Right handed / left handed?

[Elisa]

We are both right handed and our daughter (no bpi) is left handed. Both my parents were right handed and my husbands as well, although he has a sibling who is left handed. I don't think that kind of assumption is accurate at all! What a joke!

[Kathleen M]

Francine

This is always a hot topic.... but a difficult one.

I am robpi and I am mostly left handed. I was forced to write right handed in school... painful but true.... Both of my parents were right handed and all of my siblings – aunts and uncles were/ are right handed...
My brothers and their wives and all their families were right handed... one brother has all three children left handed and his granddaughter… the other brother has 2 out of 6 children left handed… and I am the only lefty or sort of left handed person in my family.
My family tries to be very careful about changing hands because of the issues I faced as a child being changed and forced to do things right handed... In school I had to learn to cut right handed... I always thought of my self as left handed… but never considered the fact that I really had no choice… My Mom always said I was a lefty because of the injury… but I still wonder… and will never really know… I put contacts in with one hand and of course use the unaffected left arm… I put make up on left handed (even use to put eyeliner on with this hand) I write right handed and I can paint with both hands depending on which one is tired. I cut right handed but move the object I am cutting with my left hand instead of moving the succors.
I have assigned tasks for both hands... I often thought that the reason I was a poor speller was due to the switch... because when I type I spell better... just make typo's... if I write on a blackboard I have the same hand writing -- that amazed me the first time I realized it... because I can't write on paper left handed...

I discovered that if I lift a tube it goes to the left eye...
I don't know if they can tell by our eyes - I have Horner's and that makes that eye weaker to begin with... I know it is not suppose to affect our vision but I think it does in some way... I also could not put a tube up to my face with my right hand maybe that is the reason I would look through it with my left hand...
As far as feet & legs used to test for handedness I think that might be hard too..... Since the entire side of the body is compromised... that would mean I would feel more secure and steady standing on my left foot and kicking with the right... ???????? I have better balance because the muscles on the right side of the body are weaker...

I wonder if some of the standard test for hand dominance would be out the window considering all of the parts of the body that are affected during our growth periods.... hmmmmm If you can't balance and you can't put your hand to your eye... I think of course you will use the one you can...

I only put the phone to my left ear! Why ? because that is the only hand I pick the phone up with to hold to my ear... I think that is also a natural compensation for us... Not a choice

Kath

[Sophie's Mom]

There must be some misunderstanding about that statistic. I always thought that left-handedness was recessive trait (such as blue eyes) and right is dominant (such as brown eyes). So, it would follow that two left-handed parents would have a left-handed child, but not necessarily the other way around. If both parents are right handed, but have a left-handed recessive gene, then the child has a one in four chance of getting the left from both the mother and the father. If the child gets a left from only one parent and a right from the other, then they will be right. This model only works if handedness is dominant-recessive genetic trait (not sure if that is true).
Sorry for the rambling. Interesting topic. We need to remember, as Rich pointed out, that our children were injured at a very young age and there may be some "re-wiring" going on to force handedness into a non-dominant hand.
Tina

[Kathleen M]

OK... Now I feel better...

Rich thanks for the great web links... sooooo interesting - especially for someone like me who was forced to write right handed... and do other things right handed because they assumed that I was right handed and the injury caused me to use my left hand...

I let my computer before you posted... had my other post sitting there and just hit enter... so I did not read all the information or see your links until after I posted...

I looked at the test for right handed etc... and it would be hard to answer some of the questions for a bpi child... because we will compensate and use the unaffected hand because it is easier...

I have always wondered if I was really a lefty or it was just because of the injury... I noted the connection between learning, reading and spelling... I hated reading out loud... hated to write... typing was freeing for me because I did not have to concentrate so hard... hmmmm
I can see where it is possible that I was intended to be left handed .. even if both parents were right handed...


I don't get the gene connection at all... especially when it comes to eyes... I am green eyed my husband brown and all three children are very Blue eyed.
I guess the eyes and the gene for left handed can come from way back...in our families.

[Sophie's Mom]

Okay, I didn't explain the genetics thing well. So, I looked it up and eye color and handedness are both genetic traits, but are not "single-gene" traits. So, funny things can happen because there are likely several genes involved. But, it did say that dark colored eyes tend to be dominant over light colored eyes. My guess for Kath's family is that you and your husband both have recessive blue genes that showed up in your children. I didn't see more specific information on handedness, but if I come across anything - I will post it
Tina

[Anna G]

im right footed and can not kick a ball with my left.

you can also probably work it out from what your parents were!

this is because if you have two right handed parents then you are likly to be right handed but there is a chnace of being left handed but it is small(i think) but with me and my brother we are both left handed which is why we suspect that i would have been left handed.

Anna

[Kathleen M]

Thanks Rich... my husbands family have really no light eyed people for the two generations I know...that is why we thought we were so odd... and my Mom was blue eyed with only one blue eyed child out of eight... so that has always facinated me...


You are the best when it comes to information searches... thanks for all the web sites... It explaines why I cannot spell... no matter how hard I studied... some other adult/obpi said the same thing a few years back and hated to post due to spelling problems... so I know I am not alone...


I seem to be left eyed but the right eye is the weakest...
Kath

[Carrie]

I'm a leftie with robpi, one of the doctors sometime told my parents that I would have been left handed even without the injury. I thought it was a rather weird comment at the time, but I have three sisters, all right handed, my parents are both right handed and so are their parents and siblings and I think all my cousins, BUT when I worked for my uncle I realized that his computer mouse was on the left side, it turns out he's a left hander who was forced to write with his right but he played baseball left handed and everything else. So, I guess there's at least that genetic left handedness. I'm also right footed and left eyed, and when I take the tests I usually come out like 95% left handed or a 12 on that one scale, very left handed, I'm even typing this with only one hand, my left. The ony thing I do right handed is cut with scissors, and that I had to train myself to do when I was a kid because there were never enough leftie scissors.