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?

I'm a sixty-something woman who grew up during an intensely analogue time. Pens, notepads, notelets, postcards, pretty writing paper for personal letters and a block of Basildon Bond for when you wanted to be more formal and grown-up. Oh and those fold-up all in one airmail letters - I loved them all. I am one of five and only one of my sisters shared my enthusiasm for nice stationery. We were the family bookworms too, though the connection might be a bit tenuous. Me and little sis are less bothered about pretty stationery now and we are both avid users of technology. But I still like a decent pen.

DD has just informed me that one of her friends has got a lovely Morandi-themed pencil case

If, like me, you are completely baffled by this, I had to google what Morandi is as I didn't understand DD's explanation!

"Morandi colours are a sophisticated, desaturated palette inspired by Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. Known as "advanced grey," they blend a base grey with other hues to achieve muted, low-contrast tones. This creates a timeless, tranquil, and elegant aesthetic popular in stationery, interior design and fashion"

Fortunately DD is in love with her new highlighter set and pastel pencil case so, hopefully, won't want to go down this rabbit hole