Getting a job during the school year?

I’ll be a freshman next year, and I want to get a job. My parents think it’s a bad idea. I get pretty good grades and hang out with my friends a lot but I still have a lot of free time and still will next year, and honestly having a lot of free time bothers me. I thrive off of being busy. I wouldn’t work a ton, maybe 15 hours a week, and I want to get a job because college is expensive and I want to save up money, plus I like photography and makeup which are both kind of expensive. My parents say it’ll be “too much to handle”. Do y’all think this is a bad idea?

Working is a great idea, but it might be better to start small (~5 hours/week) and work your way up if possible. 15 hours is quite a bit to start with, especially during the transition to high school.

What you don’t want to do is take on too much. High school is different than middle school - if you find that you can handle 5 hours a week easily then take on more. Don’t overload yourself though.

Can you legally work? I’m pretty sure child labor laws restrict working for kids under the age of 15. Even at 15, you have some real restricted hours.

Also, how would you get to work?

I think working is great. It’s worked out fine for me managing 20 hours a week since I was 15, and I ended up taking out a loan and paying off my own car. Maybe get a summer job and drop it once school starts. Try to end on good terms with management and start back up after the first semester just to prove you can handle high school without any distractions.

@Jpgranier. The minimum working age is 14, and the hours are restricted but not too badly. I live in a city near a lot of stores/restaurants so hopefully I could either walk or bike. Thanks for the advice!

Okay yeah looks like it is 14. But getting a job where you can only work on school days until 7 pm will be really tough. Employers want flexibility with their employees.

I would start HS without a job and then get one over the summer. See how you are doing with HS classes.