A woman has left her career behind to become a 'full-time' daughter', and her new venture even comes with a salary.
Caring for family responsibilities while holding down a full-time job can be stressful at the best of times, but one woman from China has come to a novel solution with her family.
Nianan, 40, had previously held down a high-powered agency job for 15 years, but found the stress of fielding calls all day too much. Instead, she decided to leave her job and become a 'full-time daughter' to her mom and dad.
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It seems that she doesn't have to worry about an income either, as her parents are paying her a monthly salary, with Nianan saying her new job is 'a profession filled with love'.
Where do we sign up?
Nianan has a monthly allowance of 4,000 Yuan a month, which equates to just under $567 that comes out of her parents' retirement pension of 100,000 yuan a year.
While admittedly it's a lot less than the average monthly salary, Nianan doesn't have to worry about covering her own expenses.
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Now, Nianan stays at home and helps her parents out, including dancing with them, taking them grocery shopping, and preparing dinner with her father in the evenings.
She also looks after any electronic matters in the house and drives them where they need to go, as well as organising one or two trips a month for the family.
Nonetheless, she still finds that a worry for her is the pressure to 'earn more money'.
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However, her parents have reassured her that if she wants to she can get another job.
They said: "If you find a more suitable job, you can go for it. If you don't want to work, just stay at home and spend time with us."
The concept of becoming a 'full-time daughter' has become increasingly popular and has sparked debate over the changing dynamics around family. And while some are supportive, others are not so much.
One person posted: “Clearly, it is simply relying on one’s parents, known as ken lao in Chinese, which translates into ‘eat the old’, yet they insist on labelling it as being a ‘full-time daughter'".
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However, another was more supportive of the move, writing: “If both the parents and their children are genuinely happy, why not embrace it? In the future, the young labor force will hold a higher value. If some people consider it ken lao, or relying on parents, then why not exchange children to take care of the elderly in each others’ families?”
In China, the '996' lifestyle has become notorious and refers to working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, and can lead to widespread burnout and depression.
Companies still enforce the gruelling schedule despite warnings from authorities that such practices are illegal, with Chinese labour law having eight-hour work days and a maximum of 44 hours per week before overtime must be paid.
Kit Roberts