As a child, I seemed to be ambidextrous (or perhaps left handed). I did things with both of my hands with equal ease. My brother was also the same way. My mother says that she had a terrible time trying to figure out if we were right or left handed. In the end, we were encouraged to learn to write, etc. with our right hands (just to make things simpler, since we seemed to use both with the same ease). These days, I definately use my right hand dominantly, but under pressure I can still do quite a few things with my left hand - such as write with reasonably good, albeit slow, success. My question is this: are there a lot of other people who were ambidextrous or left handed as children who were encouraged to write with their right hands? If so, have you mostly lost your left handed abilities now, or can you still use both hands interchangably?
I’m left handed and was never forced to use my right hand for writing or anything else. However, some things are just made for right handed people; I can’t imagine trying to successfully use a mouse with my left hand, left handed scissors are a bit confusing at first, trying to tune a car radio with my left hand is a bit of a trial too. As soon as I hit the “send” button I’ll think of a bunch more…must be my right-braindedness.
both.
my mum made me go to russian school on saturdays. there i learned to write righthanded. elem. school i learned lefthanded.
I am right handed except for in archery. Go figure. I fire a rifle right handed, but shoot archery lefty.
I can do most things with equal skill left and right-handed. I can write passably with my right hand (though much more slowly than with my left), though my left hand does dominate my typing (longest word I can type with my left hand? Pretty much anything! My left hand alone doesn’t go much more slowly than both hands, since I only use like 2 fingers on my right hand, at most).
Mouse using, though, is exclusively right hand. No idea why. I can use my left hand on the mouse, but I’m much more adept with my right hand.
Blargh.
I was born a left-hander and was one through kindergarden. When I went on to first grade, I switched and I haven’t looked back since.
I’m an extreme lefty…I only do 2 things with my right hand…one is cuting with scissors… 
Well, don’t keep us in suspense…What is the other thing you do with your right hand?
I’m right handed in that I eat, write, and perform most one handed tasks with my right hand, but I bat as a switch hitter, and shoot a puck as a lefty.
I write with my right hand, play guitar right handed, but do almost everything else left handed (sports, using scissors, hold a cup or mug, etc, etc).
I’m right handed and can’t do jack with my left hand. Let’s see … type … steer a car … wave to people. That’s about it.
Stuff…
I’m an ambi, with a leaning towards the right. Teachers hated for me to do things lefty, but my parents ecouraged the ambi-nous. So, now as a remodeler/craftsman/painter/incredibly handsome, I mean, handy guy, I have an almost true ambidexterousness. Except I write right, probably 'cause of school, but they say the actual method I use to write looks like a lefty reversed. Go figure. One of my cousins is also almost true ambi, but none of my other sibs, or hers, are. My mom and her dad are, and they’re sibs.
I wonder how many fams have multi ambis?
I remember my dad telling me once that he was left-handed but his teachers always MADE him do things right-handed in school. Pain in the butt. someone said that they were right-handed but in hockey they shoot left-handed. Thanx for sharing 'cause I thought I was the only one out there who did that! I’m not alone!
I was completely ambidextrous through first grade. Then I broke my left wrist twice and was in a cast for most of the school year while I was learning to write. Consequently I write right handed now, though I highlight left handed. To this day when I try a new sport I have to figure out if I am right or left handed by trial and error.
I draw and write with my right hand, though testing has shown that my left hand does have some talent in copying things I have drawn with the right – it simply lacks stability probably due to not using those muscles as much. As far as everything else is concerned, I am ambidextrous and I frequently switch hands or just use which-ever one seems to get the job done better.
ambi. Wow, theres a lot of us here. I primarily use my right however, it just makes more sense since most people are right handed. Also I can’t use any utensil except for a knife with my right hand. I’ve tried eating cereal with my right and I just can’t grip the spoon well at all. During sports I constantly forget what hand I’m using.
I’m totally right-handed. My husband was one who started out as a lefty, but was forced to switch to his right as a small child. He’s pretty decent with both of his hands.
My daughter is a total lefty. She’s five now, but we determined that she was left-handed before she was two, I think. That was one of the very few times I’ve paid attention to the baby books. When she was learning to use a spoon and feed herself, we’d just put the spoon in front of her and let her figure out which hand she was more comfortable with. I don’t recall her even trying her right hand more than once or twice.
Now that she’s older, though, and learing to write, it’s interesting to watch her. She writes backwards sometimes. Not just the occasional letter drawn the wrong way, but whole words, written right to left, instead of left to right. And she’s also got the artistic temperament that comes with using the right side of the brain (i.e. living with her, her three-year-old brother, and their musician father gets reeeeeeeal interesting at times… )
I’m mostly right, but I bat and deal cards left. I play golf right, but only because my father did and I used his clubs - I’d have preferred left. I use a mouse left. That is because when the mouse came out, it was going to be something that tok a while to get used to either way. I decided it would be better left as then I could do other things simultaneously with my right e.g. the Enter key and numeric key pad are on the right, and I can write notes as I operate the mouse.
One of my sons seemed ambi. He could write/draw with either hand. He ended up writing and using a knife and fork leftie, and everything else right.
My other son is completely left except kicks right (I don’t know if there is any correlation between handedness and footedness).
My mum was left handed but at school she saw all the other kids doing things right handed and so followed suit. She writes equally well with left and right hands now. She doesn’t seem to mind which hand she uses for things but I have noticed she irons left, uses sissors and stirs pots on the stove left etc.
I’m right handed. But I can use my left just as easily as my right for big things like batting, ironing and cooking. (I can’t do anything small like write with my left) You think, being naturally right handed, I learned to do things with my left because that’s how mum did it?