I'm right-handed, and so is Steve, and it was therefore rather a shock to find out that both our sons were left-handed. We knew straight away with Hugh, as he sucked his left thumb almost from birth: Patrick was not a thumb-sucker, but when he began to feed himself, always picked up his spoon in his left hand. Apparently only two per cent of left-handers are born to entirely right-handed parents, so it got me thinking: how come?
One pointer is that Steve's mother is left-handed. Her mother was a formidable character, and went down to the school to tell them, in no uncertain terms, that her daughter was to be allowed to use her left hand. This was very enlightened for the 1930s. However, both my mother-in-law's two sons use the right hand, and so do my brother-in-law's three children. Left-handedness has only come to my two boys.
There's a leftie on my side of the family too - my first cousin Jonathan. He's a surgeon, and when he started operating, in the 60s, he had to have all his instruments specially made. So if left-handedness was down in part to a recessive gene, this would make sense. Interestingly, one of the few things I know about my (and Jonathan's) grandfather is that he had a bad stammer. And stammering can be a sign that a left-handed child has been forced to use his or her right hand. We'll never know, but that's my gut instinct, and again it makes sense.
Even in this day and age, left-handedness isn't all plain sailing. Of course my sons were never forced to use their right hand, but a lot of people don't use their eyes and just assume that the child is 'normal'. So at nursery school, both of them used scissors in their right hands because that's what they'd been shown how to do. When I bought them a special pair of left-handed ones, at first they didn't get on with them. Once they were writing, of course, it became more obvious.
Writing's hard for a southpaw, and neither of them found this easy. Sport was also tricky. I always said, 'Use whichever hand you find most comfortable and which works best.' And both of them bat with the right hand and bowl with the left. It's a positive advantage being a leftie in many sports, cricket being one of them. Some of the greatest of all tennis players, including Laver and McEnroe, have been left-handed. Nadal is a natural right-hander, but has been coached to play with the left because it gives him such a huge advantage.
I was well aware that the boys needed positive information about left-handedness, and bought several books aimed at children and young people, extolling the numerous special attributes of left-handed people. There were lots of examples of famous artists, writers and entertainers of all kinds, including Leonardo, Marilyn Monroe and Bob Dylan, and explanations of why the left-handed brain is different, and quite possibly superior, to us boring right-handers. Hugh said that these books had really helped when he was young, and made him proud to be a leftie, standing out from the crowd. He has several left-handed guitars, and Patrick asked me the other day whether it was possible to get a left-handed piano. Yes, at a (considerable) price! Much cheaper, apparently, to get an electronic keyboard - you just change the chip.
There's a place online, 'anythinglefthanded', where you can buy all sorts of useful things oriented to the southpaw, from tin openers to scissors to pens with special nibs. But mostly my lads make do with whatever's around them, and just get on with being sinisters in a dexter world. Apparently only ten per cent of the population is left-handed, but that ten per cent is over-represented in all sorts of areas. Many of the Apollo astronauts: US Presidents: actors and musicians. No doubt, left-handers tend to be creative and interesting people who relish their difference, as Hugh and Patrick do. It makes me wish I was one too!
One pointer is that Steve's mother is left-handed. Her mother was a formidable character, and went down to the school to tell them, in no uncertain terms, that her daughter was to be allowed to use her left hand. This was very enlightened for the 1930s. However, both my mother-in-law's two sons use the right hand, and so do my brother-in-law's three children. Left-handedness has only come to my two boys.
There's a leftie on my side of the family too - my first cousin Jonathan. He's a surgeon, and when he started operating, in the 60s, he had to have all his instruments specially made. So if left-handedness was down in part to a recessive gene, this would make sense. Interestingly, one of the few things I know about my (and Jonathan's) grandfather is that he had a bad stammer. And stammering can be a sign that a left-handed child has been forced to use his or her right hand. We'll never know, but that's my gut instinct, and again it makes sense.
Even in this day and age, left-handedness isn't all plain sailing. Of course my sons were never forced to use their right hand, but a lot of people don't use their eyes and just assume that the child is 'normal'. So at nursery school, both of them used scissors in their right hands because that's what they'd been shown how to do. When I bought them a special pair of left-handed ones, at first they didn't get on with them. Once they were writing, of course, it became more obvious.
Writing's hard for a southpaw, and neither of them found this easy. Sport was also tricky. I always said, 'Use whichever hand you find most comfortable and which works best.' And both of them bat with the right hand and bowl with the left. It's a positive advantage being a leftie in many sports, cricket being one of them. Some of the greatest of all tennis players, including Laver and McEnroe, have been left-handed. Nadal is a natural right-hander, but has been coached to play with the left because it gives him such a huge advantage.
I was well aware that the boys needed positive information about left-handedness, and bought several books aimed at children and young people, extolling the numerous special attributes of left-handed people. There were lots of examples of famous artists, writers and entertainers of all kinds, including Leonardo, Marilyn Monroe and Bob Dylan, and explanations of why the left-handed brain is different, and quite possibly superior, to us boring right-handers. Hugh said that these books had really helped when he was young, and made him proud to be a leftie, standing out from the crowd. He has several left-handed guitars, and Patrick asked me the other day whether it was possible to get a left-handed piano. Yes, at a (considerable) price! Much cheaper, apparently, to get an electronic keyboard - you just change the chip.
There's a place online, 'anythinglefthanded', where you can buy all sorts of useful things oriented to the southpaw, from tin openers to scissors to pens with special nibs. But mostly my lads make do with whatever's around them, and just get on with being sinisters in a dexter world. Apparently only ten per cent of the population is left-handed, but that ten per cent is over-represented in all sorts of areas. Many of the Apollo astronauts: US Presidents: actors and musicians. No doubt, left-handers tend to be creative and interesting people who relish their difference, as Hugh and Patrick do. It makes me wish I was one too!
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