I agree with the suggestion of posting to a neighborhood listserv or bulletin board offering services besides babysitting. In my neighborhood, young teens offer to rake leaves in the fall and to shovel snow in the winter. They also do petsitting for neighbors who are away on vacation-- my 12-year-old just earned $10 a day for three days of caring for a neighbor's pets, and she was ecstatic. Another neighbor offered to pay my 12-year-old to help her organize her playroom, because my girl is very tidy, organized, and good at deciding what to keep and what to throw out. And my girl works as a "mother's helper" once or twice a week for another mom in the neighborhood. She also has had bake sales and lemonade stands to raise money, but those require a lot of time and don't bring in very much profit. My husband has offered to pay her to research a technical project he's interested in completing at home-- he wants her to find the resources he'll need and learn the basic process by looking online. She's already gotten started on that.

Good luck to you!

Anonymous wrote:OP--Can I just say that you sound like an amazing, mature young woman. Best of luck to you!

This is so interesting! I have only sons so assumed OP was a boy. My 14 year old also wants to work, and he has done babysitting, refereeing and yardwork for money.
But completely agree with the sentiment. Kudos to you, OP, and I'm sure you'll go far. Your parents should be proud.

OP--Can I just say that you sound like an amazing, mature young woman. Best of luck to you!

You have to get a work permit at 14 to be able to work in either Maryland or Virginia

Wow, this thread has gotten a lot of replies quickly. Thanks everyone for your answers.

It looks like most people agree that babysitting is the best way to start for a first job, so I think I will just see if my mom would agree that I could also babysit for other families in our neighborhood. I think everyone who suggested that my mom should meet the people I would babysit for first had a good point, because that way she wouldn't be nervous that it's a stranger or someone who might be creepy.

The main two reasons I want to get a job are for the money (mostly to start saving but also some spending money would be nice) and so I have enough work experience to get a better job by the time I need it to pay for college and stuff like that.

I didn't realize you had to be a certain age though, so thank you to the several people who pointed that out. One of my friends who's also 13 got a job helping in her aunt's store, so I guess I just assumed I could look for something similar.

Sounds like babysitting for a year or two, then maybe trying to get a regular job once I'm around 15 would be the best idea.

OP, does your neighborhood have a listserv? Or a newsletter or something along those lines? Would your mom be cool w/you sending a message on the listserv/in the newsletter about babysitting for neighbors? That way your mom can meet them, know where you are going and for whom, and feel more comfortable than just random families off of sitter city.

Might i ask why you want a job to begin with at such a young age? Is it for money?

You write extremely well for a 13-year-old. Would you be interested in tutoring?