Left hand, right hand?

[mmswm]

I describe myself as VERY right handed. The only things I do with my left hand/arm are hold babies (as does almost everyone for some mysterious reason) and things that require two hands/arms. Even when painting or something if I consciously shift arms to 'rest' my right arm I will find a minute later that I've unconsciously switched back.

When I fractured my right elbow and had to use my left arm (could still write but not move my arm) for things I actually bruised my own face with my toothbrush, I was that incompetent. 

My guess would be that if you hold a baby with your non-dominant arm, that leaves your dominant arm available for doing other tasks.  I should add that to the list of things I do "lefty".  I hold babies in my right arm and if I have to, I can cook, load the dishwasher, grocery shop, etc. with my left hand.

[Iris]

I describe myself as VERY right handed. The only things I do with my left hand/arm are hold babies (as does almost everyone for some mysterious reason) and things that require two hands/arms. Even when painting or something if I consciously shift arms to 'rest' my right arm I will find a minute later that I've unconsciously switched back.

When I fractured my right elbow and had to use my left arm (could still write but not move my arm) for things I actually bruised my own face with my toothbrush, I was that incompetent. 

My guess would be that if you hold a baby with your non-dominant arm, that leaves your dominant arm available for doing other tasks.  I should add that to the list of things I do "lefty".  I hold babies in my right arm and if I have to, I can cook, load the dishwasher, grocery shop, etc. with my left hand.

I couldn't find the original studies, but apparently it transcends left-and-right handedness and a significant majority of all women hold babies on their left (between 70-85% was often quoted). I couldn't find any studies done on men. There's a bunch of theories hanging around but none that are backed by any real evidence. Of course, since I couldn't find the original studies it could be one of those "women say ... words, but men only say ..." urban legends.

[Julian]

I consider myself very much a righty, however...

I did teach myself to write lefty in school.  If I don't concentrate though, I end up mirror writing instead, and the mirror writing is way neater than the normal way.

I worked 20 years as an OR nurse, a certain amount of ambidextrousness (is that a word?) is not only handy, but in some cases necessary.  Holding a retractor in one hand and snipping sutures with the other was normal.  Third or fourth hands would have been advantageous!

I use the phone lefty.  I cannot bring myself to hold the phone to my right ear at all.

I hold jars with my right hand and open the lid with the left.  Don't know why, and it's a pain as my left is definitely weaker than my right.

These days I have carpal tunnel in the right hand, and arthritis in my left thumb, so I tend to switch things around a bit as required, particularly things like using screwdrivers, drills, saws etc.  Handy! 

My car is manual (stick shift) and I'm in Aus, so it's left hand for the gear stick, but that's what we have here, it's all I've ever known.  It would feel weird to shift gears with the right hand.  The motorcycle, fortunately, seems to be set up the same over the world (except for odd makes).  Maybe next time I'm in the US I'll rent a bike instead!  :-)

I definitely crochet and knit right handed. 

And every now and then, when I grab a pen to write something, I grab it with my left hand for some reason.  It's not till I'm trying to work out why it feels wrong that I realise I've got it in the 'wrong' hand.

[WestAussieGirl]

This is a timely topic for me because my 5yo hasn't established dominance yet so he is currently having to go through daily testing to see if they can determine which it should be.  I'm hoping the professionals can figure it out because it has me baffled. He will write with his left but colour with his right.  He picks things up with his left but will just as often pass them to his right to complete the task.  He hits left but throws right.

I am not ambidextrous (righty) but I cannot tell left from right without a cue.

[Editeer]

I'm a righty. I can write backwards with my left hand.

[Stanwyck]

I'm a lefty who does some things right handed. Mouse, cut with scissors, cut with knife and fork (but without fork I cut left handed). I've never had problems using standard implements (can openers, irons, door knobs, etc.) with either my right or left hand. I have a left handed corkscrew and I can't use it as it twists the wrong way.


When I was a toddler, my mother had some ladies over for coffee and one of them, a teacher, saw me coloring with my left hand and suggested that Mom start switching me over to be right handed otherwise I'd never keep up in school (because apparently intelligence is related to handedness  ). Mom said that since my father was left handed and he didn't have any problems, she thought I'd be OK.


I have a theory that most lefties are more adept at using their right hands than most righties are at using their left because we have to adapt to a right handed world.

[kareng57]

This is a timely topic for me because my 5yo hasn't established dominance yet so he is currently having to go through daily testing to see if they can determine which it should be.  I'm hoping the professionals can figure it out because it has me baffled. He will write with his left but colour with his right.  He picks things up with his left but will just as often pass them to his right to complete the task.  He hits left but throws right.

I am not ambidextrous (righty) but I cannot tell left from right without a cue.

Just curious - and maybe I'm extra dense today - but why is it so important to the powers-that-be which orientation your son has?

I grew up in the 1960s and by then (here, at least) they'd quit trying to switch lefties to righties.  But the only real difference I can remember is that the lefties were given special left-handed scissors.  If a kid was generally right-handed but used his/her left hand for scissors, couldn't they just give him the lefty scissors?

I'd think that being ambidextrous like he is would be a big advantage.  Lots of people have an awful time if they fracture fingers/wrists/arms on the dominant size and have to try to do tasks with the "other" hand for several weeks.

[RegionMom]

For baby holding, I have heard that since the heart is on the left side (sort of) that holding the baby there is comforting and familiar.

[mmswm]

I describe myself as VERY right handed. The only things I do with my left hand/arm are hold babies (as does almost everyone for some mysterious reason) and things that require two hands/arms. Even when painting or something if I consciously shift arms to 'rest' my right arm I will find a minute later that I've unconsciously switched back.

When I fractured my right elbow and had to use my left arm (could still write but not move my arm) for things I actually bruised my own face with my toothbrush, I was that incompetent. 

My guess would be that if you hold a baby with your non-dominant arm, that leaves your dominant arm available for doing other tasks.  I should add that to the list of things I do "lefty".  I hold babies in my right arm and if I have to, I can cook, load the dishwasher, grocery shop, etc. with my left hand.

I couldn't find the original studies, but apparently it transcends left-and-right handedness and a significant majority of all women hold babies on their left (between 70-85% was often quoted). I couldn't find any studies done on men. There's a bunch of theories hanging around but none that are backed by any real evidence. Of course, since I couldn't find the original studies it could be one of those "women say ... words, but men only say ..." urban legends.

I think I recall reading something along those lines.  Like I said, the free hand thing was just my guess, mostly because it would make a lot of sense to have one's dominant hand free while holding a baby.

[NutMeg]

I am primarily right handed, but because I began playing the French Horn at a young age I am comfortable with using my left hand for a lot of things, and often do.

The French Horn is the only brass instrument that requires the left hand to be used to depress the valves, rather than the right hand.

[WestAussieGirl]

Just curious - and maybe I'm extra dense today - but why is it so important to the powers-that-be which orientation your son has?

I grew up in the 1960s and by then (here, at least) they'd quit trying to switch lefties to righties.  But the only real difference I can remember is that the lefties were given special left-handed scissors.  If a kid was generally right-handed but used his/her left hand for scissors, couldn't they just give him the lefty scissors?

I'd think that being ambidextrous like he is would be a big advantage.  Lots of people have an awful time if they fracture fingers/wrists/arms on the dominant size and have to try to do tasks with the "other" hand for several weeks.

They don't try to switch them anymore but apparently (natural) ambidexterity makes it take a lot longer for them to develop hand strength and dexterity because they can just switch as soon as their hand begins to tire. Kids with a strongly dominant hand get twice as much practice with that hand.

They won't force him to make a choice but we will just try to encourage him to use whichever is dominant as often as possible.

[Dazi]

Just curious - and maybe I'm extra dense today - but why is it so important to the powers-that-be which orientation your son has?

I grew up in the 1960s and by then (here, at least) they'd quit trying to switch lefties to righties.  But the only real difference I can remember is that the lefties were given special left-handed scissors.  If a kid was generally right-handed but used his/her left hand for scissors, couldn't they just give him the lefty scissors?

I'd think that being ambidextrous like he is would be a big advantage.  Lots of people have an awful time if they fracture fingers/wrists/arms on the dominant size and have to try to do tasks with the "other" hand for several weeks.

They don't try to switch them anymore but apparently (natural) ambidexterity makes it take a lot longer for them to develop hand strength and dexterity because they can just switch as soon as their hand begins to tire. Kids with a strongly dominant hand get twice as much practice with that hand.

They won't force him to make a choice but we will just try to encourage him to use whichever is dominant as often as possible.

I never found that to be true with my personal experience.  As an Ambi my hand strength is perfectly normal and nearly identical in both hands...the only exception being when I broke my right arm and my left was stronger for a few months.  And my hand dexterity has always been phenomenal.  Some tasks I preform slightly better with one hand over the other, but it depends what hand I learned to do the task with originally.

Some things like sports and shooting I do better lefty, but not because of handiness but because I have a dominant left eye. 

Another kind of weird thing is right brain/left brain testing.  Most people show a clearly dominant side, I do not.  In fact, one test I was given, my results puzzled the test giver as I scored something like 49.99% and 50.01%.  I was given another test and still scored something like 49%and 51%.  The plus side was I was a fantastic student and can adapt my thinking very quickly to most situations.

[Wench]

I am left handed but use my right hand to use scissors and use the mouse on my computer.  I also eat in a right handed fashion but use chopsticks  in my left hand.  I can sort of write with my right hand but its a very slow process. 

My biggest issue is that I have a lazy left eye so my left side of the brain is controlling both of my eyes but the right side of the brain is responsible for my hand, which means I have bad hand eye coordination.  (This is my theory anyway)  I am the worse tennis player ever and hand sewing is a painful experience especially if I have to use a larger needle.  I also only have an automatic license as I could not cope with the manual gear without looking down to change gears.  Funnily enough I can coordinate myself enough to just about hit a shuttlecock in badminton.

[mechtilde]

I'm a very definite righty, and am much clumsier with my left. About the only time I really use my left in preference to my right is when I'm counting banknotes and am holding them in both hands.

I found it really odd when my elder son turned out to be a left/ambidextrous- mostly because I wanted to encourage him to do everything lefthanded, and he naturally prefers to do a few things right handed. I had to realise early on what I was doing and back off.

[Ezeesee]

I'm very very right-handed, but also wear my watch on my right wrist. Is this unusual? I've had people comment on it before, as it seems that most people wear their watch on their non-dominant arm.