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Do you think your child is going to be a righty or a lefty?

Jack's grandfather is a lefty. So we wondered if he would be. When he was first starting to feed himself he would pick up food with his left hand and we thought he might have inherited it. He still uses his left hand some, but seems to favor his right hand more now. I didn't know using one exclusively before 18 months could signify a motor skills problem. Did you?

Check out more lefty and righty facts below from a pediatrician on Babycenter.com.

Laura Jana, a pediatrician on Babycenter.com, says:
Though your child may have started to show a preference for his right or left hand, you won't be able to determine true right- or left-handedness until he's 2 or 3 years old, when he'll begin to favor the same hand consistently. Some children may be ambidextrous (using both hands equally) until they're 5 or 6, when they finally make a choice.

Hand dominance is greatly influenced by genetics. If both you and your partner are left-handed, your child has a 45 to 50 percent chance of being left-handed as well. (About 10 percent of people are left-handed.) If you're curious about which side is dominant in your child, try handing him a toy or rolling him a ball. He's very likely to reach for it with his dominant hand, which will probably be stronger and more dexterous. If your child seems to be using one hand exclusively before he's 18 months old, talk to your pediatrician, as early hand dominance may be a sign of motor development problems.

As you watch your toddler's motor skills develop, remember that it's not a good idea to attempt to influence his hand preference. While genetics alone don't entirely explain why someone ends up right- or left-handed, hardwiring of your child's nervous system is at least part of the reason. Forcing him to use his right hand when he's really a lefty is unlikely to work in the long run and will only confuse or frustrate him along the way.

This is slightly related:

When your child is in grade school, make sure he/she gets enough handwriting instruction. My son has awful penmanship (cursive). When he was in lower school, I used to try to get him to improve his work by making him repeat some assignments. He would say that his teachers thought it was fine. I would tell him that as he got older, he would come across teachers that wouldn't think so.

Time went on and last year, low and behold, a teacher told him that she could not read his handwriting. R's looked like S's; N's, M's V's all looked the same. It was REALLY difficult to decipher. He was devastated. He was not used to criticism by his teachers. He went through a period where he practiced every day. IIt is better, but still not great.

He remembered what I had told him and said he should have paid more attention to me when he was little.

I'm not blaming the school, but I think more emphasis should have been put on it back then.

I guess he'll just have to be a doctor. LOL