From zero to ‘I love Maths!’ — an Osper Journey: the real life impact of Osper on one young person
Good habits formed at youth make all the difference — Aristotle
I think Mr. Aristotle was on to something when he so insightfully talked about good habits and youth. A strong belief we all share here at Osper is you learn by doing, and the earlier you start the better. The thought of starting before you’re ready is a frightening one, but get past that and the possibilities are remarkable!
A while ago, an Osper mum named Tara called the support line and I was fortunate enough to be the one to pick up the phone. After I helped her with her query, we got to talking. She started telling me about her step-daughter, Antonella, and how using an Osper card completely changed the young girl’s relationship with math. I was so amazed that I asked Tara if I could share her story and she kindly said yes.
Antonella received an Osper card with the understanding that it would help her to learn the value of money. She soon realised that she was able to top up her allowance by doing jobs around the house. So “she worked her socks off at home, shredding documents, cleaning and mowing the lawn” Tara said, “to buy her first pair of roller boots on Amazon.” Antonella earned enough to cover the cost of the skates as well as an (unexpected) delivery charge. “The question she had to answer was did she want to pay for delivery and blow an extra £5.99 of hard-earned cash or wait until the weekend and get them in the store with no shipping charge? The excitement was too much so she opened up an Amazon account, got them online, and when they arrived squealed with delight, popped them on and promptly taught herself how to roller skate. ” Tara said.
Lessons learned: Money doesn’t grow on trees — you have to earn it…and it doesn’t hurt to have some extra cash on hand to account for unanticipated expenses!
But the learning didn’t stop there. Tara says Antonella is now exercising her math skills nonstop outside of school hours!
“Her mental maths has gone through the roof as she is constantly working out how much she has and what she can and can’t get for her money,” Tara said. “On the 1st October when her allowance came in (a.k.a. payday, she never forgets the dates!) she worked out in the car that she had enough to buy a Lego set…
she squealed at the top of her voice, ‘I love maths!’
All that math practice has been quite evident to Antonella’s school teacher, who told Tara that the girl’s “mental maths was getting seriously sharp.” Meanwhile, Antonella has barely broken a sweat from doing all the math necessary to manage her money. She says her Osper card makes budgeting easy.
What is really good about Osper is that I don’t have money to look after, all those coins and continually counting. I just have to take care of my card and I always know how much money I have. And everyone takes it — it works everywhere!
The best thing about this story is it’s just the start. Antonella will no doubt have many more lessons to learn. Our hope for her is that she will become wiser and more confident with each lesson, allowing her to have a happier and healthier financial future.
Having been truly inspired by this story and others, I’ll be publishing a series of Osper life stories. The aim is to inspire more parents to take the leap of faith and help their children become the next generation of financially savvy people with the Osper card.
If you’ve had an experience using Osper that you want to share, please email me at sabinak@osper.com — We’d love to hear about it!
