In Grandma’s day it wasn’t unusual to hear that the right hand was the “angel’s hand” and the left, the “devil’s hand”. Few people today are so thoughtless, but right-handed parents might look closely at such tools as ladles, butter knives and can openers and even certain toys before they label left-handed children awkward. A left-handed child may be encouraged to try doing some things, such as eating, right-handed, in order to save trouble for himself of herself later, but DON’T PUSH IT!!!
• Don’t make such a big deal of a child’s being a lefty that he or she feels handicapped. Making a point of always seating the child at the end of the table, for example, draws unnecessary attention to him or her and sets up a habit that can’t always be followed.
• Provide left-handed scissors from the start, because right-handed ones simply don’t work very well for a lefty. And check to be sure that your child’s school provides them, or send your own.
Suggest that the child turn right-handed scissors upside down, if he or she MUST use them sometimes.
• Tilt paper to the right instead of the left when your left-handed child begins to draw and write, to avoid awkward and often inconvenient “hooked hand” writing later.
• Teach your lefty to cross the left-hand string over the right in order to get a straight bow.
• Try having a left-handed child follow your movements in the reflection of a mirror when he or she needs to imitate some action of yours to learn a new skill.
• Buy some special left-handed equipment to make your child’s life easier and to add a little humor a mug with the child’s name on the front and the handle on the left, a notebook that opens from the back, a left-handed baseball mitt, a “lefty” T-shirt. There are special left-handed merchandise shops in many cities, and some mail order catalogs offer left-handed items.
Vicki Lansky’s practical, common sense approach to parenting is familiar to millions throughout the world. Vicki’s first book, Feed Me, I’m Yours, published in 1974, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country, was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her other titles include: Toilet Training, Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8, Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep … and Back to Sleep, Trouble-free Travel with Children, Baby Proofing Basics and Games Babies Play From Birth to Twelve Months, Koko Bear’s New Potty, A New Baby at Koko Bear’s House, Koko Bear and the New Babysitter, and Koko Bear’s Big Earache. Vicki Lansky’s Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath
