Year 6 girls - please help! What stationery is cool right now?

[IncreasinglyMadWomanInTheAttic]

DD (y6) is finding things a bit hard on the friendship front right now - she says all the girls in her year have suddenly started talking about skincare every break time and she’s literally finding it hard to find anyone who wants to talk about anything else. She says the skincare chat is deathly dull, although obviously she’s not saying that to them.

I wondered whether it might ease things for the moment if I were to buy her a bundle of nice stationary, and she were to sit next to them doodling and chatting, even if she didn’t want to join in with the actual skincare. Lots of them do still seem to be into stationary, so if I were to buy some of the stuff that is deemed to be acceptably cool, some of them might even come and join her or it might be a conversation starter. What stationery would your y6 girls choose? I’ve ordered a big packet of legami pens and coloured paperclips in different shapes etc. Are there particular styles or brands of notebooks or colouring pens that your DC want?

Are those anime stickers no longer cool? DD hasn’t mentioned them for a while so I wasn’t sure.

I’d also be really grateful for any suggestions of similar things that she could take in or do alongside her old friends whilst just nodding and smiling along with the skincare chat but simultaneously doing something slightly different (and especially if the something different might tempt some of the other girls to come and do it with her!)

Thanks so much. We’ve had lots of tears this week about friendships and whilst I’ve tried to reassure her, I’m also trying to suggest some practical solutions.

What about mindfulness colouring books?

That said, it sounds like to me what would help would be cultivating stronger 1-to-1 friendships around things not so dull. Yes, they do talk a lot about skincare shite. It’s driven by the kids who are on TikTok 6 hours a day after school. Can you invite friends over and go do something actually fun? Swimming, bowling, playground, do a film night, sleepover, biking, etc. Get them out together to do something actually fun so they bond over something less boring.

I completely agree - we are about to engage in a programme of whatever the friendship equivalent of love bombing is! We have play dates lined up for tonight and every day over the weekend, but in the immediate sense, she’s still a bit stuck at playtimes and so I’m trying to find something for her to do to help her still physically be with the other kids but not feel completely excluded.

Mindfulness colouring books are a great idea though - thank you!

Oh god the skincare! I find it dull and I’m 44 and actually need this stuff 😆

Does she do any sports? In my daughter’s year (y7), the sportier girls seem to be less sucked in by this stuff, I think partly because they are just too busy attending their clubs. Also the geeky/quirky ones who are into books and dragons etc are not bothered. There will be kids out there finding it just as dull as your DD, she just needs to find them.

DD is taking a very sanguine approach and says she wants to know enough about toiletries and brands to be able to join in the chat a bit but she’s definitely not going to join the obsessed crowd as it’s boring.

It’s really weird - I had sort of assumed the same, but the sporty girls are all over it. Probably more than the others! But if your daughter is in Y7 then it sounds as though it’s not necessarily going to be a flash in the pan and that we should buckle up for the long haul… 🤦‍♀️

Well DD’s lot hadn’t really discovered this stuff in y6 so maybe if they had, they’d be over it by now … I am hoping it is a brief phase too! But we are up against the marketing machines 😠

This is why the world needs pop bands. We need the equivalent of A-ha on the equivalent of TOTPs to keep the kids wholesomely occupied. This is my light hearted opinion only - mind you.

Kenji stationary and similar (Japanese/kawaii vibe) is super cool. I’m not sure if kenji is just an up north brand- there is a shop in Trafford centre, manchester and bury, or country wide. My daughter also loves the learn to draw kawaii books, calligraphy pens and posca pens. She’s after a desk organiser for Christmas.

I will caveat my message above with year 7 dd also being obsessed with skin care too. She’s super sporty too and a bit of a tomboy. Not sure where the love of it has come from as she’s not on TikTok etc. She’s also massively into reading and loves all the murder most unladylike series (robin Stephenson I think)

Anything Japanese or Korean, avoid smiggle!

This is really useful - thank you!