August 13 is National Left-Handers Day, so pass this post on to all your leftie friends!
Those poor lefties (cue melancholy violin music)! They pick up a mug and the picture is facing away from them. They struggle while using regular scissors. And who hasn’t giggled watching a lefty smear ink across the page with his left hand while sitting at a school desk made for righties? An estimated ten percent of the population are lefties and, among that ten percent, boys are more likely than girls to have a left-handed preference.
It does seem like lefties are at a disadvantage, doesn’t it? I mean…just for fun, watch a lefty try to take a picture (the button is on the right side of the camera), or use a standard computer mouse, or learn how to play a musical instrument. One lefty I know gripes that his clothes are always “backwards” on the hangers. At mealtimes, he must sit on the left side of his brother or else they bump elbows and get into a wrestling match. My friend, Ambre, looked forward to being able to drive with her left hand, until she realized she’d have to start the car and shift gears with her right hand. I’m telling you, I didn’t think I’d live to see my 18th birthday while riding around town with her!
Good thing lefties are now seen as special rather than strange, as in the past. Ask an older lefty how they liked being forced to write with their right hand in school to conform to a holier-than-thou righty world.
If my youngest son ends up a lefty, I will tell him of difficulties he would have faced, and the heart attack he would surely have inflicted upon me had he chosen a career as a woodworker. Not only are there problems, such as sawdust blowing back into the face because of the angle of the blade, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about my husband’s identical twin brother, a lefty, nearly cutting his arm off while making something in his woodshop. Heaven help us if the day ever comes that those “high fives” he does with the kids turn into “high threes.”
In trying to help all my lefty pals, and to get a jump on life in case my own baby is a lefty, I found a couple of cool sites (TheLeftHand.com and ToolBarn.com) with life-changing tools for lefties! Guitars, gardening equipment, tape measures, tool belts, can openers, sporting goods, and school supplies are just a few of the offerings. You can even buy those famed lefty spiral notebooks online. And for dozens more ideas to make your lefty’s life easier from childhood through adulthood, check out the book, Your Left-Handed Child.
Finally, if you have a lefty in your family, he might enjoy learning fun facts from LeftHandersDay.com, including how incredibly intelligent lefties can be. Your child will feel really special when he learns that:
- One of every four astronauts in the Apollo mission was left-handed, 250% more than the average population.
- In sets of twins (either identical or fraternal), one is likely to be left-handed. (my husband is an identical twin and his brother is left-handed)
- Left-handers adjust to seeing underwater more easily. (Wonder how the heck they figured that one out?!)
- Left-handers are great at sports such as tennis, baseball, swimming, and fencing.
- Four of the five original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed.
Lefties, take a look …You are a member of this celebrity lefties club!
- Tom Cruise
- Henry Ford
- Goldie Hawn
- Bruce Jenner
- Paul McCartney
- Michelangelo
- Barack Obama
- Babe Ruth
- Ringo Starr
- Mark Twain
Kerrie McLoughlin is the homeschooling writer mom of 5, and so far none of them is left-handed. And if you're a left-handed cook, check out Kerrie's book!
