In many sports, they tell you to learn to be ambidextrous to a certain degree. Basketball players are taught to dribble with both hands, soccer players learn to kick the ball with either leg, fighters learn to throw punches with both hands, etc. Since most people have a dominant hand, accomplishing this feat means that you have to put in extra work to get your weaker, "off" hand to the same level of competency as your dominant hand.
Apparently, this is a useful skill to have in all facets of life. I discovered this fact this morning when having breakfast. There's a new kid floating around our house for a couple of days (my mom is substitute-caring for someone), so I was playing with her a little bit. It was time to eat something, though, so I sat at the table for a simple breakfast: orange juice, slice of bread, and an avocado.
The little girl looked bored, so I scooped her up to sit in my lap. It kept her from wandering around aimlessly and pulling off random mischief, and she's only a year old, so sitting at the table with silverware and adult cups was new for her. I figured she'd get her "I sat at the table with the big boys & girls" jollies, she'd be entertained for a bit, and then I could go back to my meal.
Well, it turns out my idea was too good. She started beaming from ear to ear, and generally having a blast. I went to put her down, but my mom vetoed that idea. Again, she was having too much fun for that to be a good idea. In fact, moving her in any way started drawing frowns from her, so I pretty much had to leave her where she was.
There was, however, left the little matter of breakfast to attend to. And I had unthinkingly placed her on the right side of my lap, which meant that my right hand was required to hold her (read: prevent her from falling). I'm right-handed. So, I got to eat my breakfast with my weaker left hand.
It's harder than you might imagine. I normally eat avocadoes by using a spoon to mash a cut-open half, and then smear it on some bread. I basically treat it like I'm making my own spread. I don't like it plain, though, so I usually add a little bit of salt to it (note: if you don't eat avocadoes this way, goody for you. It's how we do in my family, and it tastes good to me, so *sticks out tongue*). Of all those steps, I'd managed the slicing one in half & taking out the pit parts before this kid was in my lap. That left the mashing, smearing, salting, and then eating parts.
The mashing part wasn't too bad, though it did take longer than usual. You don't need fine motor control for that, just enough dexterity to keep the non-handle end of a spoon pointed in the general direction of an avocado as you stab at it. Smearing, on the other hand, required scooping out the now-mashed avocado. That took a little bit of effort, since I essentially had to use the table as leverage to do the scooping. Even when doing this right-handed, I'll often hold the avocado in my left hand to make this process easier. Without the use of my right hand, however, this took a couple of minutes. Thankfully, I managed to scoop all of it out and get it all on to the bread without spilling or dropping any on to the table.
Then, the salt. I hadn't actually pulled out a shaker, but I had actually just grabbed the container of salt. Normally, this is not a problem, since there are a myriad of ways to ensure you get a small amount of salt onto your food. Unfortunately, most of these methods involve using both hands. I was able to somewhat use my right hand by reaching across this kid's body, and holding my left hand pretty far to my right. This felt like a bit of a juggling act, since I was still trying to make sure the kid was securely on my lap, I was reaching across my own body with my left hand, and I was also trying to make sure the little girl didn't suddenly decide that "spill the salt" was a fun game. After a bit of contortion, though, I was able to get the requisite amount of salt onto my food.
You'd think now that all was done, it'd be smooth sailing right? All I had to do was actually feed myself. Heck, two and three year old kids do this with a regular basis, so a one-handed 27 year old should be able to just wolf down the food, right? You'd think wrong.
First of all, I still only had the use of one hand. That meant I could eat or drink, but not do both at once. This inherently forced me to plan ahead a bit. Secondly, we make our own bread, so each slice is larger than the stuff you buy at the store. I think the best description for the size of the bread is, "slightly larger than my outstretched left hand." Thirdly, I had not toasted this slice of bread, so it wasn't firm enough to hold its own weight. If one were to hold one end of it, the other end would lean over/fall (thanks a lot, gravity).
If you're paying attention, facts number two and three coupled together mean that before my first bite, I was in danger of spilling my food. Given this, I decided to just eat all of the bread/avocado, rather than alternating between bites of food and gulps of orange juice. Again, it took a bit of trickery, but I managed to finish the solid portion of the meal. Then, and only then, the rest was easy. I can hold a glass in my left hand well enough to not spill any of that. I still had to make sure that the girl didn't decide to play with crumbs, but that's not nearly as hard.
Mission completed. Of course, now that I had finished my meal, the little girl was no longer entertained by the big boy sitting at the table. I'd like to say she wanted down/out as soon as I finished (makes for a better story), but it probably took a couple of minutes. Still, the point is that I finished eating, and shortly thereafter, she wanted to go do something else. *sigh*
Anyhow, the moral of this post: become proficient with your off-hand. You never know when you might need the skill.
Apparently, this is a useful skill to have in all facets of life. I discovered this fact this morning when having breakfast. There's a new kid floating around our house for a couple of days (my mom is substitute-caring for someone), so I was playing with her a little bit. It was time to eat something, though, so I sat at the table for a simple breakfast: orange juice, slice of bread, and an avocado.
The little girl looked bored, so I scooped her up to sit in my lap. It kept her from wandering around aimlessly and pulling off random mischief, and she's only a year old, so sitting at the table with silverware and adult cups was new for her. I figured she'd get her "I sat at the table with the big boys & girls" jollies, she'd be entertained for a bit, and then I could go back to my meal.
Well, it turns out my idea was too good. She started beaming from ear to ear, and generally having a blast. I went to put her down, but my mom vetoed that idea. Again, she was having too much fun for that to be a good idea. In fact, moving her in any way started drawing frowns from her, so I pretty much had to leave her where she was.
There was, however, left the little matter of breakfast to attend to. And I had unthinkingly placed her on the right side of my lap, which meant that my right hand was required to hold her (read: prevent her from falling). I'm right-handed. So, I got to eat my breakfast with my weaker left hand.
It's harder than you might imagine. I normally eat avocadoes by using a spoon to mash a cut-open half, and then smear it on some bread. I basically treat it like I'm making my own spread. I don't like it plain, though, so I usually add a little bit of salt to it (note: if you don't eat avocadoes this way, goody for you. It's how we do in my family, and it tastes good to me, so *sticks out tongue*). Of all those steps, I'd managed the slicing one in half & taking out the pit parts before this kid was in my lap. That left the mashing, smearing, salting, and then eating parts.
The mashing part wasn't too bad, though it did take longer than usual. You don't need fine motor control for that, just enough dexterity to keep the non-handle end of a spoon pointed in the general direction of an avocado as you stab at it. Smearing, on the other hand, required scooping out the now-mashed avocado. That took a little bit of effort, since I essentially had to use the table as leverage to do the scooping. Even when doing this right-handed, I'll often hold the avocado in my left hand to make this process easier. Without the use of my right hand, however, this took a couple of minutes. Thankfully, I managed to scoop all of it out and get it all on to the bread without spilling or dropping any on to the table.
Then, the salt. I hadn't actually pulled out a shaker, but I had actually just grabbed the container of salt. Normally, this is not a problem, since there are a myriad of ways to ensure you get a small amount of salt onto your food. Unfortunately, most of these methods involve using both hands. I was able to somewhat use my right hand by reaching across this kid's body, and holding my left hand pretty far to my right. This felt like a bit of a juggling act, since I was still trying to make sure the kid was securely on my lap, I was reaching across my own body with my left hand, and I was also trying to make sure the little girl didn't suddenly decide that "spill the salt" was a fun game. After a bit of contortion, though, I was able to get the requisite amount of salt onto my food.
You'd think now that all was done, it'd be smooth sailing right? All I had to do was actually feed myself. Heck, two and three year old kids do this with a regular basis, so a one-handed 27 year old should be able to just wolf down the food, right? You'd think wrong.
First of all, I still only had the use of one hand. That meant I could eat or drink, but not do both at once. This inherently forced me to plan ahead a bit. Secondly, we make our own bread, so each slice is larger than the stuff you buy at the store. I think the best description for the size of the bread is, "slightly larger than my outstretched left hand." Thirdly, I had not toasted this slice of bread, so it wasn't firm enough to hold its own weight. If one were to hold one end of it, the other end would lean over/fall (thanks a lot, gravity).
If you're paying attention, facts number two and three coupled together mean that before my first bite, I was in danger of spilling my food. Given this, I decided to just eat all of the bread/avocado, rather than alternating between bites of food and gulps of orange juice. Again, it took a bit of trickery, but I managed to finish the solid portion of the meal. Then, and only then, the rest was easy. I can hold a glass in my left hand well enough to not spill any of that. I still had to make sure that the girl didn't decide to play with crumbs, but that's not nearly as hard.
Mission completed. Of course, now that I had finished my meal, the little girl was no longer entertained by the big boy sitting at the table. I'd like to say she wanted down/out as soon as I finished (makes for a better story), but it probably took a couple of minutes. Still, the point is that I finished eating, and shortly thereafter, she wanted to go do something else. *sigh*
Anyhow, the moral of this post: become proficient with your off-hand. You never know when you might need the skill.
When would you ever eat and drink at the same time? Belgian waffle bombs?
ReplyDeleteBite of food, wash it down with gulp of drink. Wash, rinse, repeat. That's technically gauche, if I remember correctly, because it means your drink is on the wrong side (it should be on the right). Still, it's not completely unheard of.
ReplyDelete