Overview

As your child builds fine motor skills, you may wonder if they’re left handed. Between 2 to 4 years of age, they will start to show a preference for one hand over the other. By the time your child is 6 years of age, they should have a clear hand dominance. Figuring out which hand works best for their body is a big milestone.

If you’re not left handed, you may have some questions about being left handed and how to support your child. There are a few things to know:

• Your child’s hand dominance is something they’re born with. Just like their hair colour or eye colour. Trying to switch their dominant hand won’t change that.
• It doesn’t matter if parents are right or left handed, your child has a 1 in 10 chance of being left handed.
• The world is built for right-handed people. Your left-handed child can have some extra challenges as they develop fine motor skills.
• Your child will need to learn to be left handed. This can be hard when most of the people around them are right handed.

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Challenges being left handed

Some fine motor activities can be more challenging when you are left handed. This is not due to lack of fine motor skills. Some fine motor activities and tools are designed for being right handed. To support your left-handed child to be successful, they need to learn how to set up activities differently. And for some activities, they may need left-handed tools.

Challenges at school include:

• cutting with scissors
• learning to set up their desk for left-handed printing
• right-handed tools, like rulers, pencil sharpeners, and workbooks

Challenges at home include:

• being seated next to a right-handed person at the dinner table
• learning a task or skill from a right-handed person, like cutting food, sweeping the floor, or doing a craft
• can openers

Everyday items for school and home

Many everyday objects are designed to be used with the right or left hand, like spoons, forks, toothbrushes, and hairbrushes. Some everyday objects are designed to be used with the right hand. This means your child has to use their non-dominant hand. This is harder and can look like they have weaker fine motor skills.

When it’s possible, having objects designed for use with the left hand allows your child to use their dominant hand and they won’t have to work as hard. Left-handed versions of everyday objects may be easier to find online.

Some left-handed people learn to use right-handed tools. They learn to use them with their right hand. Other left-handed people need to have left-handed tools.

Scissors: Scissors that can be used with either hand don’t exist. Left-handed scissors have the blades reversed.

Pencil sharpener: Electric pencil sharpeners can be used with either hand. Left-handed pencil sharpeners are designed so the left hand can twist the pencil more easily. Your left-handed child can use a right-handed pencil sharpener, but it will not feel natural and may look awkward.

Can openers: Electric can openers can be used with either hand. Manual can openers are right-handed. The left hand squeezes it shut and the right hand turns the knob. You can find left-handed manual can openers online. Unless they are labeled left handed, can openers are right handed.

Pens: Many left-handed people are particular about pens they use. Some pens don’t work well when they’re pushed across the page. Left-handed people push from left to right when printing. Right-handed people pull the pen across the page.

Pens with quick-dry ink can also be helpful for your left-handed child. Depending on how they have learned to set up their writing space, their hand may go over where they’ve written. If they’re using a pen that doesn’t have quick-dry ink, it may smear.

Notebooks and paper: When possible, have your child use notebooks that have the coil at the top instead of the side. If they’re using a side-coil notebook, your child can use the back of each page so their arm doesn’t rest on the coil.

Rulers: Left-handed rulers have the numbers going from the right to the left. This allows your left-handed child to see the numbers while drawing a line instead of blocking the numbers with their hand.