parents of lefties?

[♥ms.pacman♥]

any favorite products/school supplies etc you can recommend?? the other thread on scissors got me thinking..DD (4.5) has had a MUCH harder time learning how to hold a pencil, cut with scissors, etc than my DS. She still struggles with holding a pencil and cannot really draw shapes yet (much less letters) as my DS could at the same age. And it just occurred to me..wonder if a lot of this is bc DD is left-handed? I just ordered a Fiskars lefty kids' scissors on amazon, and some pencil grips (that should work for righties and lefties both, so DS could use them)..any other rec's?? Can't believe I just now thought of this... My mom and brother are both lefties and my mom would always go off about how she struggled a lot with school, writing, etc esp in the old days where there were only right-handed desks, etc.

[wellyes]

The big thing for lefties is to get notebooks without wire, because it snags our arm when we write.
Or teach the kid to use notebooks backwards

[gatorsmom]

My dad and daughter were/are lefties. I was going to recommend the Fiskars scissors that dd likes. Depending on the type of seating arrangement, my dad used to try to get a place on the end of a table so as not to bump elbows with a rightie. But other than that, I can't think of anything. Dd is in 2nd grade and her handwriting has always been beautiful. Much better than my 3 boys' rightie handwriting.

If your dd is having trouble with holding her pencil or with her grip, our PT recommended this for DS3 when he was in 1st grade. They helped a lot with his hand tiring out.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CBU...cils+ergonomic

[JBaxter]

I have 2 lefties. I bought the scissors but he uses the Right or Left type just as well. my 20 yr old left gets frustrated with can openers but thats about it. No special note books or anything else.

[AnnieW625]

Way back when in elementary school I had friends who had spiral notebooks that opened on the opposite side, I remember seeing them at Longs Drugs or Payless Drugs. No idea if they still sell them or not. I bought Fiskars left handed scissors at a local school supply store, but apparently there are better options out there. Other than remembering to sit on the outside of booth and or to the left of a right handed person at a restaurant I can think of much that is different ESP. in school. DD2 hasn't decided if she is left or right handed yet.

[wendibird22]

I'm a leftie, as is DD1, and we have no special products and no real issues. Both of us cut with our right hand, and I've never met a can opener that I couldn't use.

I guess if I did have a recommendation it would be dance class! I attribute a lot of my right hand dexterity to dance. When you are in a dance class with other kids you are the rare leftie and end up learning all the steps right dominant. I also was a gymnast, baton twirler, etc and again, if you do anything as a group you are going to cater to the righties. I think that's a HUGE help in leftie coordination and righty dexterity.

[Reader]

I am a leftie with 2 lefty kids. We didn't do anything special with school supplies. I do remember appreciating left handed desks in college but that's about it. I also taught my kids about smearing ink/markers when writing. I cut right handed. My 2 lefties have neater handwriting than the right handed kid, FWIW.

[ExcitedMamma]

For DS the only thing special is the left handed scissors. It does make me smile that his left hand is always dirty from his pencil smudges. As a righty I forget things like that so I didn't realize that having him practice his writing on a white board was not going to work out after we tried it. I remember reading that kids can develop hand domination as late as 5 but he did by 18 months so I'm not sure if that helped with muscle strength sooner or doing activities helped. You could try to develop hand muscles with small golf pencils and crayon rocks and that will help her build up the right grip for writing.

Yep to the above, DS is always a step behind in karate because they always start right and he wants to go left.

[georgiegirl]

Dd is 9 and she's totally adjusted. In first grade the teacher did have her handwriting journal bound at the top instead of the side.

[ShanaMama]

I'm a lefty and don't use any special supplies. My hands always smudged the papers, though. I was just explaining to DD, who is really excited to use pen in school, why erasable pens were always so annoying for me. I do cut right handed and I am quite talented at opening cans.