home, one of the chores was to set the table, guess which way everything went and yes at the start of the meal they all had to swap their knives and forks around, now that I am married with children they know who laid the table for lunch or dinner.
At times being left handed makes you feel you are in a room full of strangers with no real understanding. since a child I have always enjoyed being in a social situation but as I grew into adulthood, I feel better with my own company. I think it helps me with my writing, which again something I have done since five or six years old, short stories, poems, novels and scripts. I have an empathy for all my characters, good or bad, male or female, has this something to do with being left handed. Eveything lies on a shelf in the cupboard, because of the self doubt that I will write something better, always pushing myself for a better piece of work.
At work, people laugh at my ability to use the mouse in the right hand and write in the left hand at the same time.
Even now I sometimes feel uncomfortable being left handed, my children always pointing it out and my wife’s frustration at the way I do things in the kitchen.
I am not special and I don’t feel special because I am handed, it is just that everything is the wrong way around for me.
i hate it when i am in class and the person to the left of me keeps hiting elbows with me because i am left handed and she is right handed. it really would make us both upset eventually we went to the teacher to see if we could get moved and she let us change seats now we can both write fine
Like so many others on here I can totally relate to all your experiences. I have managed to cope in a right hand world by just fitting in as best I can. As a child with two right-handed parents, I was often told off for not doing things right e.g I had real trouble with using a knife and fork, they wouldn’t listen when I said I couldn’t use the vegetable peeler the same way they did. I don’t think my parents realized that some of my troubles were due to trying to do things right handed. I generally found a way to do things but they were usually messier than everyone else.
My mum tried to teach me to knit but I couldn’t get it. Even looking in a mirror didn’t help. I have real trouble with the difference between left and right and get them confused all the time, don’t know if this is a lefty thing, but I do wonder if that’s got something to do with it.
To this day my handwriting isn’t the best – even I can’t read it sometimes! My parents insisted I do technical drawing at high school, I think they thought it would help me write tidier – I failed miserably and spent the year with pencil smudges all over the left arm of my school jacket! My writing didn’t improve. I hadn’t realized that rulers were a problem until reading some of your comments- I think I just automatically counted backwards.
I learnt to play recorder, flute, guitar and piano – all the right-handed way. I use a mouse with my right hand as it was easier when using shared computers. Sometimes it’s an advantage being a lefty – I can type well with my left hand and sometimes keep right on the mouse (depending on how much typing I’m doing).
I think having to learn to do things right handed has improved my left-right balance. I’m very logical and analytical but am also creative and enjoy music and crafts.
Life became so much easier when a friend bought me some left handed scissors – now when I cut fabric to patterns I can follow the lines and see where I’m cutting! I have a vegetable peeler that works well for both left and right handed people. I still have trouble with the can opener, perhaps I shall invest in a lefty one!
I spent most of my time with my grandparents before I started school. My grandmother taught me to read and write at age 3. She thought lefties grew up to be criminals and my grandfather thought lefties were stupid. So my grandmother forced me to use my right hand to write and eat. As I grew up, I learned to do some things left-handed as that was the only way I could do them. I remember telling my mom that I thought I was left-handed several times as a child, but was always told I was right-handed. At age 50, I had rotator cuff surgery on the right which forced me to use only the left for several months. It was SO much easier to do everything left-handed, I just continued to be left-handed. Finally my mom told me I was forced to be right-handed. I am proud to be a lefty. I am no longer clumsy or messy.
My memory has improved, as well as my coordination. I have ordered many left-handed items now and found it so much easier to use them. It’s great to be the lefty I was born to be even if it took me 50 years to get there. 
Learning to write was a difficulty but luckily my mum worked hard with me at home. Not only was I a confirmed left hander but when I began to write I did mirror writing, and even once she got me going the right way if I was copying and couldn’t fit it all in I just turned round at the end of the line and came back along in mirror writing. Scissors were always a problem at school as I found it so hard to use them and remember lots of comments about my untidy cutting, in those days schools didn’t have any left handed scissors. When I was at middle school we learned about the left handed shop and I got a left handed fountain pen and left handed scissors I could keep in my pencil case. No more complaints about my cutting. I developed my own way of writing, turning my pad round so I was writing vertically towards my body producing neat writing that no one would take as being by a lefty. One teacher though who got in a flap about the state of the classes writing tried to force me to turn my book round and write across my body, as soon as her back was turned I turned it back as I knew my writing was far neater than that of many of my class mates. My writing style has made it near impossible to write on blackboards, flip chart stands being slightly easier as I can stand at the right hand side and almost hug the board and write towards my body. Bumping elbows was always a problem in school unless I could get at the correct end of a row.
Only as a mature student did I discover left handed rulers, it was a God send as I had spent my school years counting backwards to draw lines as I draw them from right to left, always have done, always will do it just feels natural.
My other difficulties are cutlery, peelers, and tin openers. For years my parents went on at me about not being able to use a knife and fork properly, it was always ‘cut with your knife don’t pull’. I just couldn’t do it and came to dislike meat dinners that weren’t easy for me to cut. Then one day in my teens my mum said maybe I should use my cutlery in the other hand as I already put my side plate at the opposite side. I switched hands and bingo I could use a knife and forl properly. It’s turned many a head in restaurants when I reset the table between placing an order and getting my food. Bumping elbows remains a problem in places where there isn’t much space. I’ve had a left handed peeler since my teens, meaning I finally couldn’t get out of helping peel the veg, but it does mean that as an adult I’m not so useless in the kitchen. My folks have always had a rotary tin opener and I never managed to use it, it just results in a mangled can that they then find hard to open for me. I use one of those ones that take the whole top of the can off and can be turned either way, but a few times I have had to resort to going to the neighbours if my folks haven’t been around and asking them to open a tin as I haven’t wanted to remove the whole top as it means the contents can spill. It’s a bit embarrassing. I keep saying I will buy myself a left handed rotary tin opener. Maybe 2011 will be the year?
We must be clever than righties ,they would never adapt if it was a left handed world,shame would love to get me own back on alll the people who callled me “odd, keggie,”or you look weird doing that!
More lefties needed
If I had a pound for every time someone said to me “you look weird doing that ” or “you look awkward to doing that” I’d be a rich woman.
Reading this I am surprised at the number of people who smudge their writing – I have always naturally turned the paper sideways. It has never been an issue, and I didn’t notice at first that I was doing it without thought.
However turning your paper sideways so you write from underneath makes it almost impossible to use a left handed itallic fountain pen for me unlike one of the comments abouve I was better off with a right handed one.
I too turn scissors upside down to cut with them – although I do now have some left handed scissors they did not have them when I was at school. Having learned how to use a vegetable peeler for right handers I cannot peel with a left handed one. Similarly I have trouble using a left handed pencil sharpener as I am not used to it.
Left handed hockey sticks did exist when I was at school – there just were not enough of them.
Nostly I don’t notice the ways things are set up for right handers until recently when I pulled a muscle in my lower back. I thine started to notice how I streched over for things more – such as handles on RHS of items, toilet flushes on buttons on appliences etc.
That’s how I write too, I just found it naturally, it felt comfortable and produced neat writing that people praised, but it means I have the same problem with italic pens.
This best thing I have ever done recently was buy some left handed rulers for some students from Anything Lefthanded to give to my students in year 5. I was not fortunate like them because I am 46 and I spent the first day of school being smacked with the side of a ruler over the knuckles because I was using my left hand to write. Thankfully, that night, when my dad saw the bruises and me trying at 6 to write with my right hand he put a stop to me being forced to be a right hander.
I was the only one is the room who was left handed. I bumped elbows a lot with the person beside me. The teacher would not put me out on the left of the row. I have love being a leftie but know of the frustration I used to give my mum sometimes. I could not use a can opener because they were all right handed so I needed someone to open the dog food for me. My mum became aware of how difficult some things were for me when she saw me trying to use a little sewing machine. I was turning the wheel backwards because I had it facing the other way because it was a right handed toy.
I was loathed in softball and cricket because I learned to bat right handed after playing hockey because I had no choice but to play it right handed. Golf was and had to be right handed because there were no such thing as left handed clubs or hockey sticks. I would bowl left and bat right or left. I had trouble using a mitt in softball because they were made for right handers, so I did not use one when I played.
I cannot use left handed scissors – there were none when I was growing up and I tried to use left handed when they came out but could not. I closed my eyes to ‘think and see’ how I used right handed scissors in my left hand. I put a lot of pressure in my thumb and that’s how I can use right handed scissors in my left.
I love cooking but a lot of equipment is right handed. I have had to learn to use a lot of things right handed. I do not have a choice, there are no left handed ones.
I use thick writing books upside down so the spiral is on the right side of me or I only write on the left side of the two pages.
I don’t twist my hand in when I write so I don’t see what I have written either. I tick students work on the left so I can see what they have done. I make checklists with all their names down the right hand side of the sheet. I use a mark book on its side.
I learned to crochet right handed because the lady who taught was right and gave me no choice because she could not work out how to teach me but I learned to knit left handed by sitting in fornt of my right handed nana as she knitted coathangers.
I am the only one in my family who is left because I am the eldest. I have tracked back for four generations on my mum’s side of the family and the eldest child born in each family has been left handed except my daughter. she was the first born in five generations to not be left handed but she has married a man who is left handed.
I think that left handers are wonderfully creative, problem solving people. We have to adapt and think about things all the time and, we notice things other people don’t. We are very observant and many don’t know how the world is for us unless they live with us. My mum still says that she knows when I have been at her house and done the dishes for her because the spoons are lying in the drawer the other way round.
I saw someone cut up something recently who was a leftie and I thought, that’s how I look…..it must look weird to many but I love being a leftie!
I never did learn to knit or crochet as my mum is right handed and tried teaching me right handed, dhe’d start me off and I’d manage a wee bit but if I put it down I didn’t know which way I was going when I picked it up. She tried starting me left handed, quite a chore for her but if I dropped a stitch she found it near impossible to pick it up again for me so I gave up. Sewing machines are something I’ve never mastered either as they are the wrong way round for me as I want to control the fabric with my left hand not my right. The only sewing I’ve mastered is cross stitch as I can turn it around to stitch so the crosses all go the right way, I’ve even designed my own patterns and turned it into an art form.
I knit right handed, but I think I do it differently from righties. I just keep the right needle still and do the movements with the left. The act of passing the wool over the needle is easy with either hand and does not need particular dexterity. Wonder if others find the same. I am one of those lefties who uses a knife and fork in the ‘right’ way but gets in a complete tangle working out how to eat pudding with a fork and spoon. I am a left handed tennis player but a right handed hockey player.
I, too, am a lefty. I agree with many of the above observations… being left-handed has it’s challenges but I think there’s alot that we’ve adapted to. Take can- openers for example. Any of you turn the can opener (the electric kind) backwards and open the can that way? I don’t. I’ve simply learned to do that task right-handed.
The same with scissors. I struggled with cutting precisely for years, till someone bought me a pair of very nice, expensive left-handed scissors. And guess what? I couldn’t use them at all! I had so adapted to using right-handed scissors *with my right hand* that it was impossible to use the left-handed version.
I say all of that, to state the obvious fact that being left-handed means that we of necessity must learn to do many things in a way that does not come naturally to us. We have to adapt, and I believe it does stretch us to be versatile, to be creative……we learn to see things from the other side, so to speak.
So, fellow lefties, don’t look at being left handed as a difficulty that we must bear with. It makes us adaptable, makes us think, makes us challenge ourselves. God made us that way!
I am a leftie. And proud of it. Four of my five brothers are lefties. One of my leftie brothers just turns the right-handed scissors upside down and cuts with them using his left hand. I have tried that, doesn’t work for me. One of my leftie brothers only writes and eats with his left hand and does everything else with his right hand. My left handed check at school drives everyone crazy. Don’t blame the teachers completely for trying to change lefties into right-handed people. Society thought it was wrong to be left handed. But lefties have prevailed. I think lefties are more adaptable than right handed people because we have to learn how to do things lefthanded in a righthanded world.When you are writing with an ink pen slant your paper to the left and don’t curl your hand. I taught myself how to do that because I got tried of anink stainedblouse cuff and ink stained left hand. It is also the correct way to hold the pen and have the paper. Most teachers don’t teach that because they aren’t lefties. But it works. I have been writing that way for 40 some years and I teach my leftie students to write that way.
@Cynthia,
Good to know there’s other lefties out there like me!
Wow can I ever relate to what you wrote!
Did you get those horrid blisters on the back of your thumb from using right handed dressmakers or other shaped scissors? I too cannot use left handed scissors through years of adapting my grip to right handed ones. I do have a pair of dressmaking scissors which have left handed grip but right hand blades. That is a bit weird but they were either made by a company which did not get it, or by a company that realised that we have all been so used to using right handed scissors we could no use the left handed ones.
My infant and primary experience was horrendous! I had my left hand tied behind me to the back of the chair and the rule across my hand so I couldn’t write…. teachers have A LOT to answer for! (Imagine this in a school today? There’d be abuse claims hitting the headlines!)
In secondary school where the rule progressed to the cane, I had many lashings for being ‘unruly’ for not following right handed instructions, delivered on my left hand for not being believed to be left handed!
It did however make me reasonably ambitextrous and as a tutor use the board markers in both / either hand which focusses my learners!
I LOVE being a lefty and ensure left handed day is celebrated and lefty equipment is available.
the only time I experienced problems was when I was young, my teacher always telling me to use my right hand. that really frustrated me. I guess again, with my experience I never liked studying languages, they seemed a time waster but with other subjects like Maths, Biology and Physics, I enjoyed and passed with good marks as compared to my other classmates. I even went on to obtaining Honours degree in Mathematical Statistics.
All am saying is, being a leftie isn’t all that bad.
Here is a good scissor story. I remeber when I had entered elementary school my mother made a huge deal that I get the left handed scissors. Well, they got me the left handed scissors and to my suprise they did not work. What I didn’t know was that as a child I had already adapted. I was cutting with my right hand. fed up of the scissors never working I had just put them in the other hand, so when I finally got the left handed scissors I just put them in the right hand too. finally my grandmother bought me a pair that I could put in either hand.
I constantly had ink on the side of my hand, but I just came to accept it as part of the priviledge of being left handed. I remember the first discovery of a left handed desk. I had no clue they even existed. One day I was in college and saw a different desk sitting in the cornor, once I discovered what it was I was over joyed. And have looked for them since.
I do notice one big thing since the scissors is that sometimes I just adapt to things, or get used to it just being for right handed people. such as the can opener, I just adapt. I think that left handed people are just more adaptable like that, you know right handers could never adapt in a left handed world.
Holly
There are three left handers in our family including me and we always have to sit next to eachother at dinners. At school its hard cause they only have right handed utensils like siscers. the desks are the main problem its really hard to do work when i cant even write on the desks without feeling like im not confortable. i love being lefthanded it shows that i am different and i like it.
My leftie school-experience was quite ok, actually. I don´t even remember discovering that I was a leftie and my parents are both right handed(my great grandfather was left-handed), but have been very supporting. My biggest problem in school I think, has always been the scissors. Because if there´s one thing I absolutely can´t do it´s cut with my right hand. In kindergarten, they didn´t have any left-hand scissors, and even if they had, I´m sure the teachers wouldn´t have let me use them. They were probably the most conservative people I have ever come across. Otherwise, when I started grate school, there were always an extremely short supply on left-hand scissors, and there wasn´t really anything the teachers could do about it. So for most of my school years I had to rely on my friends to cut the things we were supposed to.
When it comes to athletics, I am kind of ambidextrous. I can use whatever foot to kick a ball, but I always seem to want my left foot in front of the other. When I took badminton classes I was lucky enough to get a left handed instructor, so that went well.
I also find spiral notebooks very disturbing. The first two words I write on a new row always look a bit strange, due to the restrain that comes with the spiral. And there´s always those little things, isn´t it? I always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but when I tried it felt so awkward. And my school actually had ONE left-handed guitar, but guess what? It was broken. And no one bothered to fix it.
Well, leftie jokes aside, it shouldn´t really matter if you use your “right” or left hand the most. And I want to help my little cousin(he´s 2) to be aware of that!
hey guys ..
i can really relate to most of yous .. bu eh do any1 correct/tick back wards i really want ta know ..
Yes. I am a lefty that used the left-handed tic when correcting or checking off items.
I don’t know anyone else that does, though.
I do too – always have!
my friend at work is also a leftie and she does ticks the same as you horray
Yes, I tick backwards – it’s more convenient & I’m proud to be left-handed. I’ve only had one person comment on my backward ticks.
me too plus when i write the symbol of and (&) i write it in the opposite way… anyone also the same??
I tick backwards. I used to do it the right handed way but swapped as it felt more natural.
I just use back slash on the left side of the page. Leftie, but does not mark you out as ‘difficult and different’
I have always had an interest to what extreme a person is left handed. I am left handed, my mom and my sister are left handed, my 2 kids are left handed. It is strange when you meet someone else who is left handed because it is almost like an instant bond.
Things I do left handed: eat, kick, shoot a basket ball, throw, iron, bowl, open doors
Things I do right handed: Cut (I never could figure out the left handed scissor), golf, swing a bat.
Things that came easy for me were music and art, seeing the big picture of things.
Things that were difficult: Math and Science, I can not drive a stick shift car if feels backwards, as well as playing certain video games. Playing guitar felt backwards, and in fact I tried turning it upside down and playing it, I just had to think a little differently.
I hated sitting in the desks in college because all of them were meant for right handed people except for the one on the end of the row. Spiral notebooks always bothered me too. I always had pencil or pen residue on the side of my left hand. Another thing that is totally meant for right handers are the pens on the signature pad at the stores.
I do almost everything left handed (cut, eat, peel, draw lines, tick, open tins, kick a ball, use a racquet or bat).
Like you I’m good at art but bad at maths.
Driving a stick shift though was never a problem as it meant using my dominant hand for the gear stick so it felt natural. Learning to drive though was fun as I’m not good at knowing my left from my right. Giving directions when in a taxi or if someone else is driving means a lot of waving of hands or pointing.
its weird the way im good at art and maths….well im better at art i can draw with one hand and colour with the other(even though it doesnt look as good)
im lefty just like evry1 else. im a little screwed up cuz my dad foreced me 2 do everything with my right hand when i was little. to tjis day, i wish he had let me be. my handwriting is kind of messy. im lefty, so is my cuzin, and all of my uncles. cutting is hell. as a kid, i was always yelled at for cutting with righty scisors with my left hand. my gym tearcher was lefty so that wasnt a big problem for me. going out to dinner with afamily is hard because wherever i sit, i bunp into someones arm. but spite all the dificultys im PROUD TO ME LEFTY!!!!
As a left-hander, I had real trouble in school; not so much with the content, but with the way it was presented. I found out years later, that one of may main reasons was that I was a random-abstract learner, and the vast majority of my teachers were logical-sequential learners, teaching only to other logical-sequential learners.Needless to say, a toxic environment to anyone who learns differently! I’ve always been very intuitive, and could solve problems by going from A-Z easily; never understanding why they wanted me to follow “logical”, sequential reasoning. I also refused to do homework, seeing it as drudgery and punish work, rather than an enhancement to my learning. I eventually earned a B.S. in Business Management, a B.A. in Secondary English Education, and master’s degree in Educational Technology by figuring out how to be successful in a left-brain dominant system. During my master’s studies, I took a course in learning styles, and found out that only 25% of the population are logical-sequential learners. Unfortunately for the other 75%, they dominate in the government, business and educational sectors. Sadly, the higher you go in education, the more logical-sequential the requirements get! Until the university systems embrace the numerous learning styles the majority of us possess, they will remain stagnant, and the progressive thinkers who may have made substantial improvements in all disciplines, will never be allowed access. The other 75% of us need to reverse this inequity.
I never was good a “team” sports, but did well in the individual ones; swimming, cycling, tennis, dancing, and martial arts. These sports allow for the creativity of thought and movement to manifest themselves. I particularly recommend bagua zhang (pa kua chang), a Chinese internal art, for left-handers. The form is based on the I-Ching circle, and the exercises are done equally on the left and right-handed sides. Lefties excel at being more ambidextrous than righties, and this form continues to build ambidexterity.
Not sure that is necessarily associated with being a leftie. we can have as many individual learning styles as anybody else.
I have been left-handed all my life. My parents didn’t know I was left-handed until after I had started school and the teacher(either Kindergarten or 1st grade)asked my parents if they were trying to switch me. They weren’t. I do the majority of things left-handed, write, eat, bowl, but due to way things were made in the 1950′s I did have to learn to use my right hand in a variety of ways. . Now I do these things with ease. I don’t have a dominent foot at all. Whichever one comes across the object(like a ball)first, is the foot that I use. Sometimes it’s my left foot, sometimes it’s my right foot.
I am proud to be a left-handed person!!!! We are all unique in our own way!!!!
Im left handed.. like everyone here. I’m 22 now and have made some observations, It is clear in my body that i am right brain dominant, as i write with my left hand, the left side of my body is more heavily muscled, and stronger, it just seems so much easier to push the left side of my body in the gym, and even when i run long distances i notice that my left leg tones and repairs much faster than my right.
I can lift my left eyebrow but not my right, I can even move my left ear by will but not my right.. I find this very interesting.
Also I am very creative where others are not.. this is usually attributed to right-brainers, I find i have entrepreneurial ideas spilling out of my head everyday.
My hand writing is CRAP.
I have almost finished a mathematics degree now and have found it exceptionally hard compared to my classmates (all left brainers).
On the other hand.. so to speak. I have become ambidextrous at many things, namely guitar playing, fly fishing, throwing a ball, playing pool, and when swimming freestyle I have always breathed on both sides quite naturally. I find driving cars in other countries with the steering column on the opposite side easier than others too.
Lefties UNITE!
OMG I TOTALLY AGREE! LEFTIES UNITE! I am also left handed however I am ambidextrous at most sports. Like you said though, my left side has proved dominance over my right side.
whenever i play sports like tennis or basketball i can always switch hands whenever the other one gets tired. so im good at playing sports that last a long time
I am the only left handed person in my family. I had a hard time in kindergarten because the teacher thought I was right handed and made me “sit” on my left hand! They told my mom that I was dyslexic because everything I wrote was backwards! My mother told them that I was left handed and she never noticed backward writing… Then it came to learning to tie my shoes… well, after spending a very long time watching a right handed person do it, I learned how to watch and “do it backward”. There are alot of things I still do that way. I have to use my right hand to use scissors because left handed scissors weren’t around when I was young. I guess you could say I am ambidedextrous, I use my right hand for alot of things, even writing! I found growing up left handed in a right hander’s world was hard, but overcoming the right hand obstacles made it easier. I wish there had been more left handed gear growing up!
I can totally relate PJ. I feel so bad to what happened to you in kindergarten. Its tough because i am also the ONLY lefty in the household, it pains me to go to chruch and bless myself backwards. But this does have one advantage. When my right handed sister and I play tennis doubles, our defense and offense is no match for two righties, our forehand is invincible
Im 21 already, and so far in my life, i used fairly both hand for daily tasks, though im a lefty. Maybe because no one complained about it since i was child (but i was scolded for using bare left hand to eat rice-Malaysian, fyi). It is easy to adapt most right handed stuff if we are still young, as the brain is still developing at that stage. Once we grow older, that things that once implanted to the brain stays on. For now, whatever on the right, i use my right hand, and vice versa, except for some stuff. It may occur naturally to some of us because of upbringing( im the only lefty in my family). However, being a lefty, my right hand is the strongest, yet my left one is the skillful. Though i can write with my right hand (only using marker and on the whiteboard, paper is exception), i dont see any much difference in quality of writing.
Just a matter, most of the time, when i play sport with lefty, i noticed how awkward i used to be because i never asked the right handers how do i look, hehe.
Dear Dexed ,
I really like your observation. I’m lefty my wife lefty, my younger sister lefty. My four sons are righthanded. I really like your observations……..” It is easy to adapt most right handed stuff if we are still young, as the brain is still developing at that stage. Once we grow older, that things that once implanted to the brain stays on.” ………But i can’t write in right hand.
yeah, even i cant write on paper with right hand. can, but i can never say those are letters. more like symbols, or scribbles. as long as my hand did not touch the surface, my right hand works just ok for writing. its very hard for me to learn something using right hand at this age, though im 21. i x dare to say if age is the concern here, because im still inexperienced. well, this thread also makes me remember how awkward i was in primary school, to learn using recorder by watching the teacher in front. i wonder at that time, is it me, or my teacher who x know how to hold a recorder. LOL.
At a picnic they were all playing archery, If I wanted to play I had to invert the bow and use it upside down or couldnt play. Sometimes I really think ….who decided it all had to be on the right side? Here we have a place that sells well water, there are several faucets and you bring bottles and fill them. The last time I went I noticed the handles were all on the right. So you have to turn on the water with the right. I tend to hold the bottle with my right, turn it on with the left crossed over then retake the bottle with the left and fill it. In essence it may be better, because my dominant hand can carry the weight of the bottle and just turn off the faucet with the right…but everything is on the right! I just feel left out many times…plain unconsidered.
I know what you mean. I’m not even 16 yet, but it’s still annoying that everything is on the right side.
At banks, and on different other places where you have to sign papers, the pens are chained to the right side of the desk, and it’s amazingly hard, if not impossible, to sign what they ask you to.
The problem is, that when you confront people about this, they always say “Oh, come on, it’s not a big deal.” so of course I’m like “Well, if it’s not a big deal to you, then just change the pens to the left side!”
I’ve been into archery since i was 3, and my father, who is ambidexterous, decided to teach me right handed. I have found that being right handed has it’s advantages because my right hand steadies the bow, and i can even use my left hand to help draw bows with a heavy draw weight by lifting the bow, and then droping it into position.
I’m lefty and my wife is also lefty. And my younger sister also lefthanded. But my four sons are rithg handed. I wanted one of them should lefty but it won’t worked. I feel pride being lefty. In my young age (1976) being lefty in the school i was treated differently which wasn’t nice.
I hate hitting somebody’s elbow because I’m left handed. Thankfully, my teachers noticed it and put me on the left side of people. It’s difficult for lefties. You don’t get much notice from people. But we all should be proud to be lefties.
The annoying thing is that children at school actually get taught how to do things, the right handed way. I am really annoyed seeing as I do things right handed… It feels really weird but I do – do more things left handed which is great! I love being left handed though! It may be annoying at times.
Karen, I completely agree with you, same with my 2ndry school, there are only right handed scissors and believe me it is really really annoying!
I am not left handed but my son is, he is 6 years old, and there are some frustrations for him at school, one is the class he is in now only had right handed scissors for the kids and he was having trouble cutting out, so I had to buy him a left handed pair to use in class, and one other thing that annoyed me was the teacher was getting him to finger space, now unless he is to do acrobats to write over top of his hand he is using for finger spacing this is just not going to work.
I had terrible problems writing as a child, but fortunately my grandfather who was also left handed, advised me to turn the paper 90 degrees, so that I didn’t have to hold my hand at that awkward angle that so many lefties do. If your son’s teacher insists that he uses his finger for spacing between words then he could do it from above the letters not below – if his teacher has a problem with that, I suggest you have a word with him/her.
I went to elementary schools in England, Canada and the States. In England and Canada I was allowed to turn my writing paper in the direction that accomodated my left handedness and could write underhanded. But in the States, I was forced to turn my paper in the same direction as the right-handed students, and learn to write overhanded, which of course made for either messier papers, as one’s hand would brush over the fresh ink, or for more muscle strain, as one kept one’s hand and arm elevated to avoid touching the paper.
The desks in my colleges in the States were all made for right-handed students, with a small writing surface attached to a right arm rest. I would try to find two vacant desks next to each other and lay a clipboard between them so that I could rest my left arm on it while writing class notes and exams. I had learned that an hour or two of non-stop writing without arm support was something worth avoiding whenever possible!
I totally agree with u , there all wrong or right , were all right ,or left
I was almost a forced righty, but I refused to turnover!
I was forced in Kindergarden, grade 2 and grade 2 untill I got used to writting with my right hand. Untill I saw a home video of me playing with my toys and making pictures from candy with my left hand, Now that I’m not forced to use my right hand I like using my left… schools shouldn’t do that to kids >.< It took me 6 years untill I could write properly with my right hand and my left is so much better!
Right, it’s difficult or nearly impossible to write with a fountain pen with your left hand. I studied caligraphy for a year and a half, and was required to use a fountain pen for that course – and in the end, had a stained cuff, stained hand, but had the accomplishment of being able to write with the fountain pen. And it was able to be read!!
I agree, it can be confusing trying to learn to play sports left-handed or left-footed. As a strong lefty myself, that was a challenge. Driving, also, was a hurdle – my left foot constantly was trying to do the job my right foot needed to do. But alas, where there’s a will, there’s a way!
Im a musician but it’s not my career, auditing is. The thing is that I started playing the guitar since I was 12 years old, now I’m 24. But I learned how to play it the way righ handers do. I have no problem using the left hand on the nick of the guitar cause it’s pretty easy and fast! But sometimes my right hand cannot keep up with the left hand so I’m having problems hehe. But although, I evolved pretty much faster than my other friends who are right handed due to my speedy left hand on the nick!
You can check my videos on youtube by searching for (MOERTZ).
Peace out!
My handrwiting and spelling was always good.I was ahead in reading, writing, drawing, music and languages. I simply had no confidence in maths and the teachers had no patience with me. Sport was a complete disaster. The PE teachers really seemed to despise me! I always dropped a ball that was thrown to me. I never understood how to apply my body to the rules of a game. The disabled kids were picked for teams before I was. I dropped out at 17 and returned to college at 19. Went to University as a mature student. Made it in the end I guess, I am doing a Masters in Education now (Left, but not least, (geddit?). I teach english in German schools, and I try to make sure that no student (leftie or righty) is made to feel like a second class citizen. This seems like a sad comment, but it isn’t really. I love being a lefty – and I love discovering that other people are lefties too – then you can have a REALLY challenging conversation, firendship, etc … other lefties don’t let me get away with social laziness.
I remember we had to keep our left hand clean, teachers called it your “Sunday hand” they never could realize the
paint can was on the opposite side of where i had to dip the
brush, of course, paint all over, hmm
also, still to this day, I received a report from my grade 6
teacher, “Despite Nicki’s back-hhand slant, she continues to progress. To this day I ask myself like what does that mean? I think it scared me for life!! seriously
At school we had to write with a old fashioned fountain pen which was great for all the right-handed kids but horrible for all us lefties. I spent more time trying to fix the smudging of my writing than actually doing my work.The ink dried so slowly that I was smudging everything I wrote as I moved my hand across the page. The side of my hand was constantly covered in ink!
I also saw how difficult it was playing sport in a right-hand dominate world.I played tennis and netball at school and I’ve never seen coaches more annoyed with left handed people. I was the only leftie on my team so the coach was constantly annoyed when he noticed that I was not following his instructions of “Step forward with your leftfoot and throw with your right.” Try following that instruction if you a lefty! I landed up doing everything my own way and my started calling me a “backwards child.”
Another small thing that annoyed me was when teachers allocated desks.If you put a lefty on the right side of a right handed person,you constantly bump arms when writing.My teachers got frustrated everytime I asked if I could sit on the left,always commenting “What difference does it make?” And all lefties know that it’s a fairly big one!
Well there are lots of other example but I won’t bore you with all those. As a side note- dispite all the challenges lefties have to face,I’ms till proud to be one!
I know how it feels when teachers are annoyed with you when you don’t follow the instructions correctly just because you’re a lefty.
I hate sitting on the right side of right-handed students because it’s annoying when your arms constantly bump.
this happens to every left handed child including me but my teacher had to move me to the lefthand side of the table because others kept on complaining