Left-handedness occurs in about 15 percent of the population. Although left-handed children tend to have more trouble with manual tasks than right-handers, studies suggest that left-handed people are often unusually creative, inventive, and athletic.
Left-handedness first becomes apparent between 3 and 6 years of age. If your child is left-handed, don’t try to change the dominant hand-the child may become frustrated and anxious. writing
Learning to write can be difficult for lefties because the left hand, as it moves across the page, covers the words just written. Provide a beginning writer with a pen or pencil that won’t smear and encourage him to hold it far enough from the point so that he can see what he has written. Let the child decide for himself between the hooked position-with the hand curved above the written lineand the standard position-the hand below the line.
At the table, at study, and at play At a dining table, some left-handers prefer to sit at a corner of the table and to the left of a right-hander so that their elbows won’t collide. Others have no preference. It is more important for lefthanders to sit at lefthanded desks. Otherwise, theirwriting angle will be extremely awkward, putting them at a disadvantage.
Left-handers seem to have an edge in many sports. In tennis, squash, and other games played with a racket, they have an advantage because their opponents are accustomed to the spin, angles of return, and weaknesses of right-handed players. In baseball, left-handed batters stand on the right side of home plate, several steps closer to first base than a right-hander. Tools and equipment
In sports and elsewhere, equipment can be a problem for left-handers, though not nearly as much as it once was. Left-handed golf clubs and baseball mitts are widely available. Many tools and appliances come in lefthanded models (scissors, for example) or can easily be adapted for lefthanders (steam iron cords usually can be shifted to the left side).
Certain right-handed tools, such as chain saws, are dangerous for lefties. Take the time to find left-handed ones.