Do girls stay more interested in stationery throughout secondary school?

[AustenitesUnite]

When DS, now in year 9, was about to start secondary school, we bought him all the required stationery that was specified by the school. He wasn't interested in any of it apart from the Bic 4-colour pens and Frixion erasable pens. Within one term much of it was lost or broken and he has happily survived with a couple of pens in his pocket.

DD is about to start year 7 in September and is so excited about all of the stationery. She has just had her birthday and chose a pencil case with various compartments, pen loops etc and a huge set of highlighter pens. We have bought her the required calculator, geometry set and various pens & pencils. She already has a huge collection of Legami pens, novelty erasers & pencil sharpeners, post-it notes and goodness knows what else!

If pencil case arranging was an Olympic sport, DD would be a gold medallist!!! She, and her friends, spend ages arranging their pencil cases to maximum aesthetic effect and it's lovely to see how enthusiastic they are about it all

So my question is does this last? Have you experienced the same differences between your DS's and DD's? Did your DD's end their school days with enough stationery in their pencil cases to stock a small branch of Ryman's? Or is this something that tweens grow out of?

Yes i was like this and my brother like your son and i quite proudly in my 40s still am.....with my admin job and pencil case and fancy notebook which i always carry with my laptop😂

From observation, it lasts until around year 9. Year 10 and 11 girls generally continue to have better stocked pencil cases than boys, but are less enthusiastic about them.

Yes! My two DSs could not have cared less about stationery, but DD, her friends and our DS's GFs all took their stationery very seriously! I did too at that age, and I still see women at work with their own pencil cases and stationery.

I still love stationery - especially nice notebooks and pens and extras which are pretty. My pencil case is better than my makeup bag. I’m 61! Both my DS in their twenties don’t care about it at all.

DD is in Y8 and after her pencil case broke towards the end of Y7 she has just carried pens loose in one of the pockets of her bag. Her only interest is ensuring she has the bare minimum so her bag is not too heavy.

Me too. I love my stationery still. It's more convenient to write on my phone, obviously, but I've been known to copy things from my phone into a lovely notebook!

im 42 but I’d def beat your daughter if it was an Olympic sport. I get so much enjoyment for it. And generally yes I love a new pen too!

My DS is 26 and still loves stationery. He uses a specific pen and nothing else will do.

Ha, yes, and it's life long! Ran a stationery subscription box for 12 years, is just a shop now, and 90% of our customers are women. Although I do know quite a few men who are super geeky about their fountain pens and inks too!

Not in my experience. Myself and my DDs quickly went in to art supplies and doing calligraphy, sketching, cartoons, painting, handicrafts. Stationary was the gateway.

I am a 49 year old secondary teacher and I LOVE stationery. I have never stopped.

Some of my girls get very excited by it but, to be fair, the boys also love a good smooth pen, a sharp pencil and a range of highlighters.

Uniball Air pens are the go to at the moment. I have a box I lend out and they all love the feel of writing with them.

DD15 has an array of highlighters, post it notes, revision cards, folders etc. But she uses it all.

DD13 has the required stationery, which is still quite a substantial list (highlighters, pens in various colours, colouring pencils, glue sticks etc).

Many thanks ~ we don't have any of those so I'll buy a pack for DS & DD to try

They have Bic 4-colour (in various colourways/designs) Frixion erasable, Pilot z-grip and Papermate Inkjoy pens to choose from as I learnt to keep a box of spare pens & pencils when DS started secondary school. He kept losing pens (mainly because he lent them to friends and they were never returned!)

Yes.
Dd1 and dd2 September was about the joy of stationery. A new pencil case, deciding what they needed that year and maybe getting new stuff. And maybe needed a second pencil case to fit it all in. I suspect if either of them had half a hint that might be necessary now (as adults) they'd be at the door ready to go shopping.

Ds took to school one pen and one (broken in half) ruler in his pocket. If he needed anything else he had full faith that someone would provide it or he'd do without.
Tbf the girls were forever saying things like "I need a new glue stick, because no one on our table had one except me and we had 10 sheets to stick in", so I didn't feel too guilty about this.

I had to really impress on him for exams he needed a spare pen in case his ran out. He rolled his eyes and said that wouldn't happen.

I’m 50 & my desk at work is full of very well organised stationary.

DD in Year 10 just carries a pen, a pencil & a ruler in her blazer pocket 🤷‍♀️

This is SO lovely! It sounds like I can look forward to summer stationery shopping for some time to come!

We were just discussing a forthcoming day out and DD's first question was "Will they have any stationery in the gift shop?" !!!

DS couldn't be less interested. I periodically check that he has the mandatory 5 items in his backpack, I've bought him the Blazer Buddy's, I top up the pens on his homework desk but he has no interest whatsoever. To be fair, he is doing well at school and we always get positive feedback from the school.

I have boy girl twins 16 so I can speak to this! My DD like yours. Interest waned year 10 ish but now the GCSEs are over she’s been ordering new pen sets and ways to display and store them and spending hours on this. She has some money from a part time job so happy to see her spending a bit on stuff she enjoys.

DS couldn’t care less, has a couple of pens in school pockets. Morning of GCSE exams was rifling through his sister’s stuff to find a pen 😳

I get excited if anyone in year 8 actually has a pen!

The stationery lovers come back into their own in the GCSE years. Pastel highlighters, gel pens, tiny sticky notes, transparent post it notes, the works. ❤️

Yes!

I remember going from extreme excitement at my first school pencil case and it's contents in year 7, to just about shoving paper into my pockets and bringing one biro into school in year 11! 🤣

I had no idea this was a thing. My two DSs would have the odd broken pen in the bottom of their schoolbag and that's it. I remember buying fancy crayons and paints for them as toddlers which were untouched.

Fascinating thread underlining behavioural differences between boys and girls. Can it really be all social conditioning that the DDs love stationery?

I kind of get it, I do enjoy a lovely notebook but not enough to actually buy such a thing for myself.

It's been really interesting to see the difference between DS & DD when, for instance, they unpack their Christmas stockings. DS always regards things like socks, toiletries, pens & pencils as 'things I need' whereas DD gets more excited about it all and probably regards them as 'things I want'

I don't think it's anything to do with the age difference as their reactions have always been like this

I used to teach in the sixth form of a girls' grammar that took a few boys in sixth form.

I gained great respect for the lad who turned up in week 2 with a full set of fineliners. Tbh he wasn't quite sure what they were for but he wanted to fit in 😂 he also delegated his turns on the cake rota to his granny and at the end of the term the girls made him write a thank you note 😂😂

OP, has your daughter discovered Legami yet?!

I think this is person by person. DD never cared. I am in my 50s and still obsessed.