{"id":508119,"date":"2026-03-06T23:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/508119\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T23:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:17:10","slug":"what-is-a-trad-son-breaking-down-trend-of-stay-at-home-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/508119\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Trad Son? Breaking Down Trend of Stay-at-Home Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Move over \u201ctrad wives,\u201d<\/a> because you might have some competition from the \u201ctrad sons\u201d for the latest viral craze.<\/p>\n

The term \u201ctrad son\u201d started making waves via TikTok in 2025, describing adult sons that live at home for an extended period long after graduating from high school or college.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of unrest in men in their 20s and 30s, today. There\u2019s a lot of insecurity and instability. Most young people haven\u2019t truly found themselves yet,\u201d family therapist Kathryn Smerling told The New York Post <\/a>in October 2025. \u201cFor some, it\u2019s comforting to be at home. They feel safe and secure with their parents in a very conflictual world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon enough, several of these so-called \u201ctrad sons\u201d began popularizing the term in a flurry of social media posts. Keep scrolling to learn more:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Nara
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\n Related: Nara Smith and the \u2018Trad Wife\u2019 Trend Explained<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCourtesy of Nara Smith\/Instagram; Courtesy of Hannah Neeleman\/Instagram Who is Nara Smith, and what is a \u201ctrad wife?\u201d Allow Us to explain. Viral influencer, model, and mother of three Nara Smith Smith attracted a following on TikTok for her cooking videos, which she started in 2022. She has since accumulated almost 9 million followers on [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

What Is a \u2018Trad Son\u2019?<\/p>\n

The term \u201ctrad son\u201d describes a child who has continued to live with his parents into adulthood in exchange for helping with various household chores.<\/p>\n

The movement got a boost when Brendan Liaw appeared on Jeopardy! in May 2025 when he was 28, where he was introduced as a \u201cstay-at-home son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty good gig, but I\u2019m worried I\u2019m going to be called a loiterer at some point,\u201d Liaw told Vanity Fair <\/a>in October 2025. \u201cI really threw it out there as a little joke. I don\u2019t want to be permanently associated with the face of unemployment forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI think it\u2019s fun that we get to talk about what it\u2019s like to be a young man, navigating the labor market right now. I think it\u2019s very different than it was for my parents or other people of other generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liaw eventually did move away from home later in 2025, relocating to Canada to attend law school at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n

Why Are Men Interested in Becoming \u2018Trad Sons\u2019 Over Independent Living?<\/p>\n

Several social media users<\/a> have disclosed their reasoning for living at home, often citing the rising cost of living as a major factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to,\u201d Luke Jonathan Parkhurst, for his part, told Vanity Fair in 2025. \u201cI packed up and moved home and sold my house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parkhurst, whose mother calls him a \u201chub-son,\u201d begins his day by going to the gym while his mom walks the family dog. From there, Parkhurst picks up groceries from Costco before returning home to cook them both lunch. He handles other chores later in the day.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEven at school, when they would ask what I wanted to be when I was older, I would always write, \u2018stay-at-home son,\u2019\u201d he quipped to the outlet, revealing he identifies as a \u201ctruth seeker\u201d but distances himself from traditional masculine values associated with new Republican figures. \u201cWhen they talk about, \u2018Hey, this is what a man\u2019s supposed to do,\u2019 I\u2019m not saying they\u2019re incorrect, but I have different perspectives on what I think a man should do as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\"TikTok
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n Related: TikTok Creator Enitza Templeton Recalls Days of Being a Trad Wife<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCourtesy of Enitza Templeton\/Instagram TikTok creator Enitza Templeton is looking back at her time as what would now be considered a trad wife. \u201cIt\u2019s just this little dangling carrot to keep you trying to be this perfect trophy wife. She\u2019s beautiful, she has the children, she does it unmedicated,\u201d Templeton, 41, said in an interview [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

Are \u2018Trad Sons\u2019 Related to \u2018Trad Wives\u2019?<\/p>\n

The \u201ctrad wives\u201d movement, associated with women who follow stereotypical gender roles in their marriage, has gained traction through the likes of Hannah Neeleman and Nara Smith cooking their families home-cooked meals and raising a large brood of children. (Neeleman and Smith, however, both deny any connection to the label<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Trad sons were given a similar name by virtue of living at home with goals of tackling housework.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Move over \u201ctrad wives,\u201d because you might have some competition from the \u201ctrad sons\u201d for the latest viral…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,18886,18196,91,451,3,108,452,453],"class_list":["post-508119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-celebrity-kids","tag-celebrity-moms","tag-celebrity-news","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-social-media","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}