“My younger daughters are doing well in school but the eldest worries me a little”. Peju was telling Toyin while at her house. Peju has three children, and Toyin couldn’t find the right words to tell her children are special in their own ways and one need not worry. Then Timilehin, Toyin’s child brought a painting he was working on to show his mum. “Good” she nodded and he went back to continue painting. “Ah! Why are you letting Timilehin use his left hand?” Peju asked shocked. “Titi started that rubbish and we beat her out of it” she continued. “Same Titilayo you are complaining about? That’s why your daughter is not doing well Peju, being left handed is not the child’s doing and more than you think” Toyin warned. “It’s not the reason jo, she’s too playful” Peju became defensive and story goes on…………
I’d like to have answers as to why some african parents or some parents (even non-africans) have an issue with their children being left handed. I think I was born left handed, I remember our house girl always correcting me whenever I wanted to write with my left. I don’t think I was affected academically, my primary and secondary education grades didn’t suffer. Perhaps it’s ‘cause I only don’t write with my left but I practically do other things with my left. Had few people ask me if I was left handed in the past. I guess I’m just a different case study or I probably am not as smart as I would have been if that aunt didn’t always correct me. Or perhaps I’m introverted because of that too. In as much as I have come to think I’m perfectly fine mentally, I have looked into this left handedness and seen there’s more to it. Toyin and Peju story is real (I just switched characters) and it pains me to think Peju’s daughter was beaten out of it and probably slow in he academics because of it. My mom was clueless to the fact that I was being corrected and I wasn’t even beaten out of it (that’s why I sometimes think maybe I was not even left handed, maybe I’m ambidextrous or why did I change so easily? Or how is it only my siblings and I that remember?). But Peju did know her daughter was left handed and was not ready to admit she may have messed with her daughter’s brain.
Admitted, left-handedness is less common than right-handedness. Left-handed people are more skillful with their left hands when performing tasks. Studies suggest that approximately 10% of the world population is left-handed. So they are fewer than right handed people, that doesn’t mean they are doing it wrong. There are several myths about the left hand, I have heard the saying “as useless as a left hand”. I think this is because people don’t understand the law of relativity. You are most likely inclined to using your right hand more than your left. So we call the “less useful”, “weaker” hand left. So the left handed man’s ‘left’ is actually his right. That is left now isn’t just the position of the hand but one’s inclination towards it. It’s just like the saying “Man shall not live by bread alone”, it’s relative, it doesn’t mean women shall be the ones to live by bread. I hear of myths also stating religion favors right handedness. One of the major issues I believe we have with religion is that people don’t have a deep understanding of the messages their religion is passing. Saying someone is your right hand man means he’s as useful as the hand you are inclined to, doesn’t mean the left handed man is cursed. I’d like to hear of a book in any religious book that says “beat or stop a child from using their left hand because it is evil.”
So I read here that, Studies in the U.K., U.S. and Australia have revealed that left-handed people differ from right-handers by only one IQ point, which is not noteworthy ... Left-handers’ brains are structured differently from right-handers’ in ways that can allow them to process language, spatial relations and emotions in more diverse and potentially creative ways. Also, a slightly larger number of left-handers than right-handers are especially gifted in music and math. A study of musicians in professional orchestras found a significantly greater proportion of talented left-handers, even among those who played instruments that seem designed for right-handers, such as violins. Similarly, studies of adolescents who took tests to assess mathematical giftedness found many more left-handers in the population.
The effects of making a left-hander write right-handed
Natural left-handers should always be left to develop in their own way and be allowed to write left-handed if that is their choice. Forcing them to change hands and write right-handed can have very bad effects in later life as well as being traumatic at the time and ruining their handwriting!
The dominant writing hand is not just a physical thing to do with controlling a pen but a mental thing to do with the way the brain is organised and where certain functions occur. The brain is “cross-wired” to the body so the left handed side of the brain controls the right hand side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left. Changing the hand used for writing causes great confusion in the brain and can have a lot of knock-on effects. - See more here.
The present leader of the free world is left handed and you can see many more famous left handed people here. Don’t deprive your child of being great. LEFT HANDEDNESS IS NOT A CURSE!
No comments:
Post a Comment