Luke Parkhurst is living the dream. And at nearly 34 years old, he’s doing it jobless and rent-free at his mother’s house — a sweet setup that mom, Patty, loves.
But the millennial’s spongy life on easy street doesn’t come as a totally free ride. Instead, it comes with the homemaking duties of a stay-at-home-wife. Rather than loafing about all day, eating bonbons and scrolling through social media while Patty, a flight attendant, works, Luke’s taking care of business around the abode.
“I’m a stay-at-home son,” Luke, from Las Vegas, proudly told The Post. “I do the grocery shopping, cook steak for dinner, clean the pool and fix things around the house.”
His is an unpaid, unproblematic position that’s rising in popularity among the Gen Z and Gen Y2K guys — called “trad-son” by some, or, “hub-son,” as Patty calls Luke.
It’s a cushy gig similar to that of traditional housewives, or “tradwives.” They’re the growing number of married gals, including famous folks like Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, who’ve controversially forgone the 9-to-5 daily grind to, instead, raise their families, handcraft home-cooked meals and keep immaculate abodes.
Trad-sons like Luke — a former door-to-door solar salesman, who ditched the $170,000 vocation and moved back into Patty’s place this summer — aren’t just leeching off of mommy and daddy sans responsibilities. They’re earning their keep, doing housework and running errands, in order to maintain their kept status.
It’s a Cinderella story in reverse.
“This has been my dream job since I was a little kid,” said, claiming that the role was his go-to response to those “When I Grow Up, I Want To Be…” homework assignments in elementary school. “My mom is at work right now, she covers everything, and I stay home.”
It’s nice work, if you can get it.
And unemployed guys worldwide — including high-profile stay-at-home-son Brendan Liaw, a recent “Jeopardy!” champion who talked about his life with host Ken Jennings on the game show in May — have got it good, thanks to their overly accommodating folks.
“It’s a pretty good gig, but I’m worried I’m going to be called a loiterer at some point,” said Liaw to Jennings, explaining that his perceived freeloading isn’t free. Instead, his trad-son job description requires him to keep a pack of elderly aunts entertained — and to bar the golden gals from roughhousing.
“I play with three retired aunts — we play gin rummy,” Liaw, of Vancouver, British Columbia, explained. “It’s grueling business. They’re cutthroat.”
Across the country, approximately 1 in 3 adults, ranging in age from 18 to 34, now live with their mothers and fathers, per recent US Census Bureau data.
And an April 2025 report via Pew Research revealed that men within that age range are more likely to reside with their parents than women, partially due to rising unemployment rates.
Kathryn Smerling, an Upper East Side family therapist, says the trad-son trend isn’t a consequence of gentle parenting — an ultramodern, yet controversial child-rearing strategy that promotes appeasing kids over showing them tough love.
The psychologist and author, instead, believes the mooching off of mom and dad movement is an effect of our troubled society, plagued by social discord, a precarious job market, inflation and an ongoing housing crisis.
“There’s a lot of unrest in men in their 20s and 30s, today. There’s a lot of insecurity and instability. Most young people haven’t truly found themselves yet,” Smerling explained to The Post. “For some, it’s comforting to be at home. They feel safe and secure with their parents in a very conflictual world.”
But the doc warns the trad-son shtick should only be a temporary, transitional phase rather than a long-term plan. And she says the serene setup should instill lifelong values in the stay-at-home dudes.
“If a young man in his isn’t working, he should be doing the laundry, cooking and cleaning,” Smerling instsed. “It teaches them vital life skills, which they can apply once they move out on their own.”
“This dynamic doesn’t upset the family system,” she added, “it strengthens it.”
Patty agrees.
“It’s been a relief to have somebody go do the grocery shopping and take out the garbage,” said the mother of four — including a daughter who became a multimillionaire in her 20s, one son who manages several top-notch restaurants and another who works as a pilot.
Then there’s Luke.
“He’s my baby,” gushed Patty of the 33-year-old, telling The Post she doesn’t mind covering all of their bills and household expenses. “I love taking care of people — and he has been really helpful [around the house]. I call him my hub-son.”
She happily welcomed Luke back into the nest in July. He walked away from the rat race and returned home after realizing his work hard, play hard regimen was taking a toll on his mental health and overall well-being.
“I was doing great financially, but none of it was feeding my soul,” said Luke, who’s not keen on abandoning the trad-son lifestyle anytime soon.
“Of course I don’t want to go back to the workforce,” Luke said. He did acknowledge, however, that he has already identified one very good reason not to get too comfortable at home. “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.’”
Unlike Luke, Abdullah Abbasi, a 24-year-old stay-at-home-son from Chicago, isn’t concerned with how his living situation might ultimately impact his love life.
The Gen Zer is content with the love he gets at home — in exchange for doing some light housework, chauffeuring and administrative tasks.
“My dad is a physician, so some mornings I’ll drive him to a meeting and take notes, or I’ll drive my sister and her kids to different appointments,” Abdullah, who has remained unemployed and under his parents’ roof since the pandemic, told The Post. “My job is to make sure the house runs smoothly.”
When the trad-son isn’t behind the wheel, carting around his family, he serves as the creative mastermind behind his budding sportswear line, Stay At Home Sons — featuring the cheeky tagline, “Doing nothing is hard.”
“The clothes resonate with a lot of people,” said Abdullah of the brand, which he and a pal established in April 2024. “It’s all about bringing [trad-sons] together through fashion.”
It’s an entrepreneurial pursuit he’s been able to pursue without the distraction of hunting down full-time employment.
“I don’t have to worry about paying bills, doing grunt work or trying to afford housing,” said Abdullah. “I can focus on what makes me happy.”
And it’s a no-pay occupation that’s paying off in spades.
“I have friends who work 80 hours in order to make big money and enjoy their independence,” continued Abdullah. “But this is the preferred route for me.”
“This lifestyle is a luxury.”
Read the full article here
