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From: esco@ssc-vax.UUCP (Michael Esco)
Newsgroups: net.med,net.kids,net.social
Subject: Re: Changing Left-handedness to Right-handedness
Message-ID: <140@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Aug-85 23:08:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.140
Posted: Tue Aug 20 23:08:34 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 17:26:51 EDT
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> A friend's preschooler always seemed to prefer using his left hand.
> His mother has been trying to change him into a right hander.

Mothers and others have been trying to make right-handers out of left-
handers for centuries, with moderate success. It really depends on the
individual.

When I started school in the revolutionary sixties, there was an
overreaction to the previous policy of forcing right-handedness on
children. Though I was ambidextrous and perfectly happy using either
hand, because I could use my left hand teachers tried to make me use
it exclusively. While they never whacked me with rulers, they would
rush over to take right-handed scissors away from me or move my pencil
from right to left.

Did it affect my abilities? Perhaps, but the affects were minor compared
to breaking my arm later on. If you wish to tell the mother something,
my advice is to teach him to eat right-handed and not worry about the rest.
Being the only lefty at a dinner table can be a pain in the pwit.

						Michael Esco