Tyler turned 3 in May. for a long time I was convinced that he was left handed. He was never very ambitious about anything fine motor but when we did get him to paint or color it was all very left handed. Now that I'm trying to improve his tracing/writing skills, he's holding the pencil right handed, most of the time, in a primitive grasp like you would a hammer? ya know? Do I let him just keep switching sides? Do I try to make him practice with both sides equally? How do I change his grip? What is the best grip for a 3 y/o? If he can't color fully inside the lines yet is he "behind"? thanks all!
A lot of kids can't color in the lines by seven, so, no, that's not a problem. A three-and-a-half year old should be able to hold a crayon or pencil in a tripod grip (resting on the middle finger, thumb and forefinger pinching against it forming a sort of triangle), just like a big person. Sometimes their little hands just aren't strong enough to color or write for very long at a time yet. If your child had a better grasp and control left handed, then I'd insist he stay with that. I'm a lefty, and when I got to first grade (we had no kindergarten), I tried to imitate all the right-handed people in the class, and confused myself. The teacher kept saying things like "in the hand you write with" and demonstrating things right-handed.... If he's going to be a lefty, insist that he tilt his paper toward the right, in a mirror image of a righty, rather than come at it from over the top or dragging his hand over his writing from the left. Does he do most everything else left or right handed? Eating utensil, blocks when stacking, any other task? If it's mostly left, then insist he stick with left for writing and coloring too. It could be a case of mixed dominance, like me: I'm right-eyed, left handed, right footed. I hold a pistol, tennis racket, bow (archery), and throw a ball left handed. I swing a baseball bat or golf club, hold a rifle, manage my beverage, and work the computer mouse right-handed. My nephew had hidden neurological difficulty. His mother never noticed until he was in about second grade that when he was coloring in a coloring book, he colored the left hand page with his left hand, and right hand page with his right hand, and switched his pencil from left to right and back again as his hand got tired (pretty often). Turned out, he could not cross the midline with either hand and had to have vision and occupational therapies to conquer this problem. He had reading difficulties and adhd, too, which may/maynot have been related to the same problem. Some of this might have been avoided if she'd noticed this midline problem earlier..... True ambidexterity can be an advantage in some occupations (carpenter comes to mind), but is more often a symptom of atypical development neurologically, and is often related to reading or other educational difficulties.
Most pediatricians will tell you that a child doesn't fully favor a hand until they are around 4-5, so he's still a little young. Rather than create a fight where one currently does not exist, I'd let him keep switching. It will likely work itself out in a few months. It sounds like it's already starting to based on his leaning more towards his right now. If he does have ambidexterous tendecies, then forcing him to stick with one hand will cause him to be completely out of practice with the other and being ambidexterous is a very useful thing to be.
the best grip for a three year oldis like he is holding it! I was a 2-3 teacher and up ( went to college 24 units of study for this lol) anyway, dont push him , if he is abedextrious ( I am) he will show signs for the next few years, just allow him to work freely with both as he feels like it dont make an issue of it. When he gets to be around 6 or 7 start focusing on whatever side is his prodominent side. But up to then, give him lots of things to play with, play dough and lego duplos etc that will build the fine motors up and help his brain with the freedom to choose. My dd also has a bit of ambedextroiousness ( is that a word?) And she is a switch hitter in baseball as well as able to write with both hands like myself. I went through most of my learning years without realising how special it was but the teacher gave us a art class of writting our name in paint then folding it so it showed up mirrored, I sat with a couple of pencils and wrote both sides inside otu at the same time just for fun to mimic the project. from there my friends had me write with my left hand and it actually came in handy when I was in a sling a couple times! My right side is predominent but left side would be just fine if I wanted to work on it. I can write ledgebly with it and have done some pretty long letters to my dh that way when he was away on a ship during our courtship! ( thats a long story but really cool) So... its possible he is ambi, but could just be a normal 3 yr old experimenting as he grows those fine motor skills! Lot of words to say that wasn't it? lol
Yeah, he's being normal for his age! Kids at that age usually hold a pencil/crayon in a fist, and changing hands is not unusual. As Lindina mentioned, it CAN be the sign of problems, but chances are at his age he'll grow out of it. To determine "which hand...", hand him a pencil at mid-line, and see which hand he picks it up with. If he consitantly picks it with that hand, then I would encourage him to use that hand when doing his motor stuff.
Ditto. My 6 yo DS still switches back and forth. We've never made an issue of it - well, my FIL still gets excited but I dunno why, LOL. But I also don't insist on super-neat handwriting at that age (6), I just want to encourage writing. For your son, I would've said, I want to encourage drawing.
My daughter also switched back and forth for a long time. She ate with both hands, wrote and drew with both hands, and sucked both thumbs! LOL She is now 6 and is using (mostly) her left hand.
My oldest uses both hands in writing but favors the left hand when eating or playing. Everything else is done with both hands. He has learning disabilties and I assume it maybe why he does that. I myself am ambidextrous but it was not naturally developed. I was born left handed and in the second grade my mother had my teacher make me switch to using my right hand. To this day I favor the left hand for playing cards, cooking, and eating but I use my right hand for writing and painting. I can write with both hands too. I felt at a loss for going through that, I was angry and upset that I was forced to relearn to write with my right hand all because my mother thought it was bad luck to have a left handed child. When my oldest was a toddler and she'd come to visit, I would catch her making my son switch the crayon to his right hand. I had a talk with my mom and told her that what ever hand he uses is his choice not hers or mine.
My French teacher in high school could write with both hands at the same time, mirror image. That was one of the most impressive "tricks" I ever saw. She could also write her first name with her left hand while writing her last name with the right.
I think this is normal until they figure out what's comfortable to them. Heck, my 4 year old hasn't mastered scissors yet and I figure that too will come with time. He's also behind in some areas and further in other's. I think it's just the way they each individually mature. My son will actually color a picture with both hands using two crayons and still color in the lines. All I can figure is he inherited it from his great grandpa who could write with both hands in two different languages.
My son, 14, writes with his left hand, he eats with his left hand, unless someone sits beside him that eats right handed, then he can switch to his right hand. Everything else he is right handed.
Thanks everyone. I'll just keep letting him work at his own pace. Lindina, thank you for the heads up on the neurological disorder. You all gave me lots to pay attention to yesterday while we did "school" and I guess he's just still experimenting, which sounds pretty normal. As long as he continues to improve little by little (or leap by leap) I'm happy. Thanks again!
