When do you know know whether baby is right or left-handed?

[shmokes]

My daughter (almost 9 months) is a thumbsucker.  She sucks her left-thumb almost exclusively.  It makes me wonder it she is left-handed.  She picks things up with both hands fairly evenly, including food, though I get the impression that she favors the left a little and is a little more dexterous with it, but that might just be my imagination.

I don't really care; I'm just curious.  In fact, if anything I'm hoping she turns out to be a lefty cos I'm hoping to make a tennis player out of her and lefties have an advantage on the tennis court.

[ChadTower]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early.  I'd say you get indicators two years from now but you're not going to know for sure for 3 or 4 years at least.  I come across a lot of 5 year olds coaching baseball that are still waffling on which hand is dominant.

[horseboy]

Check under her left foot. The doctor should have put a stamp there to let you know.

[RayB]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early.  I'd say you get indicators two years from now but you're not going to know for sure for 3 or 4 years at least.  I come across a lot of 5 year olds coaching baseball that are still waffling on which hand is dominant.

Well they shouldn't be putting 5-year olds in the role of coach to begin with!

[ChadTower]

 


RayB 1
Chad 0

[shardian]

Hell, if they let Chad coach then they might as well let 5 year olds coach too.

[ChadTower]

Isn't one of the problems everyone says with today's parents is that they don't kick their kids around enough?  Problem solved.

[shardian]

Isn't one of the problems everyone says with today's parents is that they don't kick their kids around enough?  Problem solved.

I would say the problem is that today's parents don't pay enough attention to their kid, period.

[Dervacumen]

My daughter started heavily favoring her right hand about a year after she started walking.  Presumably with mobility came a lot more interaction with the world, which reinforced her using the hand that helped get stuff done easier.

And I remember realizing my nephew was left handed around the same age: 24 months.  He continued to bat right handed, but throw left handed and still does.  Now he's a drummer, using both hands equally well.
So I think you will probably know after she's been walking around for a while, about 2 years or so.

[shmokes]

There's a guy in my golf class who's pretty good (compared to me at least).  He said that he's been golfing since he was like five years old, but had to start pretty much from scratch a couple years ago when he decided to switch hands.  He's left-handed, but his dad made him golf right handed so he wouldn't mess up his baseball swing.  I got a kick out of that.

[Chris G]

It's actually supposed to be good for your understanding of the golf swing to learn both sides.  Vijay and Tiger playing lefty could still beat me.

[ChadTower]

He's left-handed, but his dad made him golf right handed so he wouldn't mess up his baseball swing.  I got a kick out of that.

I played baseball for most of my life until I got to college.  The baseball mechanics were my single biggest issue learning to golf.  It's huge.  It was really hard to return from the backswing without stepping forward with the front foot and opening up the hips.

[RayB]

Stick the kid in front of a PacMan. Which hand does he/she use?

[ChadTower]

At that age she'll use her mouth.

[leapinlew]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

[shardian]

There's a guy in my golf class who's pretty good (compared to me at least).  He said that he's been golfing since he was like five years old, but had to start pretty much from scratch a couple years ago when he decided to switch hands.  He's left-handed, but his dad made him golf right handed so he wouldn't mess up his baseball swing.  I got a kick out of that.

That is a retarded dad then. Everyone knows that (good) lefty batters have a huge advantage over righties in little league. Shorter fence, worst player in the outfield, can see the ball from a righty pitcher quicker, etc.

[ChadTower]

In 15 years of playing and 10 of coaching, I have yet to see more than a couple little league fields with a shorter right field fence than left.  It's common that they don't even HAVE a right field fence because there is another field in that direction that overlaps a little bit.  A long ball that gets past the right fielder just keeps going and going and remains in play.  It always used to annoy me that the righties got to swing toward a fence but I had to hit the ball 50 miles to get a "real" home run.

You also put your strongest outfield arm in right field because it's further from third base.  Often your right fielder has the second strongest arm on the team, behind your third baseman and most of your pitchers (at this level the third baseman and right fielder are commonly your 1-2 pitchers too).

[shardian]

In 15 years of playing and 10 of coaching, I have yet to see more than a couple little league fields with a shorter right field fence than left.  It's common that they don't even HAVE a right field fence because there is another field in that direction that overlaps a little bit.  A long ball that gets past the right fielder just keeps going and going and remains in play.  It always used to annoy me that the righties got to swing toward a fence but I had to hit the ball 50 miles to get a "real" home run.

You also put your strongest outfield arm in right field because it's further from third base.  Often your right fielder has the second strongest arm on the team, behind your third baseman and most of your pitchers (at this level the third baseman and right fielder are commonly your 1-2 pitchers too).

I've seen my share of little league baseball in my day and let me tell you, only a FOOL would put their strongest arm in right field. In most leagues, there are only a handful of leftie hitters - half of them suck usually. I would say that 80% of all outfield hits in little league got to left or center field. Almost always, you put you best arm and fielder in center field and let him cover left center and right center depending on the batter. Your right fielder is usually the kid that needs to be on the field the league minimum. Best arm in right field??? Either up there in Jersey all kids are left handed, or you just lost all credibiltity as a baseball coach.

[mpm32]

In many countries, you won't find any left handed people.  This is because they strictly wipe with the left and eat with the right.  So, they force young left handed kids to switch to the right.

[ChadTower]

I don't live in Jersey, for one thing.

Second, I don't play the whole "keep the bad kid out there as little as possible" strategy.  A coach is there to teach in Little League.  Winning is great but not nearly as important as effective teaching of the strategy and skills of the sport.  Little League is not high school or college.

I've run into many, many, many coaches who "coach" almost exclusively to win and they are rarely effective teachers.  They turn over a lot of players who just aren't any good because they stood off to the side while he works with the kids who in reality need the least amount of teaching to succeed at the given level.

EDIT:  after thinking about this a minute, this is a conversation I've had about a billion times and I'm not interested in having it here.  It is the basic difference in philosophy at any given level between those who feel winning is most important versus those who feel teaching is most important.  Differing opinions especially dependent on what specific age group is being addressed.

[billf]

I don't live in Jersey, for one thing.

Second, I don't play the whole "keep the bad kid out there as little as possible" strategy.  A coach is there to teach in Little League.  Winning is great but not nearly as important as effective teaching of the strategy and skills of the sport.  Little League is not high school or college.

I've run into many, many, many coaches who "coach" almost exclusively to win and they are rarely effective teachers.  They turn over a lot of players who just aren't any good because they stood off to the side while he works with the kids who in reality need the least amount of teaching to succeed at the given level.

EDIT:  after thinking about this a minute, this is a conversation I've had about a billion times and I'm not interested in having it here.  It is the basic difference in philosophy at any given level between those who feel winning is most important versus those who feel teaching is most important.  Differing opinions especially dependent on what specific age group is being addressed.

For what its worth, I totally agree with your philosophy.  My dad was a coach/manager on most of the little league teams I played on - this was his philosophy as well.  He did have a run-in with a couple of parents through the years I played, who wanted to just win.  But he would tell them, each kid on this team signed/tried out to play, they come to practice to learn and they deserve to play.  I carried this thought with me when I was a coach on my son's little league teams as well.

[shardian]

I wasn't talking about good kid/bad kid stuff. I was discussing baseball strategy. My dad coached  a minor league expansion team one year I played and we got ALL of the cast-offs from other teams. We ended up having alot of fun, the "cast-offs" learned a whole bunch, got to play alot and we even won games in the process.
I also don't believe in sitting the "bad kids".
Having said that, practice is where the players that need the most help get it - not in-game. I have been helping out/ asst. coaching with my nephews/cousins teams for a long time and my specialty is giving one-on-one help to the kids who need it most. I love it when I help one of these kids out, and then get to see their huge smile when they finally get that hit, or catch that fly ball.

Now as to the right field thing, baseball can be somewhat dangerous for kids who aren't very good. I've seen kids get hit in the face numerous times because they are afraid of the ball, can't catch, don't duck, etc. Sometimes, you can only do so much with these kids. That is why you put them in right field - to keep them safe.  Going back to that story of my minor league team, in one game my dad let anyone play any position they desired. We had a complete infield of kids who couldn't catch, or even hardly get the ball to the plate. They enjoyed it, but the other coaches and parents present were upset because any one of them could have been hurt. You have a duty to teach these kids, but also to keep them safe. Sometimes, that means playing a kid the minimum and putting him in right field until he gets the confidence he needs thru practice to play more or in a different position.

Lastly, at the Little league level you do have a duty to teach your players the rules and strategies of baseball. Believe it or not, this does entail trying to win.

[ChadTower]

For what its worth, I totally agree with your philosophy.  My dad was a coach/manager on most of the little league teams I played on - this was his philosophy as well.  He did have a run-in with a couple of parents through the years I played, who wanted to just win. 

I had enough of those run-ins that I eventually moved down to coach 5-6 year olds specifically to avoid them.  Can't tell you how many times I'd get yelled at by some idiot father who thought potentially winning a city championship at 10 year old would affect their chances for a baseball scholarship 8 years later.  I'd rather finish 3rd and raise the skillset of the entire team than finish first and barely teach a quarter of the team anything. 

Ironically, most often, the kid with the yelling father wasn't even close to showing signs of being the scholarship kid, either.

[TOK]

My daughter is 2, and its already obvious she's right handed. That is the hand she colors with, the hand she has better control of while eating, and the hand she uses for the trackball playing bowling.
I would say the signs she was a righty started to show at approximately a year and a half, perhaps a little less.

I'm left handed, BTW.

[(+_+)]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

That's hilarious.

[shardian]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

That's hilarious.

Yeah, but what if he is ambidextrous? You might have to try a few times just to make sure which is dominant.

[shmokes]

There's a guy in my golf class who's pretty good (compared to me at least).  He said that he's been golfing since he was like five years old, but had to start pretty much from scratch a couple years ago when he decided to switch hands.  He's left-handed, but his dad made him golf right handed so he wouldn't mess up his baseball swing.  I got a kick out of that.

That is a retarded dad then. Everyone knows that (good) lefty batters have a huge advantage over righties in little league. Shorter fence, worst player in the outfield, can see the ball from a righty pitcher quicker, etc.

You seem to misunderstand what's going on here.  He's left-handed and his dad made him golf right-handed so he wouldn'tt screw up his left-handed baseball swing. 

[ChadTower]

Should have just made him play like Happy Gilmore.

[shmokes]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

With the advent of the internet (by Gore), much of these shower shenanigans have probably moved to the office.  In this case you might mistakenly think your kid is left-handed, when really it was a concession so that he could continue using the mouse.

[(+_+)]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

That's hilarious.

Yeah, but what if he is ambidextrous? You might have to try a few times just to make sure which is dominant.

You also need to keep in mind that he may be a switch hitter.

[shardian]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

That's hilarious.

Yeah, but what if he is ambidextrous? You might have to try a few times just to make sure which is dominant.

You also need to keep in mind that he may be a switch hitter.

You do realize what ambidextrous means, right?

[Dervacumen]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

That's hilarious.

Yeah, but what if he is ambidextrous? You might have to try a few times just to make sure which is dominant.

Or if he likes it French.

[(+_+)]

If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

That's hilarious.

Yes. That's that low cal sugar replacement crap people put in their coffee. Gee.

Wasn't paying close enough attention. 

Yeah, but what if he is ambidextrous? You might have to try a few times just to make sure which is dominant.

You also need to keep in mind that he may be a switch hitter.

You do realize what ambidextrous means, right?

[JackTucky]

I don't really care; I'm just curious.

How liberal of you 

My wife and I are both lefties, and all 3 kids we have are right handed devils.

=J

[shardian]

I don't really care; I'm just curious.

How liberal of you 

My wife and I are both lefties, and all 3 kids we have are right handed devils.

=J

You should've tied their right hand behind their back.

[Dmod]

My 4 1/2 year old son still switches back and forth.  When writing and eating he mostly favors his left hand, but he throws better with his right.  We've got him playing tee-ball now as a righty.

My daughter was a righty from the start.

[Loki]

My 4 1/2 year old son still switches back and forth.  When writing and eating he mostly favors his left hand, but he throws better with his right.  We've got him playing tee-ball now as a righty.

My daughter was a righty from the start.

I am like that too... left handed with writing, soldering and other precision work but the rest I do right handed.  Not sure if I should call my self left or right handed ^^;

[shardian]

I am mostly right handed. I can bat either way in baseball. I have a dominant left hand when dribbling a basketball, but shoot with my right. Back in the day, I played hockey left handed. My left leg is far more dominant than my right. When eating, I use my right for the fork, but have to use my left for the knife.

[bfauska]

Interesting subject,  some of it makes me wonder how much is trained.  I know that there is probably a dominant hand from birth, but even in the little things, as parents people are constantly training the kid.  When you first give a kid a piece of silverware (hopefully rubber coated) you hand it to them and/or show them how to use it.  Teaching to throw, color, draw, it seems like at some point most parents must put the item in their child's hands, does this start to train them? Obviously when it comes to things like sports where the thing being taught is more complex then the parent may do some serious molding of their child's preference.

On a related topic which probably doesn't apply much, in some activities your dominant EYE is as important or more important than your dominant hand.  I am right handed with anything that requires precision (although I try as a challenge to do many things lefty since both hands are important when you build with any precision for a living.)  That being said, I have always shot a firearm lefty because my left eye is dominant for aiming purposes, it mostly applies to rifles, which can be miserable with a semi-auto rifle that ejects shells out the right.

Hopefully I'll get back to you in a few years about a kid of my own, I'll let you know.

[jbox]

This is why you should teach them to use the anti-gravity chopsticks with both hands...

[Xiaou2]

 When I was in first grade..  I recall them passing out scissors.  They asked
me if I was a lefty or a righty.    I never paid attention, I guess, so didnt know.

 I think I was equally good with either hand.  Maybe completely ambidextrous.
(though, equally horrid in both hands   )

 After that time, I think I decided to use only one side... which was left.  However,
while I write with my left...  I still do many things with the right, Such as throwing
a baseball.   
 
 At age 20... I finally got to take KungFu lessons.  In this style,  called "Wing Chun",
(a chinese close range combat art)  I was taught the importance of being
equally skilled, accurate, and strong... with both sides.   (If you are weak on
one side... people will see that, and intentionally take advantage of it.   Thus
making you only as good as your worst attribute)

 While I can not write with both hands well...  I can now punch or kick equally fast, accurate, and strong with either side.  The training in that system is very critical, different, and specialized... and leads to amazing results in a very short timeframe.


 Finally,  there are many others around the world who have trained themselves
to use either hand.. or both at the same exact time.   Or even to use their feet
to do many skilled things.   Some out of necessity, and some out of desire.

 I believe the main reason why we may choose one hand of the other.. is mostly
because we dont have the time or discipline to develop both equally.   

 In martial arts.. I found that if I was really kick --I'm attempting to get by the auto-censor and should be beaten after I re-read the rules--  with a certain kick on
one side... I would then show others that side.  This making it ever better... 
which made it disappointing to even use the 'bad' side.   I had to
fight myself to use my weaker side much more than the good side...
until it was as polished as the previous good side.

 Many kids are the same way.   When they use one hand more than the
other... it gets stronger and more accurate.  So,  they will unconsciously
decide to use that better side.   One day, they will realize it, and proudly
proclaim mastery of that side..  and mock all others who use the "Other"
side         hehe