Right Handed Parents Tring to Teach a Left Handed Child to Write

I had the opposite problem, I was the lefty, my parents found a lefty to help me. My daughter is a righty, and my sister (also righty) taught her, and I taught my nephew (the only other lefty in my family). It truly is so much easier to see someone "like you" hold the pencil.

J.,
I am left handed and can give you a tip from my mom who directed a kindergarten for 13 years. The one major thing she tells everyone is do not sit across from your child to teach him to write always sit beside him. This is where the "hook" comes from. A child tries to mimic your across the table and the only way they can is to hook. Good luck to you!! Also there is a cute Lefty website that has cute lefty stuff. It is the Left Handers Club! They used to have a little booth in New Orleans and as a child I LOVED for my parents to bring me things from this store!! Enjoy!!

Hi J. (I love the way your name is spelled!)

My second is left handed and my husband and I are right handed. He is only two, but uses his left hand for everything. My brother is left handed so I asked my mom what she did. She said she called the school and the kindegarten teacher came over to the house (of course, I came from a very small town) and showed my mom how to help him.

Since we move around a lot I have no idea where we will be when Braden starts school, but I will probably call the school when the time comes.

Be prepared to see him seem like he is writing upside down with his hand. I still think it is strange seeing my brother write.

K.

Probably buy a learning book that has letters in it. Check walmart or another store. They usually have books witht he letter in them that the kids can trace over. The letters are dotted or something in the book and the kids can trace of the letters to learn to write what it is wanting to learn, I would try that for your son.

I am left-handed, and I just learned, no one made any special efforts to teach me (both parents are right-handed.) It will happen, and I think the person who said make it a non-issue is right! The tracing and learn to letter books are a good idea (try the Parent Teacher Store.) Somehow, thank goodness, I learned not to "hook", (hook my left hand around when I write.) If he starts doing this, you might want to look for help, but many "lefties" do it. I just looks so uncomfortable to me.

hi.. i am a right haned parent with a lefthanded daughter.. it is tough but not to bad what i have done is get behind her put my left hand on hers and help her make the letter.. it has worked out pretty well she can right all her letter in both upper and lower case. and now asks how to spell words so she can practice. i think once you help him few times he will get the hang of it.. whatever you do dont buy the vtech write and learn smartboard because it is geared toward right handed children. good luck

We had this problem too. At first I tried putting my right hand over her left hand to help her make the shapes, but that was awkward and not realy helpful. I found that writing the letters softly of with dashed lines and letting my lefty daughter trace them was the best way for us. They also make tablets that already have the letters printed on them this way.

Hi- we bought our daughter the Leapster game when she was 3. She started using it at about 3 1/2. There is a game called Letters on the Loose that shows them, stroke by stroke, how to write letters. I have also seen papers that have the same design that you could use hands on with your child. Basically, there is a dot at the beginning of each stroke and a dot at the end with dashes in between. We have one of those notebooks as well, and I think I got it at Wal-Mart or Target.

The Leapster game is a bit pricey, but we figured it would grow with our daughter and pass down to our son. Plus, it's all learning with games mixed in, not all fluff.

J.

My daughter, which is 8 now, is left handed. I just taught her the same way I did it and shes always been a great writer. The only problem I had is teaching her to tie her shoes! My Mother, which is left handed, taught her to do that. I suggest to just teach her like you do, it will come to your son naturally. I never had a problem w/ it. Hope this helps!

My mom is a lefty and so are 2 of my other siblings and myself. Left handed scissors are great!!! Just make sure your son does indeed cut with his left hand and make sure he holds them the right way. As to writing, when righty's write, the paper is turned to the left. I have found that if the paper is turned to the right it eliminates the hook. Hope that makes sense. Good luck!

B. A

You have some great responses here. I'm a right handed mom of 2 Leftys (ages 20 and 9) and having your child trace letters as well as placing your right hand over his left, you can guide him when he is having difficulty or attempting to master a new letter. The main issue that left handed children have when learing to write their letters is that often their hand covers what they have written.

The way I taught my left handed children to tie their shoes was to just sit beside them, each of us having a shoe directly in front of us, and just had them mimic my motions as I tied the shoelace. This worked out VERY well and only took each one of them a few minutes to learn. Your son will naturally do it left handed, but no need for mirrors, although that could work too.

If you approach teaching left handed children how to do things in a relaxed manner, not even worrying about the fact that he prefers his left hand, he will find it quite easy to learn and adapt to everything he needs to do. Just make it a 'non-issue'.

J.

Everyone in my family is right handed except for one cousin who is left handed...everytime her mom and dad or any of us tried to teach her something we had to do it in front of a mirror it may sound crazy but it works. good luck
T.