There have been little quirks through the years that remind me that Charlie will be his own person and have his own way of doing things no matter what I do or say. What I call "see-saws" are "teeter-totters" to him and the window coverings that I call "shades" are "blinds." I'm often corrected on these points. And god forbid I pronounce "latkes" wrong. "No no, mom, it's Lat-KUS!" (and how awesome is it that they made latkes at school to learn about Chanukah?)
These are just things I have to live with, given that my child is growing up in a different state than I did, with different naming conventions for every day objects. (The one thing I will put my foot down on is the soda vs. pop issue. "Pop" is a sound. "Soda" is a drink.)
Anyway. So there are little nuances here and there when it comes to raising a kid, but what no one mentioned, not even one little line in the million parenting books I read, is that there's a potential that two right-handed people can produce a left-handed kid. I suspected from a very early age, and his teachers recently confirmed, that he's a lefty. He eats, draws, and now writes (!) left-handed. It's an interesting situation I'm finding myself in. He's been enjoying practicing writing letters lately, and often asks one of us to sit down with him and show him how it's done. I'm really struggling with the whole left-handed thing. I can't for the life of me figure out how to show him the way to hold a pencil in his left hand. I can't figure out how to guide his writing the way he asks me to, because when I hold his left hand and try to write with my left hand it just gets ugly. The saddest part is that he's got this dry-erase book that he loves, but since he's writing left-handed his arm drags across the work he's already done and erases it all. I can totally understand how that would be frustrating to him.
I wanted to be a lefty so bad when I was growing up! I thought it was cool and exotic. I guess this is what I get.
The upside is that there's always a market for left-handed relief pitching!
ETA: Did you know that lefties can have their very own special way of making letters?
Thanks for the link! I never noticed that I make my letters differently, but I did exactly like that link stated. Alex is a lefty too, but I'm a fifth generation one so I guess we had that going for us.
ReplyDeleteMy dad is a lefty, I always have loved the way he writes.
ReplyDeleteGuess who is a lefty?? DAVIS!!! I knew he was a lefty when he started using utensils to eat with at about a year old, kept thinking maybe he would grow out of it, but he hasn't he still only uses his left hand for everything and he writes with it too. Neither Jeff or I are left handed so this should be really interesting when we actually have to get down to teaching him how to write his name and stuff.
You may have already searched this, but there are good lists of famous left-handed people. Maybe he will be more ambidextrous which I think is a great skill. My left hand could be more useful than it is.
ReplyDeleteThat is a tough situation! I can't imagine...
ReplyDeleteI'm a lefty!! So is Owen. :-) It really concerns John because he's not sure how he's going to teach Owen to throw a ball or do other sports-y stuff. I love it, because I'm not the only one in the house anymore!!
ReplyDeleteMy advice: a) give him pens to write with as pencil will smear. b) when teaching him to cook, you're going to have to have pot handles face the other direction otherwise he'll knock into them (found out the hard way) c) have him angle the paper a bit, lefties have a hard time writing on straight paper d) don't stress - both my parents are righties and I hold my pen normally and have nice handwriting! :-)
just read this post and thought of your post.
ReplyDeletehttp://thisstopwilloughby.blogspot.com/2012/01/brace-yourself-if-you-need-to-that-is.html
That was so interesting... I had no idea I made my letters differently than right handed people! But, I do them just like they show on the site. I'm certain C will figure out what works for him! It just takes time. And at least he doesn't have teachers hassling him and trying to make him use his right hand like a lot of us adults had to deal with when we were little!
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