Left-handed child

Choosing left or right hand is a kind of natural process of growing and depends on which part (hemisphere) of brain we prefer to use more. Recently, forcing children to use other hand is not recommended and I agree with your wife.
There's also an easy test for checking eye-preference. Just point on something by your index finger, then if you close left eye and your finger doesn't move (you're still pointing at the same place) you're a right eye preferenced. Anyway, it's not a rule to be one sided, right hand/right eye or left hand/left eye. There was some kind of study on that topic and a half of left handed people prefer righ eye and almost one third of right handed pople prefer left eye. It's more often matching right hand/right leg (left hand/left leg).

I know several left handed people in and from Japan and when I asked them if they ever had any issue writing kanji lefthanded, they told me that it never had been any issue.

You see fewer left-handed people in Japan because they are in the minority in every country in the world- it is a recessive trait. Your daughter is not left-handed because she is imitating her mother, she is left-handed because she inherited left-handedness from her mother- that is the way her brain developed before she was born.

If children chose a particular hand because they imitated their parents I would definitely be left-handed, because both my parents are. However, my two brothers and I are all right-handed, which shows you it definitely doesn't come from imitatation.

It seems that your wife is uncomfortable to this day with having been made to use her right hand- it is completely unnatural to change the "handedness" of a child and almost impossible to completely suppress it, which is why your wife still uses her left hand.

I know that a lot of people have posted their opinions and experiences, and while I do want to touch on those things, I would also like to mention the scientific research about left-handedness.

First of all, I myself am left-handed. I won't say that there aren't annoyances involved, but the thing is that you grow up with them. They don't seem like annoyances because you learn how to deal with them as you go. You can have a very successful, happy life even with left preference.

On a more scientific basis, there are a lot studies that are starting to be done about handedness. Current research has connected left-handedness to a gene that turns off the normally prevailing bias for right-handedness. This creates a 50/50 chance of somebody becoming left-handed, but that trait starts to manifest itself even while in the womb with thumb sucking. Once a side (since left-handed people are often dominant in their left eye and foot as well) has been chosen, however, the brain starts to make pathways that are distinct to people with that dominance.

Because of that, handedness has a strong neural connection, which is a reason why researcher has shown a number of side-effects that can occur to people who have been forced to switch to being right-handed. Issues include things like stuttering and various speech impediments, learning difficulties, clumsiness, etc. Trying to force somebody to be right-handed is basically attempting to change the way their brain is wired, so it doesn't come as any surprise to me that your wife harbors such strong feelings about the issue. It can be a very psychologically painful process.

I know you only wanted to make things easier on your daughter as she grew up, but I'm glad that you will allow her to express whatever laterality she ends up having. It will really be the most helpful thing for her in the long run.

Speaking from my own experience, It is WRONG to convert a lefty to become right handed. I was "corrected" to write in right hand at early age and now lost the abilities to write, draw, and a few other things that I could do with my left hand when I was a child.

My hand writings were damn ugly (English, Chinese) and they still are. I often wonder if I would write better with my left hand.

My junior high school teacher pushed the ideas that Chinese characters must written with right hand and follow the strict key stroke orders. Now I looked back, they are just excuses that she had no idea how to teach a left handed child to write. Who says that you must follow these stroke orders? As long as the characters are nicely written, who cares.

Also for the "smudge" issue, my right hand and exercise books smudged and dirty as hell in high school. So it has nothing to do which hand you wrote.

I still considered myself a left handed person and uses my left hand for other things(holding knife, playing sports .. etc) but a left handed person couldn't write with his left hand that kind of sucks. Especially I wasn't the one making the decision but someone else did that for me.

Anyway,if you really want to encourage your kid to write in right hand, encourage her to write in BOTH hands, not just right hand.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/09/13/1196384.htm

''a separate study of Japanese schoolchildren had found only 0.7% were left-handed.''

Seems like most Japanese are still converting their left-handed kids?

Some of my Japanese colleagues (mostly middle aged) feel that converting is a good idea. I haven't met a Japanese person who objects converting as much as my wife does. After thinking twice, I don't think it's right to convert our daughter as I chose to have her with a left-handed wife. Left-handers will feel devastated if their right-handed spouse tries to convert their left-handed offspring.

Thanks for all the well-intended comments. Yes, my wife suffered after being converted. She writes Japanese slower than me (and I don't even write Japanese nearly as frequently as she does) and couldn't write very neatly. She mainly uses her left hand for other tasks. Her mum isn't that strict IMO as she only converted her partially.

For some reason, I don't mind having a left-handed girlfriend/wife, but I am a little worried having a left-handed child.

One thing to keep in mind when looking at statistics is that it's just giving you a number, not an explanation of that number. There are other reasons why the number of left-handed people is so low in Japan; for example, since it is a genetically based trait and the Japanese population is much more homologous than many other countries, there might be a smaller amount of people with the left-handed gene to begin with.

Another thing to remember during all this is that most people really cannot understand what it's like to be left-handed. A right-handed person might say it's a good idea to switch a left-handed child to using the right hand, but they probably don't know what they are really suggesting. It's not some physical change like dying your hair or getting glasses -- it messes with the way your brain is hardwired. Nobody with a scientific background or deep understanding of the issue would ever suggest forcing a child to switch to being right-handed.

Although you've decided not to make your daughter change to using her right-hand, it's clear that you still have a lot of reservations and concerns about the issue. There are TONS of websites and books out there to help parents raise left-handed children. Personally, I don't think these are all completely necessary; I received no special attention during my education regarding my handedness, and I'm currently completing my undergraduate with a full-ride scholarship. Still, here is a very informative website that might be helpful: http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/kids_help.html#

By the way, I also want to mention that I spent a month in Japan a couple summers ago. A few people remarked on my left-handedness, but it was always with curiosity, never in any negative way. One couple I talked to about it mentioned having relatives who had been forced to switch to using the right hand, but they did not see or hear of that happening as often now.

Brady, I once heard that less Japanese are born left-handed than, say, Americans or whatever that was I heard. As suggested, being left-handed is genetic, and just because the percentage of left-handed children are low, it doesn't automatically mean that many are converted. Just to let you know.

Brady, please tell me you are joking. The percieved benefit of a smudge-free page, with only the mental anguish of being forced into unnatural development of a life skill the cost?

My goodness. Please reconsider.

Left-handedness is not a bad thing. What you would 'rather' is hardly the priority here. The fact you are even contemplating suppressing your child's natural tendencies are of much greater concern.

Lastly 'converted'? This is not the changing of a car's steering wheel to drive in a foreign country, it is one of the fundamental motor skills of your own child. this is the year 2009, not 1940. Perhaps a bit of help with her writing skills would be a better option, regardless of which hand she decides to hold the pen with.

Left-handed kids are often very bright. Celebrate it. She will more than compensate for any small inconvenience that comes from writing kanji strokes left to right in a character.

Actually I am also a left handed.
There is nothing awful about it. What if he or she is left-handed? Yeah, it may be true that at some point it is disadvantageous however, there are also advantages for those who are left.

Being a left-handed is not a real issue, what really matters is that the person is comfortable with it and he or she will manage to do things in his/her own way.

I even also tried converting myself to right, I think it will not result to anything good.

I Hope this helps!

My Japanese Host Family parents told me that it was now considered bad for children to be "converted" to right-handed writing, (for younger generations), but still a lot of families are encouraging the left-handed kids to use chopsticks with their right hand.
I was wondering if there is a reason for this?

I'm left handed and there's nothing too difficult about it. I write with my left hand, and yes, can smudge my ink, but this has more to do with how I hold my pen. I don't have correct pen posture and hold my pen in a seemingly awkward way (to other people), but to me, it's fine, and I'm always complimented on how neat and tidy my writing is.

I think you should let your daughter develop naturally. Wanting what's best for her is fine, but I can assure you that worrying about what hand she favors should be near the bottom of your list, rather than a priority that requires your correction.

Life is not really any harder for lefties - your daughter will discover this and be comfortable being left handed, I promise you. I'm yet to meet a left-handed person who wishes they were right-handed. It's just not a very big deal at the end of the day, so why make it one?

I have just noticed that my daughter uses her right hand more when she's around me. She doesn't use her right hand as much around other people!

I seldom see asian females who are left-handed. Aren't they very rare?

Brady,

Your wife mother feared that her left-handed child could be teased, but her mother did not know her daughter will exhibit self-conscious behaviors throughout her life.

You and your wife's mother are alike, concerned about inconsequential matter (though warranted). Haven't you already detected your daughter's self-conscious behavior in your presence?

She use her right to please you!

Fortunately for you you have ample time to help your child. Do you know how?

Do not talk about it nor attempt to correct it.

Simply allow your child to use which ever hand she prefer. Often time an adult forget how perceptive a small child is, but be amazed at how creative a child can be.

ROFL i am a right handed, and I was seriously surprised people actually cared what hand they were, moreover care about what hand their children mainly used.

I can't beat my left handed friend in tennis because he's used to his backhand playing with mostly right handers and has a natural advantage against my backhand!

but yea seriously brady, dude, are you serious!? your daughter may be sneaky but with all due respect i think you are the one with the bigger issue..

I think you should let your daughter see your mother in law frequently too. She's very experienced in this matter and can mold your daughter to use her right more.

Do your parents and in-laws know that their granddaughter is left-handed? Most azns will encourage lefty kids to use their right hand.

Adam, you are wrong. In Japan it is no longer considered a good idea to change the "handedness" of a child. Most people are now aware that it can lead to developmental problems and stress for the child.

By the way, "azns"? I'm guessing you mean "Asians", but is it really so hard to type out the whole word so people will know what you mean?

^its just internet jargon. I do disagree however that most asians convert their children to using their right hand. That is an unproven generalisation and in my case, me being asian and mostly having asian friends, we do not have parents that mind what hand we use. My asian friend is left handed and i doubt he knew, and i didnt know, that there are some people who minded until we read this thread.

I'm half-japanese and lived there for a while. I'm also left-handed, but I never had a problem with kanji (except remembering how to read them *shivers*). Apparently if you force people to write with their other hand (the one they're not comfortable with) they can get speech stammers when they're older.