must have!!!!!

[opas]

Would not normaly ask , but my brain is about to explode!

Over lunch we were discussing the rentre and the subject of school bags came up, eldest is going to college , so asked her if she would examin her backpack from last year (reebok) and was it still sound.  We got floods of tears, aparantly it is not de  rigeur(sp) ,as the most trendy girl in the village:crazythere are only about 5 of our daughters age) has an `expack` !!!!!

Done a search, maybe mine and daughters spelling is wrong , apparently there is a triangle logo with the words expack in it (pronounced icepack???)  came up with nothing, supposedly a german company....must be popular as I did not find anything!!!    will probably turn out to be Lidl own brand (which would make my day)

Do not get me wrong , If this Reebok is still good she will be using that or she will swap with youngest who had an Auchan own brand with 2 year waranty

So who and what is this `must have `brand......I suppose then one has to have the trainers, sweats, and baggy pants ...all in black of course!!!!

Mrs O

[Alexis]

I have been looking just for a little bag for my grandson and I hate to tell you Mrs O but there are millions of different bags in hundreds of different shops!

If I go to Carrefour tomorrow I will look.

If I remember, that is

[opas]

yup.know the shops are full of rentre equiptment.....never seen such a variety of bags, pencil cases, paper and even folders.

Just would love to see this ¬famous` brand that has got our eldest in tears!

Last years must have for the younger ones was Chippie......once you have already bought and sent them to school with their new bag

this same trendy kid, last year mocked our eldest for not having a bag on wheels.......she would have had a very bad stoop if I had given in and bought her one ...seing as she is nearly 5 ft 6 now! Then it is `can i have a pair of Buffalo `cos xxxxxxhas some`    then you get o the stores and they stop at 39....she is 41, what can you do!

Mrs O

[Val_2]

Welcome to the old bags club Mrs.O. I've had this problem for the past ten years at each rentrée but now at 18,my son has realised the cost at long last of these "named" bags and looks after his a lot better and it lasts two years now instead of almost one year of heavy school books. As they get older, they take less books as they have lockers at Lycée so the bags tend to get smaller if thats any consolation. We used to keep the old bags and put them up in the side dairy,got them out a while back and boy were there some memories but the kids refused to use them again. I have actually found that buying a bag in a proper shop and not the grande surfaces,although dearer,were actually lasting a lot longer.

[SaligoBay]

Is Eastpack what you're looking for?  

[Fantine<br><br><br><br>Susie]

[quote]Is Eastpack what you're looking for?[/quote]

I was just about to say that.

Funnily enough I've just been into GoSport to change some tent poles and my son was after one "but they're cheaper than they were at Arcachon last week" - They were 45 euros at GoSport - for a rucksack!!!

[opas]

Congratulations SB, if you wern`t being paid too much and going on holls next week I would give you a reward!

No 1 daughter went to another friends house specialy to get the make of this `must have` rucksack...(even though she couldn`t remember how to spell it)I then looked it up on the internet....If as Val(i think) said she will only use it for one or two years and move onto the next fad...why would I want to buy a bag that is guaranteed for 30 years!!!!!????? suppose I could stuff my knickers and toiletries in it when I go on my visits to UK

So , come on , spill the beans , what is the secret of this `designer bag` , seeing as she will be bussed door to door and the rest of the time it will be on her back or floor , where she wont see it!

Mrs O

[GRT17]

So , come on , spill the beans , what is the secret of this `designer bag` , seeing as she will be bussed door to door and the rest of the time it will be on her back or floor , where she wont see it!:

( errm I think it's the same story whichever country you live in.

It's called "peer pressure" but I thought French kids were less materialistic and didn't do this

Bon courage

Gill

[Alexis]

Tell you something, prices seem to have shot up for bags this year too.

I always buy my pencils and note books now!  Fight my way past the Mums with "The List".

Tell her to be a goat not a sheep.  Lead the others!  Worked for me  Make her a cloth bag or give her a carrier bag.  Be inventive!  Brave!  Cool!

[opas]

seeing as this bag does not have a brain and will still sit in the middle of the entry hall to the house ,it will stay on the shelf for that price

Her original reebok is looking tatty (I got it out , and thought on reflection she could do with a new one)  BUT , on my terms , not hers or her mates at 35-45 euros a throw( litteraly on the floor) So we have had a talk, apparently they do some realy cool colours (her words ...not mine) So when we part on our jolly holls later this week , we shall look for something different, Who knows SB, maybe that thread you started sometime ago about French schoolkids all looking the same(and I totally agree) is about to change....perhaps there is a world with colour afterall , even if we have Eastpack to thank for it.

Mrs O

ps Now I realy do feel an old bag...I am a forum Guru, hope I don`t look the same as a buddha

[Corinne]

The 'EastPak' craze is also at my daughters school in Germany, however my daughter refuses to have one...she says that everyone as one of those and she would rather have a Nike (at twice the price).

[Teamedup]

Eastpack have been around for several years. Yes, I would imagine that they would still be popular. They and Jansport seem to be of a similar price and pretty solid.

Like french kids don't go for 'marks'.

[Debra]

I think this is awful!  My daughter came home from school last year (aged 7) asking if she could change her bedroom from a Barbie theme to Bratz.  When I asked why, since I thought she loved Barbie (all presents for a couple of years have been Barbie and her room was only done out in Barbie stuff within the last few months prior to this) she said her friend at school, on hearing she had a Barbie bedroom said 'well you'd better get rid of that quick.  Barbie is out - Bratz is in'. 

So I asked her if this meant she wanted to get rid of the 80 or so Barbie dolls and all the accessories and related toys (including two houses and various cars, jeeps, bikes etc) and she said yes, if she could have Bratz stuff as a replacement!  Have you seen the price of Bratz dolls?  Even more expensive than Barbie.  I told her they look strange anyway - big head, all out of proportion, and if she liked Barbie she should tell her friend she's just being silly and she liked Barbie and wasn't going to get rid of all her stuff just because someone else said she should. 

It seemed to work, and a year later she still has a Barbie room - but I've vowed that when she really does outgrow it she's not getting another 'themed' room but just a pleasant, girlie type of room which she will just have to live with!  At least it won't be out of fashion before its had any use!

I just hope I can manage to be as firm when she gets older and starts wanting certain clothes and shoes etc!  I also thought this sort of thing wasn't common in France.

[Iceni]

Fortunately my children are long gone !!

How you must all long for the good old days of school lists and uniforms etc that could only be purcahsed at 1 shop. And would it REALLY be more expensive that giving in to the latest whim and fsncy to keep up wioth the Joneses ?

John

not

[Russethouse]

I was only thinking that yesterday - school uniforn stuff seems so cheap now, I know if you have to have to have a certain Blazer etc that can be pricey but all the cheaper clothes places sell grey or navy skirts, trousers, jumpers etc.

Oddly when the children were smaller we used to bring back school bags from France, they seemed stronger and were a little different too.

Debra - when my kids went through theme phases they got a duvet cover and a poster or two, no major decorating required

[steve@sarah]

When my daughter got to her early teens and started this "must have" nagging, I gave her an allowance.

I worked out how much I was prepared to spend each term and gave her the cash. I paid for the school uniform, school shoes and  school coat which all had to be a specifc type, and she choose the rest. If she spent the lot on rubbish, well she had to wait till next term or do some work to get more money.

She did make some mistakes [the fun fur jacket springs to mind!] but learned a lot!

You do have to go deaf when the money runs out tho'! 

[Missy]

Poor Mums!

Aren't you glad that the British education system makes it a compulsory uniform!!

None of these 'tears & tantrums' sessions with new outfits and bags and shoes and accessories which in the end looks very much of a sameness!...

My 2 had a small monthly allowance for those 'must have' but since they were boarding, they soon found out that 1/ they could not go out of school as much as desired to be able to buy the stuff and 2/ they hardly had time to get out of uniforms, to wear any of their 'let's-show-off' purchases. My daughter used to just pack up her uniform, her night stuff, a pair of scruffy jeans, a very holey jumper and T-shirt, a pair of trainers (which looked like saying please-let-me-die-by-the-road-side!)

So soon the allowance turned into savings for something special in the holidays such as train fares, camping fees, pop concert tickets etc... with their friends.

Well, I am glad for that stage is well over for me!

uummm!

Not sure as now they are into the University 'must have' : little car (or at least a scooter to go to lectures!!), ghettoblaster system with Ipod/computer/laptop/scanner/printer set up etc...

Does it ever end?....

[opas]

In a way I agree with you missybut, about UK schol uniform, but, one always had the kid with designer Black shoes, or if your black wool pullover was from Asda and not Next you were a dork,do not forget socks with their discreat designer logo...I think bags have always been a bone of contention, when I was at school (late 70s) we wouldn`t have been seen dead with a rucksack, If only we had known how our backs would suffer years later(well mine does) through carrying a heavy bag over one shoulder...other one straining upwards to counterbalance the weight

Any way went to Auchan this morning....no way am I buying this must have bag, one would possibly get 3 ringbinders in it and not much else.....so unfortunatly she will have to sulk. If I am buying a bag of this sixe that will be out of favour within the year she may as well have one half the price that does the same job, hard mother that I am she will have to learn that she won`t get everything she wants.

Cheers for the responses.

Mrs o

[Teamedup]

Mrs O, Eastpack do a full range of bags including many that would fit in far more than your daughter would be able to carry, never mind not getting enough stuff in it.

And yes russethouse, the thing that gives with the school bags is the children's backs. The cartables are supposed to last, but no one gives a stuff about damaging the kids.......... I know my eldest has had back problems for ten years now, like so many others and I have friends with kids in exactly the same situation. Twenty year olds seeing the chiropractor, what an idea, and yet is it really common. So yup, pretty solid bags here in France.

[Anton Redman]

As the years go by I miss my parents more and more not less and less. Both my grandfathers died during WW1. I loved my parents for parking the van that Dad was driving for a living in the school yard for my interview after the 11 plus. Only and very unlikley person that Dad ever discussed it with was Dennis Pratt who asked why Dad was a day late with the dry cleaning that week. I would have found it very had to tell my parents I MUST have anything, they were great fun to grow up with, young after their time and simultaniously cynical and generous. Explain to the kids why it is a total rip off,treat them like adults,and ask them what they rearly want and why. You do not have to believe <<Property is Theft>> but it helps if you understand how people sell stuff to you

[Hewitts]

Bring back the uniform I say.

Regulation skirt, shoes, socks, knickers, blouses, sports gear, blazer and even hair ribbon and yes regulation school bag. Worked for me, just passed 'em down to next in line. One bag lasted year 7 - year 12. Everyone looked the same, no posing with latest in gear, no one knowing whether you had money to burn on such things or not.

Mind you the fees where a bit over the top!!!

[Iceni]

But this suppresses individuality  as opposed to all of them wearing identical "designer" clothes.

John

not

[Hewitts]

You need to meet my girls, nothing suppressed about them I can assure you!

Wore the uniform with pride 5 days a week and Saturday morning sport and kicked their heels up with individuality to the fore at the weekend.

Guess what, they will be sending their girls to the same school, if they get the chance.