LEFT-HANDEDNESS
As recently as a generation or two ago, left-handedness was
treated unsympathetically enough to develop emotional problems in the
child. A considerable amount of research
on the subject suggested that, in addition to general feelings of strain and
insecurity children who were forced to change from left to right frequently
became stutterers. For the most part,
the public has come to be sufficiently aware of this to have modified its
approach to left-handed children.
Although there are some few disadvantages involved in being
left-handed while living in a right-handed world, they are fairly insignificant
from any reasonable point of view. The
important thing for us to do as parents is to keep these disadvantages or
differences insignificant. We do this
best by making no effort whatever to change our child over to right-handedness.
If anything, the child is better off having us treat it as though it were an
advantage. Although it’s easy enough to control this in the home, our child may
occasionally run into someone who takes a less well-informed attitude toward
his left-handedness. We may have to
reach out and try to modify such a person’s attitude for the sake of our child,
but, in most cases, an unconcerned dismissal of the matter is the most
convincing.
At the present time we still do not know the origin of
handedness. Although most people accept
it as an hereditary matter, the evidence is still inconclusive. The only danger involved in left-handedness
is in the effort made to correct it. Some parents try to spare their child this
difficulty by correcting it themselves at home.
The chances are against its being effective and , in all probability,
the child will come to feel a certain amount of lack of acceptance in the
effort you make with him. Accept him as
he is, and his left-handedness will be no problem.
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