Wednesday, April 12, 2006

When do babies decide to be right or left-handed?


It’s somewhat of a mystery, I wanted to know, and honestly couldn't figure this out. So I Googled it and found out it's around 9 months - which happens to be my daughter’s age! I taught her how to feed herself Cheerios and small bite sized food with her left hand (I'm left-handed by the way) a few weeks ago, but on some occasions she still uses her right. I really wonder if this is a learned-observational trait or something "hard-wired" in their brain like genetics. I know this sounds weird, or even self-glorifying, but I really want her to be left-handed because right-brain people I know and have worked with tend to be more creative. And being a creative person myself, of course, I want my spawn to be creative! Just as I’m sure a scientist would want their kid to be Einstein 2 (electric boogaloo). I know that there are exceptions to this right brain, left-brain idea, and I’ve read studies debunking this idea (or myth as some have called it). But through college (Art school), work (creative profession), and students I teach AP drawing classes to... a whole lot of them are left-handed. To me, I think there is a correlation there. Saying there isn’t like saying rain doesn’t come from clouds.
And what if my daughter does turn out to be left-handed or worse non-creative? Well, I wouldn't be too disappointed. Just as long as she's smarter than Einstein…
  • HealthTouch: NORMAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS
  • 1 comment:

    city dweller said...

    My four year old is left handed and I thought it was really neat, in fact I still think it's pretty cool since he's the only one in my immediate family who is. I keep hoping he'll be really creative and smart!