7 Things Every Parent Should Know About Handedness

  When my toddler started handling things, I noticed that he seemed to prefer his left hand. So, I started to teach him to use his right. After all, he did use his right hand sometimes, and only needed my help to stick to it, right? Wrong. It wasn’t until he started preschool at two that I began to consider the possibility of his being left-handed. One day, while helping him with his homework, I realized that what my son really needed was for me to help him fully be himself. So I paused, called his teacher, and asked which hand he favoured in school. “Left. In fact, when I attempt to get him to use his right, he shuts down. So we’ve let him be.” I decided to let him be too, right there and then; let him be who he is. I also started researching handedness, and here’s what I’ve learnt so far: 1. Studies suggest that 70–90% of the world population is right-handed. This means that right-handedness is most common, and explains why people in the past forced left-handed children to use their right hand, resulting in poor writing skills, discouragement, frustration and depression. 2. 10% of the world population is left-handed- they are more skillful with their left hands. However, you shouldn’t assume your child is left-handed for the simple reason that they use their left hand a lot, because… 3. 30% of the world population are mixed-handed, of which one per cent is naturally mixed-handed. Mixed-handed people are more skillful using their left hand for certain tasks, while for other tasks they use their right hand. This is also known as cross-dominance. I suspect my son falls in this category, so I’m paying close attention to see if there’s a pattern of change of hand preference when he’s writing and eating versus when he’s picking up or throwing things. 4. Ambidexterous people are those who are equally adept at using both hands. Only 1 out of 100 people are naturally ambidexterous. A friend of mine was involved in an accident as a child which affected his right hand, and for the duration of recovery, he had to learn to use his left so as to continue his education; he remained ambidexterous even after recovery. Most times, children who were born left-handed and made to learn to use the right hand acquire ambidexterity. However, most of them still tend to favour the “dominant” hand. 5. Research suggests that disorders related to brain development, like dyslexia, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, are more common in left-handed people, because of how the brain is wired. 6. Handedness is only partially genetic. Stress is an important environmental factor. Low birth weight babies, babies whose mothers experience unusually high levels of stress during pregnancy, and babies born to older mothers are more likely to be left-handed. 7. Because they are in the minority, left-handed children need positivity in order to grow up confident. It may hurt to find that Nigerian cultures, and even Christianity, tend to favour the right hand, but be reminded that over the years, many lefties have made great impact in their various fields, including Leonardo Da Vinci, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, Aristotle, Albert Einstein, James Cameron, Spike Lee, Pierce Brosnan, Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Judy Garland, Whoopi Goldberg, Nicole Kidman, Marilyn Monroe, David Bowie, Eminem, Jimi Hendrix, Sir Paul McCartney, Henry Ford, The Queen Mother, Winston Churchill, President George Bush, President Bill Clinton, and President Barack Obama. Be encouraged, your little lefty is in good company! About the author: Joy Ehonwa is a writer, editor and online proofreader who is passionate about relationships and personal development. She runs Pinpoint Creatives, a copy-editing, ghostwriting and transcription business, and blogs at www.anafricandiva.wordpress.com and www.girlaware.wordpress.com