Remembering left and right

[Reneemomto5]

Hi moms, this is something my children have some difficulty with. I was wondering what tricks you have used to help your children remember which is their left or right.

I have used the letter "L" that their left hand makes with their thumb and pointer finger.

You write with your right (but 2 of my boys are lefties so that doesn't work with them).

We play the game "Hokey Pokey" to help them remember to.

What do you do? Hoping to get a few neat ideas from here.

Maybe an L and R written on their shoes or hands some days might be fun.

[JoyLynn]

Renee, when my kids were each babies I would say right foot, left foot, when I was changing their diapers, dressing them, shoes on... I did that starting at birth. :roll: :lol: Don't know why. Anyway, it's kind of instinctive, cuz they picked it up around six months. I couldn't even stump them when I'd say, "right foot. I mean left foot. I mean right foot." People would just crack up seeing this poor baby offering one foot then the other, then the other. :) I think they over-think it when they're older. I think tons of repitition works best, especially with the hand they write with. Left, left, left, left, left, left... Until they offer the left ever time you ask for it. Then "right" is kinda obvious. If you're still helping with dressing, coats, shoes, you can say "left, right" every time. Worked in our family.

Good luck, honey. [heart] They'll get it.


Joy [welcomewave]

I did that too..from birth...by about 6mo Angela would hold up the left or right hand when asked...Now that she's older, all those months of learning went out the window!! So now we just right L and R on just about everything from shoes to socks to boxes etc.. She's finally catching on again..Oh yeah and she loves to see "where is lefty? where is righty? " just a little something I made up to the tune of "where is thumpkin"

[mom n luv]

I rememeber when I was in kindergarten our teacher told us to study our hands and see if one was different from the other. She then came around and helped us look at our hands. She pointed out to me that I had a mole on my left and not on my right. She said look at your hands when you forget and the mole will tell you where your left is. To this day I still occasionally look at my hands to when I am doing left and right.

[JoyLynn]

That's a good idea, Karla! :D


Joy [welcomewave]

[Reneemomto5]

All great ideas!! Thanks moms, hope you don't mind me borrowing them.

[luvmy4sons]

You can tell your lefties, " You eat with your left!" :?

[tobikay]

I have to reply to this. I admit that I have ALOT of trouble with this myself. Infact, my kids often correct me!!! I am a lefty and all those tricks have not helped me a bit, the only thing that works is this I have to stop and really think, then, sometimes I can convience myself that they are backwards from what they really are, so much so that I will argue with someone that I am right (I have learned not to do this anymore).

I was talking with someone who told me that this is actually some type of learning disability..along the same lines as dyslxia and such. I don't know....

[BigChill]

I have nothing for you, sadly. I still say the wrong way when I give directions, even though I clearly know left from right - I don't knwo what my deal is!