Left-handed Thai children?

[moojar]

It is a reasonable hypothesis, but I am not sure, as the OP suggested, it has been proven conclusively that handedness relates to right or left brain dominance. I suppose, also, you also have to factor in the challenge of lefties adapting to a world in which most of the tools, devices, furniture etc. are designed for righties. I never thought about it before, but how does a lefty use a mouse? With his right or left hand? Software to reverse the right and left mouse buttons is not too exotic, but it occurs to me this is just one of the many issues lefties have to sort out whereas it is automatic and intuitive for righties.

I am a lefty, use the mouse with my left hand but with the buttons set-up for a right-hander. The other three people in the family are all right handed, so too difficult to keep switching the buttons around. I did get a cordless mouse very early on though, that was a must!

I recently worked with a Malaysian bloke, mid 30s. Left handed but uses his right hand for the mouse. Why? Avid gamer, says all the keyboard controls in those fast-paced shooter games are designed for right handers (mouse in the right, hit the keyboard with their left). It was just easier for him to learn to use the mouse with his right.

[moojar]

When I play tennis I serve left-handed then play right-handed. Or is it the other way around? I'll know next time I'm on a tennis court.

I don't bat for the other team though. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Gentmartin]

My wife is a leftie and tells me that when she was young, her school grades suffered due to her being forced to use her right had to write and even her parents used the sticky tape and string to stop her using her left hand. Didnt work however, she is still a leftie. Perhaps these experiences are why she's such a stubborn bugga today !!!

She is a special needs therapist, working with kids and is totally against trying to force lefties to become righties but she says it's still not uncommon for parents and even teachers to try and force kids to swap hands even today !!

[masuk]

Back 15 years ago I polled my students at AUA.......left or right-handed. I'm left-handed....studied Chinese with a teacher who refused to allow me to write left-handed (I changed teachers). So I was curious about Thai culture. Turns out about 10% of my Thai students were left-handed. I think that's about average.

Yes, 10% seems average. Here, unlike Indonesia, people don't gasp in horror when I use my left hand.

It took a while to master using chopsticks right-handed, but I can do it now!

[socksy01]

I think they convert lefties at school because of the availability of left handed stationery like pens and pencils in the shops.

[bigyin]

My wife was a leftie and her mother beat her with a stick when she used her left hand. She is now right handed but it just doesn't look natural and she is now 28.

[tmaker]

Can you buy left handed hammers in Home Pro ?

555,... no need for a Leftie hammer... i do not have this hammer problem.

i'm Righty originally... i think.

broke my Right arm when i'm about to start school ...so I only can write with my Left hand !! so what makes me then ?

1. Hammer - only Left. no way with right.

2. mouse - I uses the Ball tracker type... on my right

3. Darts - Right

4. write - Left

5. Shoot/dribble basket - right

6.use phone - Left

7.Cutting with knife - Left

8.Badminton - Left

9.chopstick - right

10.screwdriver - only Right

11.sawing - Left !!!

so, I think i'm a new category person ? 555

Edited February 2, 2015 by tmaker

[tmaker]

I think they convert lefties at school because of the availability of left handed stationery like pens and pencils in the shops.

not really.....

stationery are not right handed designed ....the pencil/pen is straight !!!

so is the eraser... it is not curved...it's just a plain rectangle.

THE REAL reason is( i found it out myself ) the writing is from Left to Right , so you will smudge your book as you write with your left hand.

so, I place my pen/pencil a little away from my palm so that my writing are not dirtied.

[nithisa78]

I have heard about this story in Thai schools at Anuban level.

My wife comes from a small village between KK and Udon, I guess, like many of these villages, its mostly populated by her extended family ( or maybe 2-3 families ). Everyone who is born into the family unit writes with their left hand.

I never worked out if its genetic, or if they subconsciously pick it up from one another.

Lefties are right brained. Righties are left brained. Lefties are more creative as that is governed by the right brain. And yes... it's a genetic trait.

genetics are absolute nonsense.

[rexall]

genetics are absolute nonsense.

Absolutely! Just like evolution, the moon landing, and the possibility of finding iintelligent life on Earth!

[rexall]

I want to thank everyone for this discussion. It has opened a window into a really fascinating subject I have never thought much about.

It sounds as though forcing kids to switch form left-to-right is common enough in Thailand, but hardly universal, and although no posts here support the practice, no one has reported being (or knowing someone) who was highly traumatized by it. Some people seem to have turned it to an advantage by becoming partially ambidextrous which helped to overcome some of the challenges lefties face in adapting to a rightie world.

[EyesWideOpen]

I am a leftie. My Thai wife is a leftie. And in a stunning development, our 4 year old daughter is

also a leftie !!!!! When she started to write with her left hand, I did a lot of research on whether

or not to switch her over to her right hand. Everything I read said it was a bad idea, so I just

left ( bad pun) her alone....

When I grew up, writing was important. Now writing is in essence

not even used, with everything being done on a keyboard. So in our current society, writing with

a sort of crab to your hand while writing left handed has no relevance one way or another. And

yes, it has been proven time and time again left handed people are smarter. They also tend to

have shorter lives.....

[kokesaat]

I was (am) right-handed.....but broke my right arm in two places just before entering first grade (I didn't go to kindergarten). When Sister Henrietta told her first grade class to pick up a pencil and right their name on a paper, I told her I wouldn't be able to participate because of my broken arm. She told me to write my name with my left hand. And so, I became left-handed.....for writing, for using chop sticks, and smoking when I did......but for nearly everything else....baseball, using a mouse, hammer, fork....I'm right-handed.

My Chinese teacher was old-school....very old school. He told me it was "impossible" to write Chinese with one's left hand. I changed teachers and wrote with my left hand.

[ableguy]

Interesting.i am right handed but in everything else a leftie, left handed at cricket, left footed at soccer, need gfs to sleep on my L h s, why who the hell knows ?

[EyesWideOpen]

Interesting.i am right handed but in everything else a leftie, left handed at cricket, left footed at soccer, need gfs to sleep on my L h s, why who the hell knows ?

There is a simple test to determine the dominant side. Unexpectedly throw a small

soft ball at some one. Whichever hand they catch it with is the dominate side.

And yes, lefties split tasks as well. I like to use hand tools with my right hand, but

throw with my left.

[redandyellow]

Yes, my Thai wife got hit as a child for writing left handed (on Phuket) , but I find the smartest people are left handed.

signed,

a righty

[redandyellow]

Interesting.i am right handed but in everything else a leftie, left handed at cricket, left footed at soccer, need gfs to sleep on my L h s, why who the hell knows ?

There is a simple test to determine the dominant side. Unexpectedly throw a small

soft ball at some one. Whichever hand they catch it with is the dominate side.

And yes, lefties split tasks as well. I like to use hand tools with my right hand, but

throw with my left.

Which hand do you...you know..spank the monkey with, choke the chicken with ?

Just Teasin' ya, no need to respond

Kind regards

signed,

ambixdexterous

[MyFriend You]

My neighbor had a left handed child, when she was five or six, she literally put her arm in a sling tight to her body so she would have to use her right hand - eventually it worked - Almost - a few years later I saw her using both her left and right hand to write - she drew pictures and colored with her left hand and wrote her lessons with her right = I would like to see her grow up to University level because I believe this little girl is extrodinary.

[maidee]

illuminati candidates

[Estrada]

Making left handed Thai children write with their right hand is just not RIGHT!

A greater percentage of Thais are left handed compared with the UK.

I am ambidextrous myself. Came in handy when I broke my right arm.

[krisb]

Most airline pilots are left handed.

[bina]

my (thia) husband is left handed but i guess in small village was also pushed to be more right handed. the end result, like for many htat were forced to switch, is that he uses both hands, but he also has learning disabilities (only discovered here when he started using computer as in thailand he neither wrote nor read books, and left school at 13)he writes with left hand, cooks with left but also does many things with right like using hair cutting clippers, scissors, hammer, etc...

as many kids here were also 'switched' back in 'olden times' (until 1980's), it was noticewd that they had more difficulties in many subjects and in general as 'circuits' were switched rather then developed . OTH many people that suffer sided brain damage can relearn using other side of brain and switch 'handedness'....

[Deelectro]

My (step)daughter was born in 2002, they switched her over to right handed before I came along, I tried to undo it when she was 5, but too late, and she doesnt mind, and she is good at sports etc. They did that do my dad born in 1919, shows how far behind,,,,,,

[issanaus]

Interesting.i am right handed but in everything else a leftie, left handed at cricket, left footed at soccer, need gfs to sleep on my L h s, why who the hell knows ?

There is a simple test to determine the dominant side. Unexpectedly throw a small

soft ball at some one. Whichever hand they catch it with is the dominate side.

And yes, lefties split tasks as well. I like to use hand tools with my right hand, but

throw with my left.

Wrote a long reply then lost it, 55

out of all the posts yours is the one that comes closest to the issue of eye dominance and its SOME of its effect

Cross domination caused by copying some one or by being forced at school had major social, academic and coordination implications (if anyone is interested I will retype what I wrote before, grr

Ways to test for eye dominance and there for the "natural handedness" @ this link: http://www.learn-archery.com/eye-dominance.html

[cmsally]

Left handed (or sinister) was in ancient times associated with evil.

Thailand seems to be way behind in this respect. I am left handed as is my son.

I proactively told any teacher that if he was encouraged to change I would make sure they lost their job.

Sounds a bit extreme but it is to do with the family history and a relevant story to do with left handers.

[CWMcMurray]

Whether left or right handed depends on what I'm doing...

Writing, left handed .. But broke my arm about 12 years ago and found out could right passably with right hand..

Baseball, right handed

Shooting, left handed.. But passable right handed

Basketball, left handed

Golf, right handed

Painting... About the same with both (meaning new born elephants paint better)

No one ever tried to force me to be left or right handed... I just do what feels most comfortable for any task

[EyesWideOpen]

Me....lefty

Thai wife...lefty

Four old daughter...lefty

So that pretty much makes us the lefty family. So clearly there is a genetic

influence. As I saw my daughter sort of struggle to write left handed, I mulled

over trying to switch her over. Everything I read said that was a bad idea.

I also realized that in her future, there is not writing. Only a keyboard. The

only time you write is when you sign your name. So to me me the present day

writing left handed is a non issue.....

[jbauer]

My 3 year old has just started kindergarten and is being made to use his right hand to draw / colour. I am finding it difficult to conclude if this is good or bad- I am leaning towards it being negative, but as a rightie myself I don't have the required amount of empathy to know if it would make his life any easier to learn to be right-handed (his mother is left-handed and writes, etc, with her left).

Could doing this slow his progress / cause him long-term problems? Should I be complaining to the school, as my instinct is telling me to do?

Edited May 23, 2015 by jbauer

[EyesWideOpen]

My 3 year old has just started kindergarten and is being made to use his right hand to draw / colour. I am finding it difficult to conclude if this is good or bad- I am leaning towards it being negative, but as a rightie myself I don't have the required amount of empathy to know if it would make his life any easier to learn to be right-handed (his mother is left-handed and writes, etc, with her left).

Could doing this slow his progress / cause him long-term problems? Should I be complaining to the school, as my instinct is telling me to do?

Yes yes and another yes. Everything I read on the internet about trying to switch a left handed person to being right handed said it was a really bad idea. Talk to your school and straighten them out on the subject. Again, in the future there is no writing, only the usage of a keyboard....