Meet Lefty-Brained ... and answer some questions

This is what I had to do because I had horrible penmanship (I was writing slanted left and right which was bad)

Sit her at a table with the paper directly in front of her left hand. Make sure the paper is straight. She can't turn the paper at all. Then make sure she holds the pen/pencil straight up and down. Get her some of those workbooks for writing (usually with the coloring books) that have the letter then lines next to them to practice the letter. That should help her visualize it correctly and will make sure she's writing like a normal person and not with her hand wrapped all the way around the paper like most lefties.

 

While taking an exam. Particularly an essay portion, when the sheer speed of your hand makes a difference.

Fuck adjusting to that.

 

Doesn't this seem like a good forum to call out Mrs. W?

 

That's why we call it Anything Goes.

Have you fetched me a beer yet?

 

Stop dragging my heart around.

 

Most schools have moved from those desks to tables with two people sitting at them for that reason. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some law suit claiming discrimination because of those desks.

 

Teachers aren't really allowed to force children to be right-handed any longer. It's pretty frowned upon in the classroom.

And WB, be prepared to pay more for sports equipment. My sister's middle kid is a lefty. His stuff always costs more. It's discrimination, I tell you!

 

I wouldn't be surprised one bit.

 

Go your own way.

 

Hmmmm... I am one of the most totally left-handed folks Ive every ever met... I once read that all righties are created equally, but all lefties are unique.. I think I believe it... I've never seen two lefties write exactly the same way, I've never seen two with exactly the same degree of leftiness.. is that a word?... anyway, your daughter will find her way... as for lefty scissors? A thousand times no.. I'm old enough that there wasn't a lot of lefty stuff as I grew... so I learned to cut lefty with righty scissors... now, if I use a pair of lefty scissors.. they don't cut!... you adapt with what you have.. luckily, the Wii sets up righty OR lefty!

 

Good sir: Teach her to cut with her right hand. Trust me, dude, it's just easier. I've got horror stories -- relatively, of course -- about being the only kid using those four-ringed red-handles while the other kids made fun of me. Nine times out of 10, when she'll reach for a pair of scissors, they'll be right-handed, and it's much easier to conform than to complain. I've got three right-handed scissors in my house.

Aside from that, she'll be OK. My right-handed sister refuses to eat while sitting to my left, but other than that, I lead a fairly normal, left-handed life. I really don't remember of anything more than the scissors disrupting my life, in that way, at least.

Warn her of the pencil and pen marks on the bottom of her left hand while writing, and the indents and discomfort due to the spiral notebooks. And, in time, she'll learn of the frustrations at the check-out isle and those stupid credit-card screens and their right-handed set-up.

But in my experience, by talking to my left-handed friends, father and brother and sister, the writing deal -- where your girl's writing with both -- is pretty normal. Right-handed tasks seemed to come easily for me and my friends, and I think it has a lot to do with having to adapt and mimicking the people around me. My friends all hit right-handed, so I wanted to try. And I got pretty decent at it. Not comfortable to try it out in league games, but solid in pick-up games. I can also throw pretty well with my right.

Best of luck with the little lefty.
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As for your other questions, you don't need to oil the glove -- not at that age. She's going to grow out of it quickly, anyway. I always put a ball in the glove, put it under my mattress and slept on it for a few days, while playing with it during the day. When you've got some downtime -- because I doubt she'll want do this at 4 1/2 -- just put the glove on your hand (at least part of the way) and throw the ball into it over and over. It'll be loose before you know it.

I think my first time playing catch was with my dad, but I'm sure I don't remember that one. He was a baseball-playing son of a pro baseball player. My dad was cut at college and wanted me to play ball almost as much as he wanted me in the band. We'd go out to the front yard and toss the ball around when I was 8 and 9, right after he got home from work and before he gave private music lessons.

They were probably my best times with him. We'd talk about baseball, whether or not Cecil Fielder would be the greatest power hitter of my generation -- he's not -- and how good Lou Gehrig really was. I was always on a first baseman kick -- I'm a lefty, remember? -- so I was interested in the greats. And Fielder, too.

I played catch regularly with my friends until I moved away from my home town, and I haven't really played in three years. I miss that the most.

 

And actually, I taught myself to throw a frisbee left-handed, to the point where I'm now better lefty than I am righty.

I still can't throw it forehand with either my left or my right, but if you want me to get you the disk deep, I'm sending it with my left arm.

The only other thing I do lefty is I come up on my left side when I swim freestyle.

I'm a righthander, but that's as close to being lefty as I get.