Is your child ambidextrous? 8 things to know about this peculiarity
If you notice that your child writes and draws the same way with both hands as he grows up, then he may be ambidextrous. Do not panic, being ambidextrous is nothing serious, indeed it is a rather rare connotation in the world and as a parent you will not have to worry if the child does not have a "dominant hand". Before continuing to read the article, here is a useful video with some tips to stimulate creativity in children.
What does it mean when the baby is ambidextrous?
When we talk about all those activities where hands are used the most, the world population is divided into:
- right-handed - most, about 90%
- left-handed - rarer, about 9%
- ambidextrous - very rare, about 1%
Writing, using scissors, throwing a ball, drawing, putting on make-up ... all simple and very common actions, but with which hand do you do them? Most will have answered "with the right", but what if we told you that a very small percentage of people manage to do these activities with both hands? Surely you have had to write a lot at school and at some point you feel your right hand very tired: well, if you had been ambidextrous you could have continued writing by resting your right hand and using your left hand. But what is it that determines ambidextrousness? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this ability? We have collected some interesting facts.
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1 - Being ambidextrous is an advantage
It has been shown that those who are ambidextrous actually have an advantage in many fields: being able to use both hands or feet, in fact, is useful for those who play sports at a competitive level and not only, for those who play or for artists in general. , any trade is facilitated if you can use both hands, taking over from the more tired one. Some examples? Leonardo da Vinci was ambidextrous, as was the American baseball player Mickey Mantle capable of hitting from either side of the pot based on the hand used by the pitcher.
2 - Those who are ambidextrous suffer from attention deficit
According to some studies, ambidextrous children are more prone to attention deficit hyperactivity and in some cases even incurring dyslexia. Furthermore, ambidextrous people appear to exhibit difficulties in math, memory exercises, and logical reasoning more frequently than right- or left-handed people.
3 - Ambidextrousness and emotionality
Those who are ambidextrous are also more emotional than those who use only the right hand or only the left one. A study of the Montclair State University (New Jersey): the mood of those who use both hands would be more easily influenced by external situations. A possible scientific explanation is to be found in corpus callosum, or the bundle of nerve fibers that allows the two cerebral hemispheres to communicate: this would also favor a more marked emotionality and suggestibility.
4 - Ambidextrous and schizophrenia: is there a correlation?
Ambidextrous people, as well as left-handed people, would be more likely to have the gene linked to schizophrenia in their genetic makeup. On the other hand, it also seems that people with schizophrenia are very often ambidextrous or left-handed, to a greater extent than non-schizophrenics.
5 - The sexual sphere
In 2006, an online questionnaire was submitted to 255,000 people from around the world, which showed that ambidextrous people are more easily attracted to both sexes than right-handed and left-handed people. All those who replied that they knew how to use both hands in the same way also reported that they were bisexual. On the other hand, those who answered the questionnaire saying they were right-handed or left-handed, had reported preferring the opposite sex.
6 - Let's dispel a myth: the dominant hand does not exist
Right-handed, right-handed, left-handed and ambidextrous are all labels born to give things a name. In fact, they are often not useful in defining who uses the left hand or who has the right hand as dominant; specialization in the use of one hand or the other makes no sense to exist. Here's why: simply many people and many children prefer to use one hand to perform certain tasks, while the other is the preferred one for other types of activities. This aspect is very common in children, but often it is also observed in adults.
7 - No to forced exercises to become ambidextrous
A practice that was very fashionable in the past was to "force" children to do forced exercises to learn to do the same activities with both hands. All this is wrong, counterproductive and will not lead to any cognitive improvement, as we used to think in antiquity. Every child should be left free to follow his instinct: he will want to write with his right hand and throw the ball with his left, well, stopping them will not lead to any results.
8 - Is the cerebral hemisphere of an ambidextrous different?
It would appear that in ambidextrous people there is greater structural symmetry between the two cerebral hemispheres. This was found particularly in areas specific to motor control. The majority of the earth's population, on the other hand, has a brain characterized by an "asymmetry: this is why in correspondence with a stimulus, the brain of an ambidextrous is activated in both hemispheres, something that does not happen in the case of right-handed or left-handed people.
How to tell if a child is left-handed, ambidextrous or right-handed
Statistics say that about 10% of the world population is left-handed, and of them the majority are men. But how can you recognize being left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous? The applause test can come in handy.
Taking this test with children is very easy as well as fun. Ask them to clap their hands just as if they were clapping and try to notice the following:
- if they clap their right hand over their left they will be right-handed
- if they clap their left hand on the right they will be left-handed
- if your children clap their hands symmetrically and vertically, then try repeating the test by placing both hands on their legs or on a flat surface. They will have to keep one hand steady and move the other. From here you immediately understand which part of the brain is activated first and consequently you will understand if they are right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous.
When is it possible to understand these characteristics in a child?
Keep in mind that up to 12-18 months of life, children use the right hand and the left hand indifferently, therefore pediatricians recommend handing them the objects alternating both hands in order not to influence the choice in any way, leaving them free to follow the own instinct.
Only once they are over 18 months can they begin to prefer one hand over the other. It is also possible that the child uses the right hand in the first few months and then the use of the left prevails. And viceversa.
Left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous in everyday life
Even if up until now we have talked about left-handed and ambidextrous as a very small part of the population, this does not mean that the world has not adapted to their needs. In fact, it is more and more frequent to find commonly used objects such as mice, pens, scissors and anything else specifically designed for the use of the left or right hand. In short, if once we tried at all costs to eliminate these habits considered real "defects" (left-handed - from the Latin mancus, meaning missing something, mutilated), now we have evolved considering them peculiarities.
