Both Mikey and Nico are left handed.� The Mister and I are not.� Any of you south-paws have any tips on how to teach little ones how to hold their pens and pencils correctly and write their letters?� Mikey can do most of them, but the school books teach from a right-hander’s perspective, and he gets tangled up with lower case Ys and Es.� He can write them, they just look a little goofy. :)
I’m a right-handed mom, and the minority in our household and don’t have much advice other than to turn their papers at a 45 degree angle.
What I really had to de-lurk for was to comment on the fact that a red-marker of any kind still exists in your home. That one looks to be washable though. Whew.
We think our little one is left handed so I will watch this thread with keeness. :)
My friends son (4 years old) was just sent for occupational therapy b/c he seems to be ambidextrous and not favoring either hand and having trouble using scissors, etc. Was your son always a lefty?
Trying to teach my right-hnded sons to write was just as hard.. it does it help if you teach them to hold the pencil like they would hold chop sticks.
If you sit across from them it might be easier than sitting side-by-side.
Since both my husband and I are lefty and all three boys are not I think we have gotten through it pretty well. They may actually get better help from their teachers. My guys were big on drawing, but their hands got tired very quickly when they were little so we never pushed writing practice.
Be prepared for lots of smudges on the palms as the hand goes over the still wet ink/marker/pencil. I learned calligraphy by writing upside down and backwards ( to the left ).
p.s. lefties are smarter so watch out!
My parents are both right-handed, and I am left-handed. The key is in the angle of the paper. I can’t write on paper that is straight-on. I have to turn the paper clockwise about 45 degrees to be truly comfortable writing. I also hold pens/pencils kind of funky. I rest the pen tip on my ring finger, and rest my thumb across the top of my first and middle fingers (like a loose fist). I know that probably makes no sense, but if you want a pic of it I’ll send you one! Really whatever is going to make his hand comfortable and writing easier is best. Typical (right-handed) forms of holding utensils and writing just won’t be comfortable for him. Seeing your pictures just makes my hand cramp! I really hope this helps.
I’m a leftie! Have Mikey hold the marker like he would a paper airplane. He shouldn’t be pressing the side of his hand against the paper to get leverage when writing, it should be the side of the wrist, so his hand has more mobility when he writes and so he doesn’t do “the claw” and smear everything across the page. Hope this helps!
Funny, my mom was originally a leftie but she grew up in the old country and they made her switch to right. She couldn’t break my habit though!
Sign your boys up for baseball now! You might have two left-handed pitchers in your brood, lol.
Jules, I’m not left handed (nor are any of my kiddos) but I’m not sure that they y and e issue are purely that…Jared has some trouble sometimes with different letters (even at 7 occasionally).
I would say to get him some traceable letters (online you can get them free and print them off) and have him trace and trace and trace. Even if it is mainly b/c he’s holding his pen/pencil/red marker (I agree w/ previous poster!!! Really? A Red marker? LOL). I think it’s a matter of practice practice practice! :)
Oh, and I”m not saying that the advice from the lefties on paper angle and holding the writing implement don’t matter, I’m quite sure they do. Just not sure the “tangled up letters” is purely b/c of the leftie-ness
My little guy also seems to be favoring his left-hand when writing and my Mister and I are both right-handed. We are struggling to show him how to comfortably hold a pen (or spoon) in his left hand, too. Sometimes he gets so frustrated. These are great tips from left-handed moms. Love it. I’m going to try the 45� angle next time! :-)
I’m a lefty and when I first learned to write I either had to turn the paper or hold my hand at an absurd angle to make my writing line up properly. I always had a grey left pinky from the way my hand would drag over my already-written pencil because of the strange angles I was working at. Then, in 4th grade Ms. Henry just made me turn my paper “normal” and write. I remember being annoyed about it and thinking that there was no way this would ever work, I remember resenting her for making me try, and I remember her insisting. And now I write with my left hand, without turning my paper strangely, without crooking my wrist strangely, and without smudged papers or dirty pinkys. And my handwritting is pretty okay. I’ll send you a sample if you want to check.
I would suggest you let the boys concentrate on learning the shapes of the letters whatever way works best for them – paper angle, pencil grip, etc. – and then work on modifications. And I’m going to ask the resident handwriting expert at my school what she thinks, too :-)
Sorry, I found a typo in the post that just corrected. Mikey CAN do his letters. It’s just the letters that go off to the right (like a lower case e or y) that he has trouble with. Hold on, Nico needs breakfast…be right back!
Sharmilla, Cara, & Co.–I know! Aren’t I a rebel? :) Nico used to color on the walls in the toy room when he was little (with crayon). I would always wash it off (it didn’t take much more than a couple of hours with a Magic Eraser) and my SIL would always ask me why I would continue to let him color with crayons if all it did would produce more work for me. 1. I knew eventually he would get that coloring belongs on paper (and, aside from that weird sofa incident, he gets it now) 2. He was very young and wasn’t doing permanent damage, 3. He really loves to color, and I didn’t want to take away his favorite play time activity, and 4. He’s a toddler and I’m a mom–he makes messes, I clean them. :) Besides, I’ll pay him back in spades when I’m old and refuse to go into a nursing home.
Marcy Tate–Mikey and Nico have always been lefties. Mikey, however, has always been ambidextrous and has now trained himself to use his right hand for nearly everything else. He cuts, throws (no baseball players, Vanessa!), bowls, hits golf balls, and over all favors his right arm. The only other thing he does left handed now is kick soccer balls, which is a problem in practice and on the field.
Nico does everything with his left hand. There is no switching back and forth.
Vanessa–my grandmother was left handed and trained to write with her right hand. The Mister’s dad is left handed.
Krystle–I know EXACTLY how you hold your pen. I knew a few people growing up who held their pens like that! :)
Did I miss a comment? This head cold is leaving me muddled.
I’m a lefty and I second what Vanessa said about holding the pen like you would a paper airplane. It is true that most left handers angle their paper but I personally never have so I wouldn’t consider learning to do it a vital part of teaching them to write, they’ll just start to do it on their own if it’s more comfortable.
How interesting is that? They are both left handed?!
Try a mirror.
I am a southpaw too… only suggestion I can give is don’t expect them to hold pens ‘properly’. for some reason that just doesn’t seem to work. I do and always have held the pen in kind of a wierd, upside-down way (writing from above rather than straight-on) which is perplexing to righties but common to many other lefties i know.
Thought I’d add in. I’m a leftie, can only use scissors with my right hand. I second the paper angle suggestion and the paper airplane. I’d never thought of it like that, but that is how I hold my pen/pencil. I don’t smudge, but I remember I used to smudge like crazy. FYI, I had bad grades in handwriting, but I still managed to get accepted into and graduate from college. So, I wouldn’t worry too much if your son doesn’t have the neatest of writing. Mine still is fairly sloppy. And it was said above, lefties are smarter ;) and generally more creative. Leonardo Da Vinci was a leftie.
Thanks for commenting, Ashley! I just checked out your blog and subscribed. I love it…so pretty. :)
Jules, thanks for that info. I am gonna pass it on to my friend to let her know that he trained himself to be mostly righty. I think her son is going to need occupational therapy but this will make her feel better, thanks! I think I have told you before, but I really enjoy your blog! Please checkout my new website if you can, we would love your support http://www.networx.com
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I remember it being a struggle when I was trying to learn to write left handed. I saw these books online recently, which look good- I’m not sure if they’re available here in the states, but there is help out there! They discuss how to hold a pen or pencil and what angle to turn the paper. http://robinswoodpress.com/main/productseries.php?id=930
Thanks, Carissa! I will check these out, as I have been looking for something like this. I’ve also been looking for these special pencil grips I’ve heard about. They work for righties or lefties, and teach the child how to hold the pencil properly. Still on the hunt for those, although I admit I haven’t searched all that hard.