I think my daughter is ambidextrous. Seriously, it is so weird to me. When she was little I noticed right away that she seemed to be doing lots of things with her left hand. My Mother, whom I adore, is left handed so how great to have this passed on through my daughter. My husband insisted I was wrong and that he saw her doing many things with her right. So we decided to just let her be and she would eventually choose. So we have waited........and watched........and all that has been confirmed is that she uses both hands. I have heard that you can guide them to use only one hand but I just wanted her to do what felt natural so I have just let her be and not directed her either way, I figured that all my other girls figured it out so she would too right? Wrong.
This is the weirdest thing.....when she sits to write she will begin and use her left hand and then after a few minutes and as soon as her hand gets tired she switches. It seems like the most natural thing to her. I have never seen her sit down to color or draw where she doesn't constantly use both hands.Albert Einstein - Scientist
Richard Feynman - Scientist
Oscar Wilde - Playwright and poet
Nikola Tesla - Inventor
Michelangelo - Artist
Benjamin Franklin - Scientist
Gandhi - Religious and political leader
Ludwig van Beethoven - composer
Donovan McNabb American Football Player
25 comments:
Brandon is ambi too! He uses a certain hand for every activity. And switches back and forth too. I think they're quite skilled. I wish I could do that. Pretty convenient when you're sitting next to Brandon at dinner. If you don't want to get elbowed, he switches hands. And by the way, Ava is such a cutie!
My "kissing cousin (when we were too young to know better)" Jason is ambi. He would do the same exact thing with writing.
He now writes and directs commercials for a big time ad agency. Some of his commercials were in the Superbowl. I think it means she is going to be well-rounded and creative.
I just smile when I see that cute face of hers.
That's cool - I wouldn't try to make her choose. Being ambidextrous will only be an advantage. I love the pictures. It looks like she has good fine motor skills for her age. She's 4, right?
Laurel, I don't know Brandon well but he seems to be an awesome guy and not at all brain damaged with serial killer leanings so I am happy.
Melissa, I trust you so if your cousin has found it to be advantageous then it must be....I truly have never known anyone who had this skill. It has worried me the past months because I really was worried that it meant she was mixed up.
Christine, yes she is 4 but with all her older sisters she acts like she is 24. I think Laela is an old spirit too.
just weighing in here... aside from the fact that she is PRECIOUS. please just let her do whatever whenever she wants to. I am still not sure what hand is my dominate one. I loved your sucess list but then the brain damaged one applies to me more I think LOL
I have VIVID memories of coloring with my left hand and then my dad switching the crayon or pencil and my teachers doing the same thing. I had a horrible habit in college and still do if I am taking a lot of notes by hand, I'll write with the right, but in between, the pen goes back into my left hand. I eat left handed with a fork but R with a spoon? I brush my teeth right handed but shoot pool left handed. I vac and tie my shoes w/ my L hand but I apply my make up with my right. So I am still not sure if I am a messed up Leftie or truely ambi. I have noticed that most of those things that you teach a child under the age of 6, I do right handed, but stuff I learned later, I do left. So maybe I am just a frustrated lefty LOL
I think it is amazing. I am a bit frustrated at the teacher though, in this day and age they should be more supportive of everything.
Have you ever asked her which hand she prefers? Anyway, good luck. I don't think hers is from brain damage though LOL, I vote for genius!
WOW! What a gift to have! My mother-in-law would give anything to have this gift right now! She is VERY left-handed meaning, like me, she can't do much at all right-handed. She has advanced brain cancer with a huge tumor on the right side of her brain. This is affecting the left side of her body. She now has to have help feeding herself anything that requires the use of a utensil. If she had your daughter's unique and wonderful gift, she could just switch and use her right hand! I think it's wonderful your daughter can equally use her right and left hands. What a gift!
I don't know anyone who is "ambi" - but I think it's fantastic! I can only imagine how much this will help her in gymnastics, sports, and pretty much anything physical. Plus when she's at school, she never has to worry about getting stuck with the "lefty chair".
Ava is quite possibly THE most beautiful little girl I've ever seen (remember I have one myself - so this could be considered a huge betrayal...)
I just mentioned this to my husband who is standing behind me reading over my shoulder (hi honey!) and he said, "get her in sports - now!"
Gale, my husband is a psych major and this is what he has to say! :
I can't remember what the specific name is for the test, but there is an actual handedness test to see if your daughter is truly ambidextrous. Many people, like myself, can do many things with both hands (for example, I play any racket sport with either hand so nobody can ever serve to my backhand)...this does not necessarily mean that I am ambidextrous. The handedness test (I can look it up and find out exactly what it is called if you'd like) would be your best measure to solve this mystery, but in the mean time does your daughter use both hands interchangeably and equally well in those tasks? If so then it is very likely that she is ambidextrous...but if one is a bit better than the other it could mean that she just has...what the heck is it called...ugh...basically, the way I understand it is that handedness is sort of on a continuum in that there are polar opposites of left versus right, but there are grey areas in between the two, with ambidextrous in the middle. I could be blowing a bunch of steam here, so don't take my word for it (especially because you don't know me), but I'll try and find out the name for the handedness test and let you know what it is called so that she can take it.
Doyles, I would love to know what the test is. Right now she uses both hands, and so far does it equally well. When she writes it makes no difference, it looks the same with either hand. Same goes for eating, she switches and it makes no difference. Things like cartwheels, the teacher has made her choose one dominant hand so she sticks with it but I am going to watch more carefully with other tasks. Thanks for the info.
I'm left handed. But I cut, pitch, bowl, shoot and a whole bunch of other things I can't think of right now...right handed.
My Dad is no crazy, and he is ambidexterous. I think he favors the left hand for writing, eating, things like that. He is very artistic, though. Wonderful watercolor painter.
I didn't know that about Ava!! It's so cool don't change a thing about it! She really is one of the cutest little girls.
I have to tell you sophia was talking about the lake this summer and said "So,I know we are going to the lake, but when are we going to see the Brays." LOL - I wish I could have given her an answer!!
One of my high school math teachers was an ambi. He would write two different columns of problems on the board at the same time: one with his left, and one with his right! It was so amazing.
I was just like your little girl and when I reached elementary school my teachers didn't understand. The school psychologist intervened and suggested that I choose the predominant hand. My mom consulted a local university's psychology department that said that I should use both if that is what is natural to me. Eventually I ended up choosing to write with my right hand. At times I would switch when I got tired or bored.
I am now in my 30s and I am so grateful that my mom didn't force me to be anything, she allowed me to make the decision. To this day I can write with both hands. This talent came in handy(excuse the pun) in college when I got tired of writing a ton of notes with one hand, I could switch to the other hand. My classmates were jealous. Even though I am predominantly right handed I do perform many tasks with my left hand like cooking and eating.
I think of this as a gift and as far as I know I don't have a dead body in the trunk of my car ;). To me this is something to be proud of. Eventually she will decide which hand to write with predominantly. Btw, to add I graduated with top honors from both high school and college.
I hope my two cents help.
Anonymous, thanks so much for your comment. I will look at this as a blessing from now on. I am not going to push her into anything and I think I will talk to her teachers and ask them not to make her choose a hand. I would love it if she could use both!!
I haven't, but I think it's so cool that she is. And what an impressive list - just don't click on that other google article!
I stumbled onto your blog tonight and had to tell you I have a child who is ambidextrous too, but her identical twin is definitely right-handed. So it's interesting to read of others who have this handedness.
My husband was ambidextrous when he was younger as well. He now writes with his left hand but does everything else right handed. (golfing, batting, throwing). Kind of interesting...another interesting thing is that 3 out of my 4 children are left handed as well. I am not sure what the odds of that are??
That will always be one of those fun unique facts that Ava can tell about herself :)
I had an older relative that was the same way too. She would crochet starting with the left, then switching to right.
I think it's a cool talent!
Ryan's family has a freakish amount of left-handed people. Still don't know what Charlie will do, he still uses both.
hey you...
i don't know anyone who is but your daughter is beautiful!
just wanted to say hi
xoxo
not ambidextrous, just a genius. Got with it!
Totally know some one....ME!
When I was young, I would practise writing with my left hand... It was my dream to be ambidextrous!
Tiffany is left-handed. I was jealous.
Make sure you tell your other girls that only using one hand is still Ok! Haha...
I've noticed my ella doing the same thing since she was just a little one... she's four now too. So, I'm not concerned with it... she sure isn't concerned. I love the list! ANd we know are girls are smarty~pants!!!
I haven't gotten around to posting in a while, but wanted to thank you for my GIFT!! Love them! Talk to you soon...
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