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A right-handed child would hold the ruler with his left hand and pull the pen or pencil along the ruler with his right hand from left to right. He is able to see the numbers on the ruler as he pulls the writing instrument across the ruler and stops at the desired number.

A left-handed child would hold the ruler in position with his right hand and then push the writing instrument across the ruler. Because he is using his left hand, he covers the numbers as he pushes the instrument, and in order to see the numbers, he will either have to contort his writing hand or lift it altogether. Also, by pushing the writing instrument, often the ruler will be pushed out of position, causing a "skew" line.

It is easier and neater for a left-handed child to hold the ruler in his right hand and pull the writing instrument from right to left across the ruler, thus also recreating a pulling rather than pushing motion with the pen. However, if the numbers are going from left to right, the child won’t be able to draw a line of a certain length if required to do so. The simple solution is for the numbers to run from right to left.