Is your LO good at telling left from right?

anna7602

Maybe it's genetic, because when I am giving or receiving directions, I still have to stop and think very hard about left and right.

Anyway, if your LO is told to use their left foot or right hand for something, without seeing someone else do it, can they follow well?

DD lost many points today in her first uber-rigorous ballet class for not being able to start with her left foot when the teacher said, etc. I could see that she would quickly look at the other girls to see what foot they were using. The teacher later claimed DD "seemed to have a hard time focusing on directions." Ugh. I think I may have to quit this dance school.

brightning

I'd quit, too. Left vs. right is a skill that's not mastered for quite a while, and certainly not at age 3. My daughter is over 4 and still confuses them all of the time.

CD+AL

DS is getting pretty good at it...most of the time.  He's been working on it for awhile, but he "practices" all the time.  In the car when we're waiting to turn, he'll ask, "Are we turning left now?"  Or, if he's putting on his shoes he'll ask if this is his right foot and right shoe. 

Have you taught her the little trick about holding up your left hand to see the "L" that is made by your index finger and thumb?  On your right hand, it's backwards.  That helped DS. 

FWIW, I don't know that I'd want my kid in a class with a teacher like that at this age either.

angelakh

I don't know of many 3 year olds that can reliably tell left from right, not saying they aren't out there.  We are working on it with DD, but she is nowhere near being able to follow a verbal direction using left and right.

I would wonder about the ballet school... 

Court0026

DS is probably right 75% of the time, but we don't have anyone testing him so intensely like that!  I think that would be too stressful at this age!

n&bcarlson

You've got to be kidding.  Without seeing an example, no, DD isn't going to get it right by just being told, unless by accident.  By contrast, DD's first ballet class was also today (a class of 3, 4, and 5 year olds).  Half the girls whined for the first half, or wandered in circles, but the teacher was really patient and flexible.  By the end, though, they were following along sort of and, more important, having fun.  Now they're all looking forward to next week.  I would be concerned at this age, such a rigorous approach is just going to make them hate ballet and quit before an age where they actually benefit from the rigorous approach.

jsugrin

Both of my sons could identify right and left accurately right about the age of 2.  I don't think that's even remotely typical and it only happened because we take 2-3 walks a day in our neighborhood and at every street crossing they have to listen to my dumb little song " look to the left ( I'd pull on their left hands so they looked with me) look to the right (same thing), no cars coming so across we go!".  I also used our time in the car to teach them, since they are anal about sitting in "their own" carseat I'd talk about oh look at what's on #1's side, the left side of the car and what's on #2's side, the right side.  After I while I would just say hey look out the left side.

Mrs Manners

Ds can look at his hands or feet and tell you which is right and which is left. However, he still isn't good about following directions like "turn left" or it's "on your right side". He also can only look at his shoes and figure out which goes on which foot about 70% of the time.

schnappycat

DS is about 80-90% for both identifying hands/feet and directions. The other day he gave accurate directions to our house from the mall using left and right and I was pretty impressed.

 

Jinsy80

My daughter can't even put her shoes on correctly, let alone know left from right. 

MrsBalletStar05

I'd quit it too :-P  This age usually DOES have a hard time focusing on directions.  I don't expect my students to know right from left and I know I didn't even really know until I was much older.  How uber-rigorous was it?  It should all be fairly relaxed until at least 7 or 8...

taparham

My daughter is good at it with her hands but her her feet or telling her to go left or right.  I think she is good with her hands because shes left handed and noticed right away that she used a different hand.  I think this is a skill that takes some time.  I wouldn't take her out it may help her learn the difference between left and right.  Maybe it will teach the instructor some patience as well. 

KathrynMD

not at all; it wouldn't even occur to me that this is something she should know well at this age.

Frankly, I still confused sometimes - I think I might have been sick that week at preschool or something.  I have a scar on my left hand (that I got at 8) that is the only way I know it w/o thinking.  Until then, it was always confusing.

howleyshell

5 yr old - lots of mistakees

3 yr old - dead on 99% of the time.

We rarely if ever work on this.  Not sure why. 

 

Frankly I think it's odd that they're making an issue of it in a 3 yr old dance class.

I taught dance for 8 years and although we said left or right when teaching most of how the young ones learn is by following what the teacher's doing.

Is the teacher up in front of them demonstrating?

At the barre I'd usually put my strongest students in the front and back and those who struggled with "which foot" in the middle so they could watch those in front of them as I walked up and down the barre correcting them.

Same with middle or across the floor exercises.

If someone struggled I jumped in front of them so they could SEE, I didn't just shout out "no, your RIGHT foot", KWIM?  Or I'd tell them specifically "watch Lindsey when you're not sure what foot to use."

Even that was pointless half the time because they're 3 so they're not even aware that they're not on the same foot as the girl in front of or beside them.  The fact that your daughter did look and try to follow another girl is awesome! 

At her age I would totally expect trouble knowing which foot to start with.

She'll get it in time!

Her teacher, however, may be the one who needs a lesson.

You've got to teach to the age group in your class room.  Sounds like her strength may be with older kids. 

The most important question is does your DD have FUN in this class?  A 3 yr old dance class should include games, laughter, smiles, tickling, stickers/stamps, rewards, fun fun fun.

For us that meant the left wall had a lizard on it and the right wall had a rabbit.  When the group struggled we told them to go towards the lizard wall or the rabbit wall.  A shuffle was "kick, kick, STOMP on the bug".  Fun.  Kid oriented.  Plenty of giggles accompanied the encouragement to see who could squish their bug the hardest. 

Like all else with education the foundation is to build a love of learning and a love of the subject.  The specifics will come later once the passion is engrained.  If she's not enjoying this class I'd search for one that's more fun oriented if you'd like her to be open to continuing dance further down the road. 

Your main goal of her first year of dance is not to learn a shuffle ball change or a plie or tondue but rather to have her say "Mommy is today dance class?" with excitement on her face or to see her wanting to put on her dance shoes and dance around at home.   The rest will come in time.

FortMyersBride

DS is always dead on, but he has an uncanny ability to remember the routes to various places (ie- store we've only been to once) and is really good with spacial orientation. He must have acquired this from DH b/c I can get lost pretty much anywhere, even with my garmin. But it really does sound like that ballet class is awfully intense for your DD's age!

AgrippaRidesAgain

DS is pretty good at it, but he helps me push the cart in stores and I announce the way that we're turning as we go from one aisle to another.  I think it has helped a lot.  We also play Simon Says and use right and left in our directions.

That ballet class sounds too rigorous for a young 3 year old, IMO.

Jen&Len

DS is pretty good at it, but we've been telling hims "right foot, left foot" when we put on his shoes for a while.

Amy720

Ben gets it right most of the time, but he wanted to learn and my brother helped teach him by having him catch/kick the ball with the left/right hand/foot.  I would definitely question this teacher because I still taught this skill in 1st grade.  It's still a skill that is very hard to understand.

clarks415

DS is better than me!