I learned which is which with a visual image.

When I was little, I always stood in the kitchen on the same chair. The left wall was dark, the right wall had a window illuminating it. Even now whenever I'm distracted and can't answer out of reflex, that image pops into my head :-)

Put your hands in front of you, palms facing inwards. Where the thumb and index finger form an L, that's your right hand.

And of course, cars where I grew up (Australia) drove on the opposite side of the road to the cars on tv (mostly US shows and movies).

I think these are both great ways to help teach kids left and right; I just like to point out the flaws since neither way helped me (and I still have to think about it). Of course, I'm far more messed up than most kids will ever hope to be!

Didn't I imply that cars drive on the right side i.e. the left side of the road?

Yeah - I was making the point about it being a confusing tool to use. When I'm outside, cars drive on the left; when I'm inside watching a movie, they drive on the right; so my brain isn't getting wired with clear signals.

>Your left hand is where thumb and index finger form an L.

This would work except that young kids get letters wrong too and a common mistake is to mirror L.

Thanks for the insight.