How to read your child's palm

Palmistry, or palm reading, chiromancy, or chirology, is the practice of fortune-telling through the pseudoscience study of the palm. The practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Ideally, you should read both palms. The theory is that the left hand shows potential, while the right hand shows what you've done with that potential. Some palm readers believe that “the left is what the gods give you, the right is what you do with it”.

But, with babies and children it's a little simpler as there are five different hand shapes to look out for:

Square

A ‘square’ hand is a sign of a reliable personality. Children with this shape of hand are usually great at organising. They gravitate towards method, structure, rules and regulations and make excellent town planners, police officers and librarians.

Spatulate

A child with a ‘spatulate’ or an ‘artisan’ shape has fingertips which appear to fan out like a spatula, with the palm broader where it joins the fingers. Such children may well thrive as builders or cooks.

Long

If your child has an especially long hand, it may indicate a philosopher with a talent for problem-solving – anything from crosswords to deeper issues such as the meaning of life. Children with this shaped hand usually make great judges or teachers.

Sensitive

Children with sensitive personalities tend to have ‘sensitive’ hands, too. The shape is conic, with the base of the palm, just above the wrist, relatively broad, becoming narrower at the fingers. They might become writers, actors or visionaries.

Mix-and-Match

This is the most common shape and is a combination from the four other types. For instance, your child might have a square palm with conic fingers. Children with ‘mixed’ hands have varied interests and are great at multitasking and networking. They may well go on to become entrepreneurs and property speculators.