YOUR CHILD Left-handers At No Disadvantage

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32126, 23 October 1969, Page 3

YOUR CHILD Left-handers At No Disadvantage

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NEIL THOMAS)

Someone once said that a left-handed person has everything against him, even the language. He was partially accurate. Language has belittled the lefthander for centuries. In Latin and early English the word “sinister” meant left, left hand or the unlucky side. Over the years “sinister” and its unpleasant meanings has often attached itself to left handers. We can find instances of “sinister” referring to the left side in as late as nineteenth century literature. Meanwhile the word “left” came from a series of Teutonic words meaning weakness. And, by the way, the medical term for a left-handed person is “sinistral” —from the Latin. You wish someone bad luck today if you shake hands with your left. You invite criticism if you stray too far “left” in your politics. • The right-handed person has a lot more going for him. In fact, the word “dexterity” literally means right handedness. It is from the Latin word “dexter,” which means “right" and is akin to a Sanskrit word which means strong. If you can use both hands equally well you do not even get credit for the left. You are called ambidextrous. The literal translation is that you have two right hands. SUPERSTITION Enough of history and language. Superstition about (and against) left-handed people probably started' shortly after the first one was! born. I can only guess why prejudice sprung up against left-handed people. Today we have a good deal of evidence that by forcing a lefthanded child to use his right hand we can cause nervous disorders. Perhaps this is what happened to the first left-handers. Hence the belief that they were weak. At any rate, many neurologists and psychiatrists today will insist that you leave lefthanded children alone. If you try to make them switch they may soon stutter, suffer reading or writing problems or other disorders. I suggest that you never try to switch your child for three reasons.

Experts do not know enough about the effects yet. Most believe that your child is left or right handed before he is born. A left-hander is hardly at a disadvantage. ONE IN TEN He has plenty of company. A British survey of seven-year-olds found that One in 10 was left-handed and one in 14 was ambidextrous. (The rate for both was slightly higher in boys.) If he is ambidextrous he will have an obvious advantage is such things as sport, car driving, writing. If he is merely a left-han-ded child, why worry? I doubt that you know of a left-han-der who regrets that he is one. And I will wager that you cannot list a single dis-, advantage to a left-hander of more than minor importance. There are plenty of lefthanded surgeons, musicians, painters, sculptors, and other people who work with their hands. Left-handedness is no handicap to them. It will not be to your child, either. 1 can assure you of this from my own experience. Left-handedness is a basic part of a child’s make-up. It helps to make him an individual. Do not tamper with it any more than you would try to change the colour of his eyes.

This means that when he grasps his spoon with the left, do not put it on the right hand side of the dish at the start of the meal. This will only confuse him. Put it in the middle. He will decide which is his better hand.