The Plight of a Lefty Kid's Mom

My daughter showed early signs that she was leaning towards being a lefty.  I think my husband and I started to notice this when she was around two years old and would often grab crayons and things using her left hand.  

lefty sharpener vs righty

My husband is left handed so he's quite aware of the future difficulties that she will have once she starts school. We are not proud of it but we tried to "correct" this by moving the crayon to her right hand but she would switch it over to her left hand. We would leave it at that and vow to try again another day. This went on for over a year and probably caused her to have problems in school.

Her nursery school teacher would often mention that her grip needs to improve since her writing is hardly legible. We were not sure if this was because we keep switching the pencil to her right hand that she has somehow lost confidence. This is quite a problem since we were planning to enroll her in big school the following year. Unfortunately, we had to move back our plans to enroll her in big school for another year and opt to keep her in pre-school so she could obtain the necessary skills that would prepare her for big school.

lefty ruler vs righty

We even had her enrolled in Global Art to improve her grip and it worked! Her teacher even mentioned that she shows promise to be ambidextrous because she would switch between her left and right when the other hand gets tired. They asked if we want to develop her left or right hand. We told them to TRY to see if they can get her to favor her right hand over the left but if it fails, to go with her left hand instead.

It wasn't until I remember receiving a gift from way back (intended for my husband). It was two pairs of left-handed scissors.  I remember my husband tried to use it before and commented it worked wonderfully for him unlike the standard right handed scissors. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it anymore so I searched the local bookstores for left handed scissors but I couldn't find any. I couldn't find local sellers of left handed scissors too so I was lost because the the online store ships internationally but the charge was so expensive that the shipping would cost more than her scissors.  

lefty scissors vs righty scissors

So anyway, I found a way to finally have it shipped and I had my daughter test it all. I also advised her teachers to let her use her lefty things for school instead of the school provided items.  

When the next PTC rolled around, her teacher mentioned that she was able to do her school work more efficiently. It made her work quickly so she wasn't left behind while the other children played.  

I was worried that she'll have a hard time in big school but not anymore.  These items are great investments since they have given my daughter the confidence she needs to know that the problem isn't her ability but her tools.  She understands now that with the proper tools, she can do anything.  

She also understands that being left handed is going to be difficult but not impossible. She knows that she will need to work hard to adjust since the world is designed mostly to cater to right-handed people.  

We at Marcus Phillippe PH would like the Filipino lefty kids to start SY 2014-2015 on equal footing with their right handed classmates. No more having to read the ruler backwards, no more ink-stained hand and no more switching hands to sharpen. Our kids should be able to concentrate on studying and not focus all their energy on learning how to work the right handed things properly.  Give your kids the best chances to excel in school! It's the least we can do for them.

Watch out in a few weeks for our lefty items. 

Are you a lefty too? Can you relate? How did you manage? I would love to hear about it!

Hugs,

~mtz~