My child is left-handed, and it has been suggested that I try to change him to being right-handed. Is this recommended?
Doctor’s Advice:
The preferred use of one hand appears early in life, and in time one side of the brain assumes dominance over many activities of the body. If the child is right-handed, the left side of the brain is dominant; if he is left-handed, the right side of the brain is dominant. There is a difference of opinion as to whether hand preferences is determined primarily by heredity or environment.
Whether a child should be encouraged to continue his left-handed tendency or efforts should be made to change him to right-handedness is a matter of controversy. It is believed best not to make efforts to change a child from a left-handed preference to a right-handed preference once the preference is established.
The child who is naturally left-handed will be less successful with right-hand activities such as writing and using tools if an attempt is made to change his preference.
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A parent should never try to change a child’s innate tendency to write left-handed. It will only confuse them throughout life and will take away their specialness that comes from being a lefty. In China, ALL children must write HanZi (Chinese characters) right-handed. If a child in China is left-handed, they are looked at as someone who is from another planet. Lefties are more clever than right-handers and therefore should be left alone when using their preferred hand to create with. We are a minority in the world and we should be proud that we are different from 90% of all others on this planet. Being a lefty is right-on!