What’s Right About Lefties

Creative, Resourceful, Smart – Give Them a Hand on their Special Day

by Kerrie McLoughlin
 
Though 10 percent of people are lefties, they often feel, well, left out. They pick up a mug and the picture is facing away from them. They struggle while using scissors made for righties. They sometimes smear ink across the page while writing at a school desk.

Watch a lefty try to take a picture (the button is on the right side of the camera), or use a standard computer mouse, or learn how to play a musical instrument. One lefty I know gripes that his clothes are always “backwards” on the hangers. At mealtimes, he must sit on the left side of his brother or else they bump elbows and get into a wrestling match.

On Aug. 13, International Left-Handers Day, celebrate what’s special about the lefties you know with this fun activity. Download free posters from LeftHandersDay.com and create a Lefty Zone in your home or classroom. In a Lefty Zone, everyone has to do everything with a left hand, including writing, preparing food, pouring beverages, using utensils at meals, using scissors – you get the idea.

It will make you appreciate how creative some lefties are in accomplishing tasks.
If my youngest son ends up a lefty, I will tell him of the heart attack he surely will inflict upon me if he chooses a hobby as a woodworker. Not only are there problems, such as sawdust blowing back into the face because of the angle of the blade, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about my husband’s identical twin brother, a lefty, nearly cutting his arm off while making something in his woodshop. Heaven help us if the day ever comes that those “high fives” he does with the kids turn into “high threes.”

In trying to help all my lefty pals, and to get a jump on life in case my own baby is a lefty, I found a couple of cool sites (LeftysLeftHanded.com and ToolBarn.com) with life-changing tools for lefties! Guitars, gardening equipment, tape measures, tool belts, can openers, sporting goods, and school supplies are just a few of the offerings. You can even buy those famed lefty spiral notebooks online.And for dozens more ideas to make your lefty’s life easier from childhood through adulthood, read Your Left-Handed Child by Lauren Milson.

Finally, LeftHandersDay.com has fun facts, including how incredibly intelligent lefties can be. Your child will feel really special when he learns that:

• One of every four astronauts in the Apollo mission was left-handed, 250 percent more than the average population.
• In sets of twins (either identical or fraternal), one is likely to be left-handed.
• Left-handers adjust to seeing underwater more easily. 
• Left-handers are great at sports such as tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.
• Four of the five original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed.