Why Is My Son Left-handed?
Why is my son left-handed? This is usually a question that is repeated tirelessly when children begin to use their limbs more and show a predilection for the left hand or leg.
Being left-handed implies having a greater command of the right hemisphere of the brain, which is why a certain preference is experienced for the use of the left hand or foot to manipulate, play, write, take the first step when walking, riding a tricycle and kicking a ball. among other activities.
Although a few years ago the left-handed child was considered rare or abnormal inasmuch as he had a “health problem,” currently left-handedness is not considered as a disease but as a characteristic of the boy, which cannot and should not be corrected.
Figures that speak of the left-handed population
That question initially posed, why is my son left-handed ?, is a real unknown. However, the factors that influence whether the child is left or right handed can be genetic and emotional or environmental.
There is talk of a genetic influence based on the figures provided by scientific reports : a child has a 10% chance of being left-handed if his father is, a number that rises to 20% if his mother has this condition and 50 if both parents are left-handed.
This same study revealed that between 12 and 15% of the world’s child population is left-handed, although the left-handed phenomenon would have a higher incidence in men, with 11% than in women, with 9%.
Now, why is my son left-handed?
It is worth clarifying in the first instance that your child did not become left-handed, but has been from birth. According to the most supported scientific explanation, the child presents this condition due to a brain configuration different from that of right-handers.
So being left-handed or right-handed is not the result of chance or the consequence of habits established at an early age, but rather it derives from the process of evolution of the nervous system, necessary to increase the degree of functional complexity of the brain.
However, science was in charge of investigating this phenomenon in order to provide theories that go beyond the mere neurological explanation, and these are some of the possible reasons why your child is left-handed.
Thus, several hypotheses are presented : some speak of genetic factors, others of the levels of testosterone present in the maternal uterus during pregnancy, some point to lesions in a cerebral hemisphere of the baby and the last to prenatal scans and ultrasounds.
Genes and the environment
According to various currents, the child can be left-handed or right-handed depending on two fundamental factors: heredity and the experience or training that each boy has throughout his brain maturation.
Of course, the genetic position holds that the predominance of a certain laterality is conditioned by the genes of the creature, that is, there is a certain hereditary prevalence, with which if there is a family history, you increase the chances of being left-handed.
However, most researchers distance themselves from this extreme and fundamentalist position, arguing that the minor’s laterality may be due to both genetic and environmental aspects.
On the opposite sidewalk, scholars who highlight the relationship between laterality and various environmental factors, indicate other key elements to understand the left-handedness of children : the learning that children do from their parents, the influence of school or habits instilled by relatives.
Other theories that could explain why your child is left-handed
If you want to know why your child is left-handed, you should probably consider other theories capable of explaining left-handedness by appealing to more specific cases while ignoring details concerning genetics or the environment:
- Excess testosterone. An elevated prenatal level of this male hormone can predispose the development of a left-handed baby.
- Stress typical of birth. Lesions in a cerebral hemisphere of the baby during pregnancy or the first months of life could induce further development of one over the other.
When is infantile left-hander detected
Possibly at school age you will be able to know if your child is left-handed since it is the moment when he begins to use his hands frequently and it will no longer be indistinct as until he is 3 or 4 years old.
To check if your child is left-handed, you can carefully observe the hand or foot that he usually uses to kick the ball, brush his teeth, take a glass or spoon, comb his hair, manipulate objects and write, among others.
In the case of the left-hander, it is the right side of the brain that controls and makes the left hand dominate. For this reason, forcing children to operate with the right hand should be prohibited as its consequences can be exceedingly frustrating.
There is no point in trying to turn a left-handed boy into a right-handed one as long as there is no training capable of modifying this condition no matter how much effort is made, since it is the essence or nature of the minor and not a mere acquired habit.
Consequently, when the left-handed child is forced to use the weaker and less skilled hand in his tasks, the results will be terrible for him, making him clumsy, hindering his ability to distinguish right from left and causing disorders in writing, dyslexia and stuttering.
