My elder one is a born leftie, i.e. he uses his left
hand for everything from writing to eating. Recently, we attended a function at
a relative’s house and seeing him eat with his left hand, a cousin commented,
“You should have at least taught him to eat with his right hand.” It took me
some time to explain to her that the left hand for him, serves all purposes
that our right hand serves to us, and vice versa. He cannot eat with his right
hand because he uses it for functions we do with our left hand. But I could see
she wasn’t convinced, because she still commented, “It is parents who help make
or break a habit for a child, you simply didn’t try”. I didn’t offer to explain
any more, but I could see that it disturbed my elder one a wee little bit.
ah ! you said it .. i too was going to say this search says that lefty are more creative, and imaginative .. .. and that word “sanskar” i still wonder what it means in the real world ?
ReplyDeleteNice post :) I have always felt that those left handed people are somehow more clever!
ReplyDeletehmmm well if it was me I would have walked away.. How does it matter lefty or righty..
ReplyDeletesome people are born silly.. dont worry
Bikram
I do many things with my left hand, like many tasks in the kitchen, lifting up things, heavy objects etc. I write with my right hand but I am told (and I have vague memory of it too) that when I first started writing I more naturally used my left hand to write also. But after some very quick "training" by my aunt I started using right hand to write. I don't know to what extent it messed up my brain if it did at all ;) But the point is that each one of us is really wired differently and it is hard to say what is right or not right way of doing things. You are right there are many social practices out there which require us to use our right hand, but I hope with time and greater sensitivity more understanding and acceptance will come in those areas too.
ReplyDeleteYou have brought up a very important issue here through this post. Best wishes for your son.
All nonsense what your cousin said (if you'll excuse my using the term!)! I'm glad you were firm and didn't give in to this! Yes, it may be unusual for Indians to see someone using his/her left hand but it's high time we accept that some people are naturally inclined to it. My older one too is left handed! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy! Please do not give in to all this nonsense. Let your child express themselves in whatever way they want. Changing these things will cause more damage on the longer run. It would actually kill their ability and make them hate things like drawing and writing cos they have to do it the uncomfortable way. Yes, if you force them enough they might learn to do it "the right way", but it would always feel wrong for them. Hold your stand!
ReplyDeleteI can relate to it from the perspective of one who is left handed. In my childhood i used to use both my hands to write and to eat but over time my parents realized that i was left-handed and accepted it. I also write with my hand fully curved so that nobody can see what I'm writing. This they tried to correct but to no avail. Finally they realized how cool I was when they saw Barack Obama signing as the President of America; he wrote like me! I'm glad that you are letting your child continue as a left-handed person, it will stand him in good stead.
ReplyDelete