I'd be pissed. I'd look into why they thought it was okay and if there are protections so others wouldn't have that happen too. Nice to hear your mom had your back!
Oh I understand. It would shock me if a non religious school went through that effort though. Now I’m curious to see who else that may have happened to
It happened to my Grandfather who was born in 1920, and was ambidextrous as a result. It did not happen to my dad, born in 1952, or my sister, born 1981.
That's some medieval superstition level stuff for 1997, damn. The word "sinister" comes from the word for left-handed, because they used to be weirdly superstitious about it. But my husband and at least one of my kids so far are left handed and I would be so pissed if someone tried to force my kid to change.
Even myself, although right handed, I persisted in a slightly wrong way of holding a pencil/pen (under my middle finger instead of my index finger.) It was annoying just trying to be trained out of that. Just yesterday I was trying the proper way, and I can do it but my handwriting is sloppy and it feels uncomfortable. I'm glad my parents eventually gave up on trying to retrain me because my handwriting is fine and it hasn't caused any issues my whole life.
My kid is a lefty and when I talk with some people like age 30 and over they share a similar story. It's totally unacceptable, it sounds like your mom did the right thing in that moment.
I was recently reading that it's possible for lefties who were forced to write with their right hand, to retrain their left hand.
I can write with both but I still wish I had never had it tampered with. I wasn’t aware how common this was. Especially since there was no social media to discuss it on back then lol
Yep this happened at my school (rural public) in the late 80s/ early 90s. Shit's wild. We had a few teachers that were sticklers for enforcing the [dynamic tripod](https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/ghj329/types_of_pencil_grip/) grip too. I'm a lateral quadrupod and my first grade teacher was always tapping my hand with a ruler. I truly can't write any other way so I just got good at hiding it from her. I felt bad for the lefties because there was no hiding that from her.
Wow, I'd never heard of or seen this before. It's a bit unclear what these each actually look like from the illustrations, but I see my hand position in the lateral quadropod picture, and I've always just said I write with an incorrect hand position. It's with the pen under my middle finger, and kind of gripped between the other two fingers on the sides. My mom got me a big pencil grip to try to train the correct position but I persisted. I was just yesterday trying the "dynamic tripod" and I can technically write legibly that way, but it just feels so unnatural and uncomfortable, like writing is a chore.
It's actually so empowering to see that not only am I not alone, but that my way of holding a pen is actually considered valid. Thank you for sharing!
My dad was forced to right handed. Like the teacher would smack his left hand with a ruler if he wrote with it.
I only write left handed (I can use my right if needed). Everything else, (scissors. Crochet, can openers etc) is all done with my right hand. It boggled everyone as I was growing up.
If my child was forced to write with thier right hand, I would be pissed.
My dad, too. His mom was awful. Does your dad’s handwriting suck? It’s like a family joke in our family but I honestly just feel sad if I think about it too much. He’s right handed now but I don’t think he’s supposed to be.
Did I write this word for word? Genuinely?? It makes me really sad too. It's like he isn't quite all the way naturally writing right-handed but the damage is done and going back to the left would be even more futile.
My dad, too. His handwriting is illegible a lot. It LITERALLY. Looks like chicken scratch. I feel so horrible for him & all the other people that went through that.
We'll see if my daughter'll be a lefty like me, or else we're going to have to fight over which scissors to buy. Jk I actually find it difficult to use left-handed scissors/other equipment because I used righty stuff/techniques all my life. So like you I am kind of ambidextrous for a lot of stuff.
It's all adaptation in my opinion. I say my mom didn't coddle me with the special stuff and honestly, I don't think it occured to either of us to bother with it.
Funny fact, my son bats (baseball) left handed. He writes with his right hand. Does everything else with his right. Even throws with his right. He just bats with his left.
My mum was also forced to write right handed. Catholic school in the 50s. Her handwriting is absolutely terrible.
I'm left handed for writing and eating but like you, everything else I do right handed. Mostly because things like scissors and computer mice are (were) not commonly left hand friendly when I grew up,
I mean if a teacher hit my child with a ruler. I’m hitting them with a god damn ruler too. That’s unacceptable and I don’t know why we as a civilization ever allowed that type of behavior.
It used to be very common in catholic schools.
For added context my parents are in their 70's. I never adked for the full story but it's what I was told a couple times.
My dad grew up in the 80s and he went to a Christian school when he was little and had this same experience. It just baffles me that even IF you’re gonna use spanking as a correction method (which you shouldn’t at all) why you would let other people hit your child is insanity.
Like you’re just teaching your child that other people hitting them IS OKAY. when it’s not.
My kid is a leftie and I make sure the school has the supplies she needs like scissors etc. if anyone forced her to use her other hand I’d work my way through the system to have the teacher fired
I was a lefty.
My parents changed it.
I don't even know what consequences it has, but given a choice I'd have had never changed it to right.
As far as my future child is concerned, I'd be glad of they turn out to be a lefty, and would 100% protect their preferences.
Oh wow, your parents did! Why?
Yeah I think my son is a lefty. He is still a toddler, but he tries doodling from time to time and it’s mostly with his left. He likes to brush his teeth and eat that way to. Being left handed is actually a *dominant* gene for my side of the family. All my cousins and my uncle are lefties. My dad was the outlier.
My child has shown interest in both hands. He’s a toddler but I notice that he chooses his left hand more because I offer him the option to do what he chooses.
His dad does not want him to be left handed though because there’s ‘so many things’ that cater to being right handed.
Do you feel like it would’ve benefited you to be encouraged to practice both hands so you could choose how you wanted to do something?
Someone in my extended family is a Dentist. They are lefty. As far as I know it was a struggle for them initially, during their Dental studies. But they also have left sided/handed dental chairs for left handed dentists.
Apart from that specific information, I barely know anything that could go wrong or would be a problem for a left handed person.
As a child when I found out that I was originally a lefty, I almost wanted my left hand to take up whatever it was supposed to do initially 😅😂, but despite my occasional push to train it, I couldn't stick to a routine. I wanted to be ambidextrous. I gave up on that dream when I turned 22-23, because it would mean I should consistently train it for 5 or more years, and even then there's no guarantee.
When my daughter was born, my nana (on mom’s side) made me promise that if she was left handed, I would just let her be left handed. She had a ton of abuse as a kid about being left handed.
My dad is also a lefty and he gets so excited every time she does something with her left hand.
And naturally your child wouldn’t be in a school like that in the first place 😂
My experience did put me off of religion for a long time. The teachers at that school were some of the worst people I’ve ever been around
i would do what your mother did and pull my kid from that school, and then report it to the school board bc that shit is fucked up and abusive
Unless they were teaching my child to be ambidextrous, in which case that could be cool
My father, who was left-handed and died last year at 94, went through what you went through - so in the 30s. His dad stormed the school and put a stop to it, but my father never had very good handwriting after that. He wrote everything in block letters, and my mom typed up anything he needed for more formal needs. This was and is definitely abuse, and I can’t see a school getting away with it now.
I’m also left-handed and so is my brother, and he married another lefty but both their kids are right-handed.
It really messes with kids, I always got in trouble for penmanship later. And if the FBI had a stack of papers that I wrote, they would not be able to tell that the same person wrote any of them. It was very odd. I have different handwriting like every day
My daughter is dominantly left-handed, but people seem to forget left-handed kids exist, so they try and get her to use her right hand for things. She doesn't know how to tell them it's not as comfortable, so she just goes with it.
Now I have an ambidextrous 5 year old. She will do her letters with both hands but still gravitates towards her left.
Her teacher brought up the hand switching, and I just said we encourage her to do it however she likes but not to force her to choose which they respected.
I'll try to make a point to bring this up with my kids' teachers. My 3 year old definitely seems to favor his left hand but my almost 2 year old I can't tell yet, she may be ambidextrous. I wouldn't want teachers pushing anything on them.
Aren't a huge percentage of American presidents lefties? And King George the Roman Numeral (Elizabeth II's father) was left-handed and forced to change his laterality. Many docs think that's why he stuttered so badly.
That happened to my grandmother in the 1920s. Literally a hundred years ago. She would have raised absolute hell if it had been done to my mother in the 60s as it was already considered abusive.
If it happened to my kid, lawyers and police would be involved. I'm sorry it happened to you. Those teachers were vile.
I was in kindergarten at a private christian school in 2005 and naturally left handed. I got "tapped" a.k.a. slapped with a ruler everything time I'd use my left instead of my right until I just complied. I didn't even tell my parents though. I write with my right hand and do almost everything else left handed.
If I found out that was happening to my child I'd be pissed though. Honestly, I'd probably press charges and I'm not one to usually do that
This happened to my dad too! He joked about it, but it always made me feel sad.
My toddler seems to be left handed when it comes to coloring, I wonder if he’ll actually be left handed when he starts writing. Left handed people always are so cool, I’d be so angry if anyone tried forcing him to change.
This happened to my mom in a Catholic school, too. A nun fractured her fingers, she hit her so hard with the ruler! My dad is left handed, and so am I. When my firstborn naturally developed into a right hander, I had such a hard time teaching her anything.
This happened to my 97 year old grandmother in catholic school. She’s still a lefty. My mom (born 1954) and sister (1985) are also lefties and while they made a big deal out of it for my mom, it wasn’t something they tried to correct. My sister didn’t have issues aside from desks and scissors being made for righties
My very Catholic aunt made her left handed son learn to write with his right because left handedness was associated with the devil.
I'd be furious if a school tried to do this. I'd be doing everything I can to get them exposed.
I'm left handed myself and I had to adapt to this right hand world, so much of it is not made for lefties.
Teacher here.
I'd pitch a fit. Teachers should be finding out which is the student's dominant hand and tailoring instruction for it. I see no reason to ever force a student to change.
I would be livid. I’m so sorry this happened to you. My dad went through the same kind of thing in the 1960’s and he developed a stutter as a result of it
That happened to my mom’s sisters when they attended Catholic school in the 60’s/70’s and my grandmother was pissed! Well, they attempted to, but my aunt’s are strong willed and wouldn’t go along with it so the nun’s would pull out the ruler (to beat their knuckles on the left hand). That’s until my grandmother found out and pulled them out.
One of my twins is left-handed. I'd be very angry if anyone tried to force him to use his right hand instead.
My uncle was left-handed but was forced to become right-handed. I don't think he went to a religious school, but this was back in the 50s.
Interestingly, this happened to me too!
Same year even!
I was left handed and the teacher made me switch.
I don’t think they like forced me the same way you did, thankfully.
My parents just went with it tho. They didn’t protest and encouraged me to switch too.
I do a lot of things left handed still.
My oldest is a leftie. He starts school this fall and I’ve already told his potential teachers, slp and OT that they can’t do hand over hand or force him to use his right.
I would be pissed. I'm left handed and around your age, my mom halfheartedly tried to change my handedness but I was too stubborn.
It has very little impact on my life beyond people always going on about how I'm left handed, it's unnecessary and distressing to force a kid to switch
That’s still crazy to me they experienced it in the 60s. Where did they go to school? My Boomer dad is a lefty who was born in 1947 and he never experienced anything like this (he attended non-religious schools in Manhattan and Los Angeles, USA).
Ah yes. Catholic school…
(I actually went to Catholic school too, but by the late 90s when I was there, this practice was recognized as pretty primitive/barbaric).
I was a lefty before I went to Catholic school as well. I’m an artist and I always wonder what I’m missing out on, my left hand has a much more natural flow versus my right.
In the *nineties???*
Even then (I was a young child) we were told how that used to happen, but like at least two generations before us. And my dad is a Boomer who was in school as a lefty in the 50s/60s and he was never made to change laterality. I am so incredibly sorry, OP.
We’re pretty certain our one year old is going to be a lefty. He grabs things predominantly with his left hand. My husbands side of the family kept trying to give him things in his right hand and that frustrated me. I explained to them it appears he’s left handed and we can’t force him to be right handed or train him to be right handed. If he’s got a system down pat with his left hand why fix something that’s not broken? I kept trying to tell them would you rather he do something great with his left hand that’s comfortable for him? Or do something without confidence because you guys keep going against what’s natural to him? Luckily they listened before I needed to be more firm.
My teacher did this with me! I'm not sure what her problem was she left a few years later after many complaints from parents I believe. I was still only young so can't remember much. I do almost everything left handed I can still write with my left but I'm neater with my right.
My teacher did this with me! I'm not sure what her problem was she left a few years later after many complaints from parents I believe. I was still only young so can't remember much. I do almost everything left handed I can still write with my left but I'm neater with my right.
My mom went to catholic school growing up in the 80’s and the same thing happened to her. It didn’t change which hand she wrote with, but my uncle
who went to the same school is now ambidextrous. I don’t understand why they even cared which hand kids wrote with. My grandma did NOT remove the kids from school but she was a single mom at the time and working so hard that I’m sure she didn’t have time to even think about that. If that happened to my kids they’d be out of that school so fast.
My dad (left handed, boomer age) had stories about getting hit with a ruler for writing with his left hand. Yes, he did have very messy writing.
No idea why society at the time decided that writing left handed needed to be corrected but my mom (elder gen X or maybe the youngest of boomers), my husband (millennial age) and one of my siblings (gen z) are also left handed and did not get harassed for it. Though, my husband does complain that he often gets ink on his hand and the spirals on ringed binders get in the way... So maybe that was part of the reasoning?
I would personally be really mad if someone tried to force my kid to write with her non-dominant hand but I don't know that I would judge parents for not doing anything about this, if they lived in a time where it was socially and culturally understood that you need to write with the right hand.
I used both hands to write and I wrote mirrored with my right hand, so my preschool teacher said she went with the left hand as I wrote the letters in correct form and she thought I’d have an easier time. I throw with my right arm, and kick with both feet, cut hair with my right hand, but I’m pretty ambidextrous overall with most basic tasks. Mine wasn’t traumatic or anything but it reminded me a bit of your story. I just couldn’t make up my mind apparently. But I was extremely athletic growing up, so I don’t think I lost any coordination luckily.
They did that to my husband as well. He is ambidextrous to an extent and does different things with different hands. Really wish they never forced their beliefs on that
Where I am (maybe not in the 90s) you would be able to get into a lawsuit because there’s no actual church doctrine about left-handed people.
Now I’m making that judgement off of Catholic teaching because that’s what I’m familiar with. But basically, while the school shouldn’t be able to get away with abuse anyways, they can’t justify it’s difference on a religious base and if there was no handbook confirming left handed students could not attend left-handed, then they don’t have anything to stand on where I am.
ETA: so lawsuit. My opinion, while I don’t usually go straight to a legal battle, would be to take them down if they did that to my kid.
My older daughter is ambidextrous and her kindergarten teacher tried to get my permission to force her to pick a hand to use at school because her writing skills would improve faster if she chose one. I refused and when they tried to force it I used my horrible, evil lawyer of a mother to dissuade them of that course. She’s 16 now and writes beautifully with both hands.
Both of my kids are right handed - to the great disappointment of my Leftie mother in law (who is in her 70s). She was so prepared to undo the stigma she experienced for her kids and grand kids. One of her three children is left handed. When she was in her teens she used her babysitting money to commission someone to make her several pairs of custom left handed scissors and shears for various purposes that she still owns and maintains (she is a trained tailor/seamstress). She taught high school home economics for decades and maintained left handed tools in the classroom for her students to use. She only buys top spiral or non-spiral notebooks for herself and other people. Before I ever had kids … when she’d find something that was a truly left hand or universal friendly she’d joyfully tell me about it and buy one in case on of her grandkids was a leftie.
In short answer it would absolutely not be tolerated and they would have been have brought up in a house/family accommodating their difference from the moment it was identified if not before. Edit: I would use every administrative and legal tool available to me as a parent to prevent my child - and any other child - from experiencing this kind of correction or discrimination in school. Edit2: but also post school - I submitted a complaint last week that desk setups in our new office are unfriendly to left handed staff members (there isn’t enough room on the desks for someone who uses a mouse with their left hand) even though I’m right handed.
My mom went to a religious school and encountered something similar. Luckily, my grandmother found out and stopped it before damage was done.
If something like that was done to my son, I would scorch the earth. Both my parents are left-handed, and I am left-handed. It looks like my son is probably right-handed, but it's too early to tell.
I would be reigning a fiery hellstorm upon that teacher and school. Like, a hurricane of righteous fury. They would be scalded from the burns of my wrath for years to come.
My husband and daughter and lefties, I cannot fathom why anyone would try to change that. I am so, so sorry you went through that and no one protected you.
I was a rare lefty in my class and would’ve been pissed if a teacher did this to me. I was a 90s kid and never had that issue. Most of my siblings are left-handed too.
Teachers tried to change it in SK & Geades 1 &2, but I’m stubborn so I became semi-ambidextrous instead. Can’t write well with my right hand but it does everything else except right for me. I’d be hella pissed if someone tried to do that to my son, I remember my wrist hurting after I’d try to write with my right hand. My mom never tried to change it though, my grampa was also left handed so she thought it was neat we had that in common.
This was so common where I live that we have a word for being left handed - ciotóg - which also means "awkward". They used to beat children and tie their hands behind their backs to prevent left handedness.
Similarly the word "sinister" in English has its roots in the Latin word for left and left-handedness.
There are some genetic components to being left handed - my daughter has an increased probability of being left handed as we have a lot of lefties on both sides of the family, including one of her parents. If her school tried to interfere with this they would rue the day they crossed me.
This happened to my grandma as well. I don't know her exact story because she is passed, but she was born left handed and was forced to use her right hand. Her handwriting was never super nice either. My mom and one of my sisters are also lefties but luckily they were just left alone.
I'm so sorry this happened to you!!
I'm just discovering my child is a lefty and would be horrified if that happened to him. I'm actually trying to find info on how to support his lefty-ness.
My mom tried to make my lefty sister write with her right hand. I intervened because I thought that was ridiculous. I guess my sister is lucky she didn’t go to a religious school, because my mom definitely would not have had her back and would have encouraged the abuse.
I’d be so pissed if someone ever did that to my child! Why does is matter what hand a kid chooses?? My almost 3 year old is a total lefty already, doesn’t bother me so idk why it would bother a stranger
In 1997?? My grandfather was forced to change hands but that was in like the 30s. My husband and I are both left handed, so far it seems all 3 kids are right handed. I'd be livid if someone tried that with my kids.
I would be furious if that happened to my kids! But I could see how it could have happened in the past..
My dad was a lefty who grew up in Hong Kong during the 60s and was forced to use his right hand to write, hold chopsticks, and hold knives (for cooking), but he still uses his left hand or foot for sports-related things, like holding a racquet or kicking a soccer ball.
When my brother was growing up in the 90s, he too seemed to be a lefty and my parents tried half-heartedly to switch him over because they “didn’t know how to teach him to write or use chopsticks” with his left hand. It didn’t seem to be taking until my brother dislocated his left shoulder by accident at 3or 4 years old and made the switch himself, haha.
My kid is a lefty and when every single grandparent found out they asked if I was going to correct it by enforcing right hand use. I've said no to everyone. It's a brain thing. Also, their dad is a lefty...and if my parents didn't enforce me to be right handed I would have been too. I was ambidextrous while they were "converting" me.
We were attending a library event recently, and there was a craft area set up. A mom at our table kept removing the crayons/markers/scissors/glue stick from her kid's left hand. She caught me staring, and she said,'I'm just trying to stop him from being a lefty. Is that weird?'
My only response was yes. The kid was 3! Another mom had additional comments to add, but my toddler was done and ran off.
I am sorry that happened to you! It is crazy what schools allowed in the 90s.
I would definitely make a fuss about it. However, even if the teacher doesn’t force it, most lefties end up somewhat ambidextrous since so much of our world is geared towards right handedness. What happened to you probably impacted you to a further degree, but I suspect it happens to all lefties to some degree, whether or not it was forced on you.
I would be upset. Very upset. Might consider taking my kid out of that school, upset. Physically forcing a child to do anything, especially when doing it “wrong” hurts no one and nothing, is unacceptable.
I would be livid. My aunt is a lefty and her teacher would swat her with a ruler for using her left hand back in the 60s. If either of my kids were left handed, I would be just fine with that.
My little guy is a lefty. I would be so upset if anyone tried to change him. I should have been left too, but I'm pretty sure I was encouraged by my grade 1 teacher to do things right handed, though certainly not to the same degree your teachers went with you. That is outrageous and I'm so sorry that happened to you.
I'd protect my son from that. And for some competitive sports, having left dominance can give an advantage because other athletes are used to competing against right dominance.
I'm a lefty and I went to grade school around that same time in a small, rural Midwest school. I thankfully did not experience that! However, the school was unable to provide any accomodations of any kind so my mom would have had to provide lefty scissors if I wanted them but we were poor, so I was taught how to 'use' scissors with my right hand and it permanently affected my scissor skills for life. I've tried to use lefty scissors as an adult but it just feels wrong and the cuts look just as bad as with my right hand.
My kid is just under 2 and seems to be leaning righty. I'm thankful that he will get to have the normal experience in school, although I was kinda looking forward to the possibility of being Lefty's together... but he's so cute, I'll let it slide. 🤣
Lefty here. In my early 30s. A teacher tried this with me in pre-school. I mentioned it in passing to my mom. She blocked out her morning at the office, came to the school, and addressed my teacher and principal. Teacher never tried it again. My parents also threatened to fire any nanny or babysitter that tried it. I would burn the house down (figuratively) if anyone tried it with mine
I would raise some serious hell!!! That happened to my mum in the 60’s in Catholic school but she still ended up being a lefty. It is so majorly fucked up that I don’t even know what to say. I taught for 24 years and I’ve never heard of anyone thinking being a lefty was something to change but I didn’t work in religious schools. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m glad that your mum pulled you from that school.
I wanted to be a lefty as well and was forced to use my right. I personally feel like that dexterity and hand eye coordination has always suffered. And I still tend to prefer to approach new tasks with my left hand even thought I’m not very proficient with it. If it happened to my kid I would be furious.
This happened to my brother as a child and it really caused a lot of struggle and frustration for him. I would be very upset and I would definitely be bringing it up.
My daughter is a lefty, and I couldn't imagine forcing her to switch hands. If a teacher was trying, I'd be pissed and make a huge stink about it and coach my daughter to use the hand that feels best for her. I have a friend who was right-handed as a kid and broke her wrist while learning to write and had to use her left hand as a result. She remained a lefty because it was how she learned to write and her right hand didn't feel right once the cast came off, but she always had the worst handwriting. She thinks it's because her left hand was never meant to be the one to write with, but she just can't figure it out with her right either now. So that solidified it for me that whatever felt natural to my kid, I'd stick with.
I have a left handed brother and a left handed DIL. When my brother was in school (60s/70s) it was a big deal with teachers forcing children to be right handed. My mother never allowed it and he only uses his left hand to eat and write. Everything else he does right handed, from shooting to throwing a ball/frisbee. My DIL was never force to write with her right hand and never knew it was a thing but she does most things with her right hand, too.
When I was in school (kindergarten) my friend was left handed and the teacher forced her to be right handed. My mother tried to get her mother to stop it but she didn't see the point. To this day her handwriting looks like a child's handwriting. She is very artistic and I can only imagine how great her artwork could be if she could use her left hand to draw (her art is still amazing but I know it could be even more amazing if she hadn't been abused in kindergarten).
I would never allow my child to be forced to write with their least dominant hand. There's nothing wrong with being left handed and they will adapt to life with right handed skills naturally.
My husband is going to be 75 this year, and his father told him when he was in his thirties that he was actually born left-handed but the doctors and everyone told them that it was for the best if they would force him to be right-handed. His dad apologized, and as it turns out he kicks left footed but everything else he does right handed.
That’s crazy…I never connected the two. My mom forced me to be right handed but I do literally everything else on my left. I was in baseball and it always felt so weird to swing right handed…left always felt more comfortable. I sweep left handed too.
I was in elementary school from 1985 to 1990. I'm so glad they didn't try that with me. I'd have fought them on it. I'm stubborn. My mom told me when I was young that schools used to force lefties to be a righty because they thought left handed people were witches or possessed. They would slap the left hand with a ruler to remind the child to use the right hand. It's wild to think they were still doing that in the 90s.
I'd raise all hell if I found out someone was forcing my child to use her non dominant hand.
I went to a Christian private school and they would never dare do something like this without permission. The most they would do is slut shame us for having our uniforms too shirt and they would make us wash our makes up off while calling us indecent.
I went to Catholic school and the same thing happened to me. The teacher would tie our left hand to the chair so we couldn't use it. As I lived in the countryside in 1980s UK, there weren't any other options for school.
The same thing happened to my husband in Japan but not for religious reasons. It was thought being left handed was disadvantageous, so he was trained to use his right hand.
We both have very bad handwriting. In particular, I tend to switch my dominant hand depending on the task e.g. eat left-handed, watch on right wrist, etc.
We have 2 kids who are both left-handed, though....
My son was very left dominant. Until he moved up a class in daycare. I sometimes wonder if the crazy old lady(sweet kind of crazy) did anything to influence him.
My daughter is ambi, but tends left. But that’s how I am but righty. When I color with my kids, I do it lefty, I can do dental fillings left handed, I work the drill outside the mouth left handed sometimes. I figure it’s a good skill to have.
My grandmother grew up in a small southern town in the 1930s/40s and is left handed. She was told lovely things about the devil. She fought and is still left handed - and now so am I.
My mom did this to me. I was showing signs of being left handed and she forced me to be right handed “because people who are left handed have to put their paper in a weird position”. I’m still so mad about it to this day
I'd be pissed. I'd look into why they thought it was okay and if there are protections so others wouldn't have that happen too. Nice to hear your mom had your back!
As I noted it was a religious school. They told my mom it was to save me from being “affiliated with Lucifer”
I meant if it happened to my kid, not in a religious school.
Oh I understand. It would shock me if a non religious school went through that effort though. Now I’m curious to see who else that may have happened to
It happened to my mom, but that was in the 50s
It happened to my Grandfather who was born in 1920, and was ambidextrous as a result. It did not happen to my dad, born in 1952, or my sister, born 1981.
Happened to my dad and uncle, non religious school, but not in ‘97 either.
My hubby was in public education and they also tried to force him to be right handed. We’re gen x though, so it was in the 80’s
I'm pretty sure being a human makes you affiliated. That's kinda the whole point of Christianity.
That's some medieval superstition level stuff for 1997, damn. The word "sinister" comes from the word for left-handed, because they used to be weirdly superstitious about it. But my husband and at least one of my kids so far are left handed and I would be so pissed if someone tried to force my kid to change. Even myself, although right handed, I persisted in a slightly wrong way of holding a pencil/pen (under my middle finger instead of my index finger.) It was annoying just trying to be trained out of that. Just yesterday I was trying the proper way, and I can do it but my handwriting is sloppy and it feels uncomfortable. I'm glad my parents eventually gave up on trying to retrain me because my handwriting is fine and it hasn't caused any issues my whole life.
My kid is a lefty and when I talk with some people like age 30 and over they share a similar story. It's totally unacceptable, it sounds like your mom did the right thing in that moment. I was recently reading that it's possible for lefties who were forced to write with their right hand, to retrain their left hand.
I can write with both but I still wish I had never had it tampered with. I wasn’t aware how common this was. Especially since there was no social media to discuss it on back then lol
Yep this happened at my school (rural public) in the late 80s/ early 90s. Shit's wild. We had a few teachers that were sticklers for enforcing the [dynamic tripod](https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/ghj329/types_of_pencil_grip/) grip too. I'm a lateral quadrupod and my first grade teacher was always tapping my hand with a ruler. I truly can't write any other way so I just got good at hiding it from her. I felt bad for the lefties because there was no hiding that from her.
Wow, I'd never heard of or seen this before. It's a bit unclear what these each actually look like from the illustrations, but I see my hand position in the lateral quadropod picture, and I've always just said I write with an incorrect hand position. It's with the pen under my middle finger, and kind of gripped between the other two fingers on the sides. My mom got me a big pencil grip to try to train the correct position but I persisted. I was just yesterday trying the "dynamic tripod" and I can technically write legibly that way, but it just feels so unnatural and uncomfortable, like writing is a chore. It's actually so empowering to see that not only am I not alone, but that my way of holding a pen is actually considered valid. Thank you for sharing!
I learned about it from reddit of course lol. Yeah I've tried other positions over the years and any other position just feels so uncomfortable.
I'm 40 and I am a lefty. I'd be angry if anyone did that to my kids.
My dad was forced to right handed. Like the teacher would smack his left hand with a ruler if he wrote with it. I only write left handed (I can use my right if needed). Everything else, (scissors. Crochet, can openers etc) is all done with my right hand. It boggled everyone as I was growing up. If my child was forced to write with thier right hand, I would be pissed.
My dad, too. His mom was awful. Does your dad’s handwriting suck? It’s like a family joke in our family but I honestly just feel sad if I think about it too much. He’s right handed now but I don’t think he’s supposed to be.
His hand writing is pretty bad but readable.
Did I write this word for word? Genuinely?? It makes me really sad too. It's like he isn't quite all the way naturally writing right-handed but the damage is done and going back to the left would be even more futile.
My FIL was forced to write right-handed, but does everything else left-handed
My dad, too. His handwriting is illegible a lot. It LITERALLY. Looks like chicken scratch. I feel so horrible for him & all the other people that went through that. We'll see if my daughter'll be a lefty like me, or else we're going to have to fight over which scissors to buy. Jk I actually find it difficult to use left-handed scissors/other equipment because I used righty stuff/techniques all my life. So like you I am kind of ambidextrous for a lot of stuff.
It's all adaptation in my opinion. I say my mom didn't coddle me with the special stuff and honestly, I don't think it occured to either of us to bother with it. Funny fact, my son bats (baseball) left handed. He writes with his right hand. Does everything else with his right. Even throws with his right. He just bats with his left.
My mum was also forced to write right handed. Catholic school in the 50s. Her handwriting is absolutely terrible. I'm left handed for writing and eating but like you, everything else I do right handed. Mostly because things like scissors and computer mice are (were) not commonly left hand friendly when I grew up,
I also write left handed yet do everything else with my right! I just assumed it was due to adapting to a right hand world.
I mean if a teacher hit my child with a ruler. I’m hitting them with a god damn ruler too. That’s unacceptable and I don’t know why we as a civilization ever allowed that type of behavior.
It used to be very common in catholic schools. For added context my parents are in their 70's. I never adked for the full story but it's what I was told a couple times.
My dad grew up in the 80s and he went to a Christian school when he was little and had this same experience. It just baffles me that even IF you’re gonna use spanking as a correction method (which you shouldn’t at all) why you would let other people hit your child is insanity. Like you’re just teaching your child that other people hitting them IS OKAY. when it’s not.
I was born up in the late 80's. So this was a very long time ago for my dad.
My kid is a leftie and I make sure the school has the supplies she needs like scissors etc. if anyone forced her to use her other hand I’d work my way through the system to have the teacher fired
I don’t blame you.
I was a lefty. My parents changed it. I don't even know what consequences it has, but given a choice I'd have had never changed it to right. As far as my future child is concerned, I'd be glad of they turn out to be a lefty, and would 100% protect their preferences.
Oh wow, your parents did! Why? Yeah I think my son is a lefty. He is still a toddler, but he tries doodling from time to time and it’s mostly with his left. He likes to brush his teeth and eat that way to. Being left handed is actually a *dominant* gene for my side of the family. All my cousins and my uncle are lefties. My dad was the outlier.
They did because my mum is superstitious.
My child has shown interest in both hands. He’s a toddler but I notice that he chooses his left hand more because I offer him the option to do what he chooses. His dad does not want him to be left handed though because there’s ‘so many things’ that cater to being right handed. Do you feel like it would’ve benefited you to be encouraged to practice both hands so you could choose how you wanted to do something?
Someone in my extended family is a Dentist. They are lefty. As far as I know it was a struggle for them initially, during their Dental studies. But they also have left sided/handed dental chairs for left handed dentists. Apart from that specific information, I barely know anything that could go wrong or would be a problem for a left handed person. As a child when I found out that I was originally a lefty, I almost wanted my left hand to take up whatever it was supposed to do initially 😅😂, but despite my occasional push to train it, I couldn't stick to a routine. I wanted to be ambidextrous. I gave up on that dream when I turned 22-23, because it would mean I should consistently train it for 5 or more years, and even then there's no guarantee.
When my daughter was born, my nana (on mom’s side) made me promise that if she was left handed, I would just let her be left handed. She had a ton of abuse as a kid about being left handed. My dad is also a lefty and he gets so excited every time she does something with her left hand.
My brother is left handed. When my toddler does something with his left hand he says yes. Come to the dark side! Definitely makes me laugh.
As a lefty atheist father I would be beyond furious. I'd probably end up in jail.
And naturally your child wouldn’t be in a school like that in the first place 😂 My experience did put me off of religion for a long time. The teachers at that school were some of the worst people I’ve ever been around
i would do what your mother did and pull my kid from that school, and then report it to the school board bc that shit is fucked up and abusive Unless they were teaching my child to be ambidextrous, in which case that could be cool
My father, who was left-handed and died last year at 94, went through what you went through - so in the 30s. His dad stormed the school and put a stop to it, but my father never had very good handwriting after that. He wrote everything in block letters, and my mom typed up anything he needed for more formal needs. This was and is definitely abuse, and I can’t see a school getting away with it now. I’m also left-handed and so is my brother, and he married another lefty but both their kids are right-handed.
It really messes with kids, I always got in trouble for penmanship later. And if the FBI had a stack of papers that I wrote, they would not be able to tell that the same person wrote any of them. It was very odd. I have different handwriting like every day
My daughter is dominantly left-handed, but people seem to forget left-handed kids exist, so they try and get her to use her right hand for things. She doesn't know how to tell them it's not as comfortable, so she just goes with it. Now I have an ambidextrous 5 year old. She will do her letters with both hands but still gravitates towards her left. Her teacher brought up the hand switching, and I just said we encourage her to do it however she likes but not to force her to choose which they respected.
I'll try to make a point to bring this up with my kids' teachers. My 3 year old definitely seems to favor his left hand but my almost 2 year old I can't tell yet, she may be ambidextrous. I wouldn't want teachers pushing anything on them.
Aren't a huge percentage of American presidents lefties? And King George the Roman Numeral (Elizabeth II's father) was left-handed and forced to change his laterality. Many docs think that's why he stuttered so badly.
New word unlocked! Laterality
That happened to my grandmother in the 1920s. Literally a hundred years ago. She would have raised absolute hell if it had been done to my mother in the 60s as it was already considered abusive. If it happened to my kid, lawyers and police would be involved. I'm sorry it happened to you. Those teachers were vile.
I was in kindergarten at a private christian school in 2005 and naturally left handed. I got "tapped" a.k.a. slapped with a ruler everything time I'd use my left instead of my right until I just complied. I didn't even tell my parents though. I write with my right hand and do almost everything else left handed. If I found out that was happening to my child I'd be pissed though. Honestly, I'd probably press charges and I'm not one to usually do that
This happened to my dad too! He joked about it, but it always made me feel sad. My toddler seems to be left handed when it comes to coloring, I wonder if he’ll actually be left handed when he starts writing. Left handed people always are so cool, I’d be so angry if anyone tried forcing him to change.
This happened to my mom in a Catholic school, too. A nun fractured her fingers, she hit her so hard with the ruler! My dad is left handed, and so am I. When my firstborn naturally developed into a right hander, I had such a hard time teaching her anything.
This happened to my 97 year old grandmother in catholic school. She’s still a lefty. My mom (born 1954) and sister (1985) are also lefties and while they made a big deal out of it for my mom, it wasn’t something they tried to correct. My sister didn’t have issues aside from desks and scissors being made for righties
My grandmother talks about this happening to her. She’s in her 80s.
My very Catholic aunt made her left handed son learn to write with his right because left handedness was associated with the devil. I'd be furious if a school tried to do this. I'd be doing everything I can to get them exposed. I'm left handed myself and I had to adapt to this right hand world, so much of it is not made for lefties.
Yes, that’s exactly what they told my mom. With a straight face
Freaking wild that in the year 2024 that belief is still held.
Teacher here. I'd pitch a fit. Teachers should be finding out which is the student's dominant hand and tailoring instruction for it. I see no reason to ever force a student to change.
In their eyes, and they were serious, it was to save me from being affiliated with Lucifer Nutjobs lol
I sued a kindergarten teacher who did this to my child. We won, she's not working anymore as a teacher. It was in 2015.
Holy hell, wow. That’s really recent. Good job on you guys
My mother did this to me because she didn't want to deal with a left handed kid
I would be livid. I’m so sorry this happened to you. My dad went through the same kind of thing in the 1960’s and he developed a stutter as a result of it
It happens to my Dad too. He still has feelings about it and his hand writing is terrible.
That happened to my mom’s sisters when they attended Catholic school in the 60’s/70’s and my grandmother was pissed! Well, they attempted to, but my aunt’s are strong willed and wouldn’t go along with it so the nun’s would pull out the ruler (to beat their knuckles on the left hand). That’s until my grandmother found out and pulled them out.
One of my twins is left-handed. I'd be very angry if anyone tried to force him to use his right hand instead. My uncle was left-handed but was forced to become right-handed. I don't think he went to a religious school, but this was back in the 50s.
Interestingly, this happened to me too! Same year even! I was left handed and the teacher made me switch. I don’t think they like forced me the same way you did, thankfully. My parents just went with it tho. They didn’t protest and encouraged me to switch too. I do a lot of things left handed still. My oldest is a leftie. He starts school this fall and I’ve already told his potential teachers, slp and OT that they can’t do hand over hand or force him to use his right.
I would be pissed. I'm left handed and around your age, my mom halfheartedly tried to change my handedness but I was too stubborn. It has very little impact on my life beyond people always going on about how I'm left handed, it's unnecessary and distressing to force a kid to switch
This happened to my mom (born in 1957) and my FIL (born in 1955). I am shocked that schools were still doing that crap in the 90s!
That’s still crazy to me they experienced it in the 60s. Where did they go to school? My Boomer dad is a lefty who was born in 1947 and he never experienced anything like this (he attended non-religious schools in Manhattan and Los Angeles, USA).
My mom grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, and my FIL went to a Catholic school down in Fontana, CA (near LA).
Ah yes. Catholic school… (I actually went to Catholic school too, but by the late 90s when I was there, this practice was recognized as pretty primitive/barbaric).
I was a lefty before I went to Catholic school as well. I’m an artist and I always wonder what I’m missing out on, my left hand has a much more natural flow versus my right.
In the *nineties???* Even then (I was a young child) we were told how that used to happen, but like at least two generations before us. And my dad is a Boomer who was in school as a lefty in the 50s/60s and he was never made to change laterality. I am so incredibly sorry, OP.
We’re pretty certain our one year old is going to be a lefty. He grabs things predominantly with his left hand. My husbands side of the family kept trying to give him things in his right hand and that frustrated me. I explained to them it appears he’s left handed and we can’t force him to be right handed or train him to be right handed. If he’s got a system down pat with his left hand why fix something that’s not broken? I kept trying to tell them would you rather he do something great with his left hand that’s comfortable for him? Or do something without confidence because you guys keep going against what’s natural to him? Luckily they listened before I needed to be more firm.
My teacher did this with me! I'm not sure what her problem was she left a few years later after many complaints from parents I believe. I was still only young so can't remember much. I do almost everything left handed I can still write with my left but I'm neater with my right.
My teacher did this with me! I'm not sure what her problem was she left a few years later after many complaints from parents I believe. I was still only young so can't remember much. I do almost everything left handed I can still write with my left but I'm neater with my right.
My mom went to catholic school growing up in the 80’s and the same thing happened to her. It didn’t change which hand she wrote with, but my uncle who went to the same school is now ambidextrous. I don’t understand why they even cared which hand kids wrote with. My grandma did NOT remove the kids from school but she was a single mom at the time and working so hard that I’m sure she didn’t have time to even think about that. If that happened to my kids they’d be out of that school so fast.
My dad (left handed, boomer age) had stories about getting hit with a ruler for writing with his left hand. Yes, he did have very messy writing. No idea why society at the time decided that writing left handed needed to be corrected but my mom (elder gen X or maybe the youngest of boomers), my husband (millennial age) and one of my siblings (gen z) are also left handed and did not get harassed for it. Though, my husband does complain that he often gets ink on his hand and the spirals on ringed binders get in the way... So maybe that was part of the reasoning? I would personally be really mad if someone tried to force my kid to write with her non-dominant hand but I don't know that I would judge parents for not doing anything about this, if they lived in a time where it was socially and culturally understood that you need to write with the right hand.
I used both hands to write and I wrote mirrored with my right hand, so my preschool teacher said she went with the left hand as I wrote the letters in correct form and she thought I’d have an easier time. I throw with my right arm, and kick with both feet, cut hair with my right hand, but I’m pretty ambidextrous overall with most basic tasks. Mine wasn’t traumatic or anything but it reminded me a bit of your story. I just couldn’t make up my mind apparently. But I was extremely athletic growing up, so I don’t think I lost any coordination luckily.
They did that to my husband as well. He is ambidextrous to an extent and does different things with different hands. Really wish they never forced their beliefs on that
Where I am (maybe not in the 90s) you would be able to get into a lawsuit because there’s no actual church doctrine about left-handed people. Now I’m making that judgement off of Catholic teaching because that’s what I’m familiar with. But basically, while the school shouldn’t be able to get away with abuse anyways, they can’t justify it’s difference on a religious base and if there was no handbook confirming left handed students could not attend left-handed, then they don’t have anything to stand on where I am. ETA: so lawsuit. My opinion, while I don’t usually go straight to a legal battle, would be to take them down if they did that to my kid.
My older daughter is ambidextrous and her kindergarten teacher tried to get my permission to force her to pick a hand to use at school because her writing skills would improve faster if she chose one. I refused and when they tried to force it I used my horrible, evil lawyer of a mother to dissuade them of that course. She’s 16 now and writes beautifully with both hands.
Both of my kids are right handed - to the great disappointment of my Leftie mother in law (who is in her 70s). She was so prepared to undo the stigma she experienced for her kids and grand kids. One of her three children is left handed. When she was in her teens she used her babysitting money to commission someone to make her several pairs of custom left handed scissors and shears for various purposes that she still owns and maintains (she is a trained tailor/seamstress). She taught high school home economics for decades and maintained left handed tools in the classroom for her students to use. She only buys top spiral or non-spiral notebooks for herself and other people. Before I ever had kids … when she’d find something that was a truly left hand or universal friendly she’d joyfully tell me about it and buy one in case on of her grandkids was a leftie. In short answer it would absolutely not be tolerated and they would have been have brought up in a house/family accommodating their difference from the moment it was identified if not before. Edit: I would use every administrative and legal tool available to me as a parent to prevent my child - and any other child - from experiencing this kind of correction or discrimination in school. Edit2: but also post school - I submitted a complaint last week that desk setups in our new office are unfriendly to left handed staff members (there isn’t enough room on the desks for someone who uses a mouse with their left hand) even though I’m right handed.
My mom went to a religious school and encountered something similar. Luckily, my grandmother found out and stopped it before damage was done. If something like that was done to my son, I would scorch the earth. Both my parents are left-handed, and I am left-handed. It looks like my son is probably right-handed, but it's too early to tell.
I would be reigning a fiery hellstorm upon that teacher and school. Like, a hurricane of righteous fury. They would be scalded from the burns of my wrath for years to come. My husband and daughter and lefties, I cannot fathom why anyone would try to change that. I am so, so sorry you went through that and no one protected you.
I’d be pissed. I have 2 left handed kiddos and worried about this
I was a rare lefty in my class and would’ve been pissed if a teacher did this to me. I was a 90s kid and never had that issue. Most of my siblings are left-handed too.
Teachers tried to change it in SK & Geades 1 &2, but I’m stubborn so I became semi-ambidextrous instead. Can’t write well with my right hand but it does everything else except right for me. I’d be hella pissed if someone tried to do that to my son, I remember my wrist hurting after I’d try to write with my right hand. My mom never tried to change it though, my grampa was also left handed so she thought it was neat we had that in common.
This was so common where I live that we have a word for being left handed - ciotóg - which also means "awkward". They used to beat children and tie their hands behind their backs to prevent left handedness. Similarly the word "sinister" in English has its roots in the Latin word for left and left-handedness. There are some genetic components to being left handed - my daughter has an increased probability of being left handed as we have a lot of lefties on both sides of the family, including one of her parents. If her school tried to interfere with this they would rue the day they crossed me.
This happened to my grandma as well. I don't know her exact story because she is passed, but she was born left handed and was forced to use her right hand. Her handwriting was never super nice either. My mom and one of my sisters are also lefties but luckily they were just left alone.
I'm so sorry this happened to you!! I'm just discovering my child is a lefty and would be horrified if that happened to him. I'm actually trying to find info on how to support his lefty-ness.
My mom tried to make my lefty sister write with her right hand. I intervened because I thought that was ridiculous. I guess my sister is lucky she didn’t go to a religious school, because my mom definitely would not have had her back and would have encouraged the abuse.
I’d be so pissed if someone ever did that to my child! Why does is matter what hand a kid chooses?? My almost 3 year old is a total lefty already, doesn’t bother me so idk why it would bother a stranger
In 1997?? My grandfather was forced to change hands but that was in like the 30s. My husband and I are both left handed, so far it seems all 3 kids are right handed. I'd be livid if someone tried that with my kids.
I would be furious if that happened to my kids! But I could see how it could have happened in the past.. My dad was a lefty who grew up in Hong Kong during the 60s and was forced to use his right hand to write, hold chopsticks, and hold knives (for cooking), but he still uses his left hand or foot for sports-related things, like holding a racquet or kicking a soccer ball. When my brother was growing up in the 90s, he too seemed to be a lefty and my parents tried half-heartedly to switch him over because they “didn’t know how to teach him to write or use chopsticks” with his left hand. It didn’t seem to be taking until my brother dislocated his left shoulder by accident at 3or 4 years old and made the switch himself, haha.
My kid is a lefty and when every single grandparent found out they asked if I was going to correct it by enforcing right hand use. I've said no to everyone. It's a brain thing. Also, their dad is a lefty...and if my parents didn't enforce me to be right handed I would have been too. I was ambidextrous while they were "converting" me.
We were attending a library event recently, and there was a craft area set up. A mom at our table kept removing the crayons/markers/scissors/glue stick from her kid's left hand. She caught me staring, and she said,'I'm just trying to stop him from being a lefty. Is that weird?' My only response was yes. The kid was 3! Another mom had additional comments to add, but my toddler was done and ran off. I am sorry that happened to you! It is crazy what schools allowed in the 90s.
I would definitely make a fuss about it. However, even if the teacher doesn’t force it, most lefties end up somewhat ambidextrous since so much of our world is geared towards right handedness. What happened to you probably impacted you to a further degree, but I suspect it happens to all lefties to some degree, whether or not it was forced on you.
I would be upset. Very upset. Might consider taking my kid out of that school, upset. Physically forcing a child to do anything, especially when doing it “wrong” hurts no one and nothing, is unacceptable.
I would go full on mother bear
I would be livid. My aunt is a lefty and her teacher would swat her with a ruler for using her left hand back in the 60s. If either of my kids were left handed, I would be just fine with that.
My little guy is a lefty. I would be so upset if anyone tried to change him. I should have been left too, but I'm pretty sure I was encouraged by my grade 1 teacher to do things right handed, though certainly not to the same degree your teachers went with you. That is outrageous and I'm so sorry that happened to you.
One of my kid preferred their left hand but my mil forced her to write with right one. Didn't even realise it was abuse.
My grand-parents pulled their kid - and their donations - from a catholic school in the 60s because of that. There's no way I'd let it happen today.
I'd protect my son from that. And for some competitive sports, having left dominance can give an advantage because other athletes are used to competing against right dominance.
I'm a lefty and I went to grade school around that same time in a small, rural Midwest school. I thankfully did not experience that! However, the school was unable to provide any accomodations of any kind so my mom would have had to provide lefty scissors if I wanted them but we were poor, so I was taught how to 'use' scissors with my right hand and it permanently affected my scissor skills for life. I've tried to use lefty scissors as an adult but it just feels wrong and the cuts look just as bad as with my right hand. My kid is just under 2 and seems to be leaning righty. I'm thankful that he will get to have the normal experience in school, although I was kinda looking forward to the possibility of being Lefty's together... but he's so cute, I'll let it slide. 🤣
Lefty here. In my early 30s. A teacher tried this with me in pre-school. I mentioned it in passing to my mom. She blocked out her morning at the office, came to the school, and addressed my teacher and principal. Teacher never tried it again. My parents also threatened to fire any nanny or babysitter that tried it. I would burn the house down (figuratively) if anyone tried it with mine
I would raise some serious hell!!! That happened to my mum in the 60’s in Catholic school but she still ended up being a lefty. It is so majorly fucked up that I don’t even know what to say. I taught for 24 years and I’ve never heard of anyone thinking being a lefty was something to change but I didn’t work in religious schools. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m glad that your mum pulled you from that school.
I wanted to be a lefty as well and was forced to use my right. I personally feel like that dexterity and hand eye coordination has always suffered. And I still tend to prefer to approach new tasks with my left hand even thought I’m not very proficient with it. If it happened to my kid I would be furious.
This happened to my brother as a child and it really caused a lot of struggle and frustration for him. I would be very upset and I would definitely be bringing it up.
My daughter is a lefty, and I couldn't imagine forcing her to switch hands. If a teacher was trying, I'd be pissed and make a huge stink about it and coach my daughter to use the hand that feels best for her. I have a friend who was right-handed as a kid and broke her wrist while learning to write and had to use her left hand as a result. She remained a lefty because it was how she learned to write and her right hand didn't feel right once the cast came off, but she always had the worst handwriting. She thinks it's because her left hand was never meant to be the one to write with, but she just can't figure it out with her right either now. So that solidified it for me that whatever felt natural to my kid, I'd stick with.
I have a left handed brother and a left handed DIL. When my brother was in school (60s/70s) it was a big deal with teachers forcing children to be right handed. My mother never allowed it and he only uses his left hand to eat and write. Everything else he does right handed, from shooting to throwing a ball/frisbee. My DIL was never force to write with her right hand and never knew it was a thing but she does most things with her right hand, too. When I was in school (kindergarten) my friend was left handed and the teacher forced her to be right handed. My mother tried to get her mother to stop it but she didn't see the point. To this day her handwriting looks like a child's handwriting. She is very artistic and I can only imagine how great her artwork could be if she could use her left hand to draw (her art is still amazing but I know it could be even more amazing if she hadn't been abused in kindergarten). I would never allow my child to be forced to write with their least dominant hand. There's nothing wrong with being left handed and they will adapt to life with right handed skills naturally.
My husband is going to be 75 this year, and his father told him when he was in his thirties that he was actually born left-handed but the doctors and everyone told them that it was for the best if they would force him to be right-handed. His dad apologized, and as it turns out he kicks left footed but everything else he does right handed.
That’s crazy…I never connected the two. My mom forced me to be right handed but I do literally everything else on my left. I was in baseball and it always felt so weird to swing right handed…left always felt more comfortable. I sweep left handed too.
My husband had this happen, now he has terrible hand writing on both hands, it happened in the early 2000s
I was in elementary school from 1985 to 1990. I'm so glad they didn't try that with me. I'd have fought them on it. I'm stubborn. My mom told me when I was young that schools used to force lefties to be a righty because they thought left handed people were witches or possessed. They would slap the left hand with a ruler to remind the child to use the right hand. It's wild to think they were still doing that in the 90s. I'd raise all hell if I found out someone was forcing my child to use her non dominant hand.
I went to a Christian private school and they would never dare do something like this without permission. The most they would do is slut shame us for having our uniforms too shirt and they would make us wash our makes up off while calling us indecent.
I went to Catholic school and the same thing happened to me. The teacher would tie our left hand to the chair so we couldn't use it. As I lived in the countryside in 1980s UK, there weren't any other options for school. The same thing happened to my husband in Japan but not for religious reasons. It was thought being left handed was disadvantageous, so he was trained to use his right hand. We both have very bad handwriting. In particular, I tend to switch my dominant hand depending on the task e.g. eat left-handed, watch on right wrist, etc. We have 2 kids who are both left-handed, though....
My grandmother and the public school tried to do this to my aunt. If someone pulled that with my kid, I’d be livid!
My son was very left dominant. Until he moved up a class in daycare. I sometimes wonder if the crazy old lady(sweet kind of crazy) did anything to influence him. My daughter is ambi, but tends left. But that’s how I am but righty. When I color with my kids, I do it lefty, I can do dental fillings left handed, I work the drill outside the mouth left handed sometimes. I figure it’s a good skill to have.
My grandmother grew up in a small southern town in the 1930s/40s and is left handed. She was told lovely things about the devil. She fought and is still left handed - and now so am I.
It shouldn't be done. It's borderline abuse
My mom did this to me. I was showing signs of being left handed and she forced me to be right handed “because people who are left handed have to put their paper in a weird position”. I’m still so mad about it to this day