Maria Montessori talked extensively about the importance of the hand to human development. Our hands make us unique. Our hands give us the ability to express our intelligence through action. As a result, Montessori environments will have a lot of opportunities to refine hand movements through both fine and gross motor work. Watching this work unfold is really quite special. And, it's been particularly fascinating with my left handed child.
Out of my five children, one is left handed. So I wanted to share some of the observations I've made and some of the ways we have prepared our environment for left handed success. I do want to say that I am far from an expert here, so this has just been my personal experience. As always, you should base your actions off of your own observations of your child, and their unique developmental needs.
Parenting a Lefty with Montessori
As a righty, married to a righty, with four other righty children, we were surprised with it became clear that Ted is a lefty. Around the age of 2.5, I started to noticed that he really favored his left hand with activities. Now, at almost 5, it's very clear that he is left handed. Looking back on pictures for this post, however, I noticed now that even as an infant and young toddler, he was using his left hand a lot of the time for carrying out fine motor work.
The story, however, is a little more complicated than that. Even now, Ted is much more ambidextrous than any of my other children. For things like throwing, writing, kicking, playing baseball he is solidly left handed. But things like painting, coloring, and eating, he switches back and forth a lot between hands. Then, some things, like cutting, he almost always uses his right hand.
The story, however, is a little more complicated than that. Even now, Ted is much more ambidextrous than any of my other children. For things like throwing, writing, kicking, playing baseball he is solidly left handed. But things like painting, coloring, and eating, he switches back and forth a lot between hands. Then, some things, like cutting, he almost always uses his right hand.
Now, I do want to make it clear that I really really don't care what hand he uses. It's not really an issue in our lives and I have never, would never, and suggest you never correct for handedness. Lefties make up 10 percent of the world's population, hand dominance can even be seen in the womb, and physical differences appear in the brain. Really, it's pretty fascinating.
Practically, however, we are living in a world that was made for and caters to right-handed people. As a Montessori family, we want to provide accommodations where necessary and also leave him free to develop as naturally as possible. So, here are some practical ways we have parented a left handed child with Montessori:
- Accept the hand they choose to use. Like I mentioned above there's a lot of left/right/both happening, and my understanding is that this is very common among lefties in our world. Let your child choose, experiment, and switch if necessary between their left and right hands.
- Consider table placement. Where possible, we place Ted at the head of the table so that he has plenty of room on both sides so he can switch to whatever hand feels best. This isn't always possible, but when it is, we do it.
- Provide the right equipment. Sometimes lefties really do need their own equipment. For us, this has included a left handed baseball glove, and left-right crayons (for choice and comfort). Many also prefer left handed scissors, but since Ted cuts right, we haven't tried yet.
- Demonstrate left to right. In Montessori we demonstrate activities from left to right to help indirectly prepping for reading and writing. Even though Ted might be using a different hand to complete the activity, I still encourage and show work moving from left to right since he will need to write in that direction.
- Model Mirrored. Now, I said I still demonstrate left to right, but when something is particularly fine motor focused, then I do what I call mirror modeling. Instead of sitting next to him to show him the work (normally how it is done), I will sit across from him. So that my dominate hand is on his left side. It gives him a bit of a better view of how it will look for him. If it's also something that needs to move from left to right when he does it, I will move from right to left so that it looks correct for him.
- Set Your Trays for Choice. When I have a transferring tray, I always put the tool in the center of the tray so that it can easily be grabbed from either hand. This helps when you have multiple kids using the work, but also allows for experimentation about which hand feels best.
These small practical changes have made our life pretty easy with a lefty. Giving the space and time to figure out what works best for him and his unique preferences and needs is really all it takes. As a Montessori parent, I know how important the development of the hand is. By respecting our children's handedness, giving them the right tools, and providing space for them to experiment, our children can find the rhythm that best supports their needs.
Do you have a lefty? Do you have any other adjustments you make at home?
