A GROWING number of men are admitting to leaving the workforce in favor of a stay-at-home career where chores are their new responsibilities.
One so-called “hub son” said that leaving his successful sales job and moving in with his mom was the best decision he ever made.
Luke Parkhurst, 34, goes grocery shopping, cooks dinner, and cleans the pool while his flight attendant mom Patty works to pay the bills.
He used to make $170,000 a year at his last job, but he quit and moved back into his Las Vegas, Nevada, family home after feeling burned out.
“This has been my dream job since I was a little kid,” he told The New York Post.
“My mom is at work right now, she covers everything, and I stay home.”
Parkhurst’s mother isn’t mad about the setup, either.
She said it’s been “a relief” to have a helper who takes out the trash and goes shopping for her.
The mom of four has a daughter who became a multimillionaire in her 20s, a son who manages top-notch restaurants, and another son who is a pilot.
However, when asked about Parkhurst, she said, “He’s my baby.”
“I love taking care of people – and he has been really helpful [around the house]. I call him my hub-son.”
The concept of stay-at-home sons became an overnight sensation when multi-day Jeopardy! champion Brendan Liaw admitted to host Ken Jennings in an episode that he was unemployed and living with his parents.
The young winner described playing gin rummy with his aunts and joked that it was his job to keep them entertained.
“It’s grueling business. They’re cutthroat,” he said on the show.
Sons are starting to move back in with their parents[/caption]
UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE RISE
Around one in three adults aged from 18 to 34 are living with their parents, according to recent US Census Bureau data, and experts fear that nationwide uncertainty is fueling the trend.
“There’s a lot of insecurity and instability,” family therapist Kathryn Smerling told the Post.
“Most young people haven’t truly found themselves yet.
“For some, it’s comforting to be at home. They feel safe and secure with their parents in a very conflictual world.”
Inflation, an unpredictable housing market, and a shaky job market could all be factors influencing men to stay at home, Smerling said.
Parkhurst said that he hasn’t found any major downsides to his new setup and explained that it had been his dream since he was a child to focus on domestic life.
However, he did admit that romance would likely push him out of the house.
“If I ever want to get into a relationship, I know I can’t tell a woman, ‘By the way, I have a roommate, and it’s my mom,’” he said.
