When do they officially show their "handedness"?

I let my 2 year old ds, actually he's getting close to 2.5, play with markers the other day. And I noticed that he insisted on using his left hand. I even tried moving the markers back to his right, and encouraging him to use his right hand, just to see what he would do.. So he was either showing a definite preference for his left hand...or he was getting stubborn b/c mommy was trying to get him to use his right! LOL! I think I've seen him use his right hand for feeding with a spoon though.. I have to pay more attention to that at our next meal time. Anyway, anyone remember what age they definitely settle on a hand???.... I'm wondering how difficult it will be for me, a righty, to teach a lefty how to hold a pencil and how to write... I'm not even sure how I would do it. So for my own convenience I am kind of hoping he opts for right in the end. My grandfather, who he does seem to take after, was a lefty....and my aunt is a lefty, but the rest of us are righties....

 

I think it can be evident pretty early on. Of course, stubborness comes into play early too!!

My ped has already told me to not discourage leftyness. If it happens, it happens!

 

If he uses both hands throughout the day (like right for eating and left for coloring), then he isn't showing a favoritism yet. I do have a lefty and have known with him since before he was 2. William does everything left handed (even holds his pee pee down left handed while going potty). Nathan on the other hand does everything right handed. Brandon has some left handed tendencies like William did. It is always funny to see him when he is done eating. His left hand will be a mess and his right hand spotless (silverware just isn't happening yet). DH and I are both righties so there is some concern about how I am going to teach a lefty to write/throw ball/swing a bat etc, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

 

From what I understand, handedness usually presents itself around 3 years of age. I wouldn't discourage him from using his left hand...let him use what is more comfortable to him. He may use both depending on what he's doing...eating with the right, coloring with the left, etc.

 

I always thought that they had to be three before you could really tell. I'm left handed (my parents are both right handed and never had any issue with helping me FWIW). Rachel tends to always favor her right hand, but Danielle switches off with the majority being the right hand. So, I'm guessing they will both wind up right handed, but Danielle may be able to do more with her left hand?? I can do quite a bit with my right hand. I think a lot of left handers can because it's a right handed world so we've had to learn to adapt.

 

Well, I would say wait it out, but just because he writes with his left and does other things with his right doesnt mean he will be right handed. My DH is left handed, all he does is writes with his left hand, everything else is with his right.

And dont worry if he is, two of mine are left handed and its not tha much harder to teach them how to hold a pencil and stuff.

 

I think they try out both up until age 4, when they really start to settle in. I know Marc's preschool teacher kept track at each eval time, and while almost all were noted righty, I think once or twice he did use his left, especially as a 3 year old.

 

At K&K's preschool they said handedness isn't totally clear basically until Kindergarten.

 

thanks for the info ladies...for the record I'm not a right-handedness freak or anything.. I wasn't trying to discourage him, just trying to see if he would insist on using his left hand..if he really did have the preference or if it was just random. Today when he colored for most of the time he used his left hand, but for about 10 minutes he switched on his own and used his right hand. He actually did seem to have better control with his right hand...but the majority of the time he seemed to want to work with his left... kind of funny. Maybe he's trying to keep both hands equal! LOL!