lefties I need your help

[malphy]

DD is a leftie and I wanted recommendations for anything she may need for kindy this fall.

What is the best pen for a lefty? she always ends up with ink on her hand.

anything I should know? My mom was a leftie but unfortunately I cannot ask her advice as she passed away 16 years ago.

[Neatfreak]

I don't actually use any special "left-handed" things. I had a couple of pairs of lefty scissors when I was in elementary school, but prefered to use the same scissors as everyone else in my class and didn't find cutting difficult (or easier with the lefty ones, either). Ink on the side of one's hand is just a fact of left-handed life, I think. I usually buy fine-tipped pens instead of the regular ones because there's less ink to smear across my paper with the side of my hand!

The thing that I encountered at school that was quite bothersome were coil notebooks. It was just uncomfortable to write on the right-hand side pages, trying to fit my hand b/w the coil and the page margin! I haven't bought one of those since I finished high school!

[wendibird22]

Yeah that.

I cut with my rt hand and so does my lefty daughter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[azazela]

I'll be watching this thread as I have the same questions. I'm hoping they'll stick to pencils in K, less to smear! My elementary school requested marble composition notebooks, are those ok to write in (as opposed to the coil ones)?

[ged]

I also cut and throw with my right. The LH scissors are horrible, IMO.

A regular composition notebook will be better than the coil ones. When I got older, I started buying the kind that had the coil on top. I liked those much more.

Depending on how small the desks are , you may want to make sure the teacher is aware of her left handedness and allows her to sit on left edge so as to not bump the kid next to her.

[anonomom]

In Kindy, they should use pencils, so smearing should be less of an issue.

Once she is using pens, stick to ballpoints or other pens that dry instantly. They will still smear, but much less than a felt-tip.

I also used to flip my spiral-bound notebooks around and write starting from the back page. That helped get the coil out of the way. But again in Kindy, the probably won't be dealing with notebooks yet. Marble comp books don't present the same problem.

[georgiegirl]

My DD (6) is left handed and didn't have any problems in kindergarten. I mentioned something to her teacher at the beginning of the year about it, but her teacher said all scissors in the room worked for both righties and lefties. They only used pencil to write. They did use spiral notebooks for their math journal and word works journals, but dd never mentioned anything about it being difficult.

[karstmama]

handedness isn't absolute - many lefties use scissors or crochet or cut their meat rightie-style without thinking. i'd say just tell the teacher to keep her eye on your dd & then if she's struggling with anything you can get her the special version of whatever.

[MamaMolly]

I learned pretty early to turn my paper almost so I write top-to-bottom instead of left to right. That way I didn't smear plus the spiral note books didnt hurt. Kind of the same effect as hooking my hand (like Obama) without the wrist cramp. ;)

IME lefty scissors are crappy. I learned to cut with regular ones.

[alien_host]

DD is entering 2nd in the fall and is a lefty. I agree w/ PPs. The only thing is that they used small white boards and expo markers a lot and that was a challenge for her. She has learned to hold her hand up to not smudge it, but I wonder if that will impact proper pencil holding for writing on other surfaces, so far it has been ok.

[mommytoC]

I learned pretty early to turn my paper almost so I write top-to-bottom instead of left to right. That way I didn't smear plus the spiral note books didnt hurt. Kind of the same effect as hooking my hand (like Obama) without the wrist cramp. ;)

IME lefty scissors are crappy. I learned to cut with regular ones.

:yeahthat:

[scrooks]

I think I just adjusted to whatever was given me as a kid. In elementary school I remember cutting with the green handled scissors but beyond that (pens, notebooks etc... ) I must just be used to the uncomfortableness and the smear :ROTFLMAO: I ended up learning to cut right handed as time when on.

[MontrealMum]

Once she is using pens, stick to ballpoints or other pens that dry instantly. They will still smear, but much less than a felt-tip.



This is the biggest one for me, but PP have pretty much covered it all.

I doubt they have those shaped desks in kindy that they do in highschool, you know, where the "table" is curved and you squeeze yourself behind it? Like this. (http://milwaukee.ebayclassifieds.com/furniture/brookfield/school-desk-chair-adult-refinished/?ad=1893458) But as your DD grows you may want to either ensure that they have LH ones for her, or that it's permitted for her to twist herself sideways to use the RH ones. The twist method got me unjustly accused of cheating more than once.

We lefties are very adaptable. I do a lot of things with my right hand just because I had no other options. I also just taught myself to do a lot of things LH after being shown how to do them RH.

[pinkmomagain]

2 of my 3 r lefties. They have never needed anything special for lefties ever.

[wendibird22]

Just wanted to add that I think for me doing dance, baton, and gymnastics really helped me adapt and learn more right hand coordination. In a group of righties you can't b the only one balancing on your left or twirling left for a recital. Right cartwheels, spins, poses etc became 2nd nature. Dd1 is a lefty and I can't wait for her to start dance this fall.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JustMe]

Ds is a very consistent leftie. He is going into first gradet this year and so far has done fine with no special adaptations/accessories.

[citymama]

My DD is a leftie, and I've never had anything special for her and she's been fine in K. DH is leftie too and it looks like DD2 might be as well! Lefties rock!

[JBaxter]

2 of my 4 are lefties I've never done anything different.

[lalasmama]

handedness isn't absolute - many lefties use scissors or crochet or cut their meat rightie-style without thinking. i'd say just tell the teacher to keep her eye on your dd & then if she's struggling with anything you can get her the special version of whatever.

This made me laugh, only because my family is a lefty bunch... I'm the only righty! I do lots of things "backwards" (ie, my fork goes in my left hand)... but mom always did many things "righty" (we never had different scissors, she didn't start the backwards note book until she was an adult, etc).

DD started out favoring her left very much, and now is a righty.

[greatcanuk]

My husband and I are not lefties, but my 9 year old DD is. So, of course I had to do a ton of research about it. ;) I found a great website with lots of info, with some stuff on kids:

http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/

Although using special lefty items didn't make a difference for a lot of BBB moms, they did for us. We use child-size lefty scissors, and DD does cut more neatly. Fiskars is one of the few companies that make them (the ones that are advertised in most stores as being good for left or right-handed use aren't really--the actual blades have to be reversed). I got these online. Also not using the dull scissors they have in classrooms helps too. Since DD is getting older, I let her use adult lefty scissors with supervision, which I got at either AC Moore or Michaels in the sewing section.

Also DD complains of her hand cramping when she writes a lot; I've read this is because lefties have to push their hand to write, whereas righties pull their hand. And there is more stress on the hand because of trying not to smear and trying to see what they've written. I try to alleviate that by using "more comfortable" pencils--Ticonderoga makes a thicker pencil that has a black rubberized coating, which I found at Staples. When DD was younger, she complained that her classmates were always using her pencils and not giving them back--although this might be because of the novelty factor. You can also use triangular pencil grips, which encourage the correct grip. As PP said, turning your paper with the top towards the right helps too.

The thing with using lefty stuff in school is that younger kids usually take their pencils and scissors from a common supply, so it's just easier for DD to use what's there. More than once, her lefty scissors ended up in the common tin. So we use our lefty stuff more at home. I'm sure people don't need this stuff, but for us it helped. Also try not to make too big a deal about being a lefty. When DD was old enough to notice and ask about being different, I said it was just like wearing glasses (which my DH and I do) and I pointed out some famous lefties.

HTH,
Camille

Oh, I forgot to mention that if you are a righty and you are teaching a lefty to tie shoelaces for example, you sit across from them and not next to them.

Edited to add: Just noticed that OP asked about pens, I've heard that for gel pens Pilot Jetstream smears less, although not perfect.