My Child Is a NEET. What Should I Do?
I grew up in the UK during the mass unemployment of the Thatcher years, and I was NEET myself as a teenager. Decades later, I wrote the book I wish my parents had bought me, or I’d bought it. It’s free, it’s honest, and it’s not academic.
Are you the one who’s NEET, not a parent reading this on their behalf? This page is written for your parents — go straight to the version written for you →
That’s not a parenting failure
If your son or daughter has been out of work, out of education and out of training for a while now, you’ve probably already tried the obvious things — the pep talks, the job listings left on the kitchen table, the “have you tried…”. And you’ve probably noticed none of it is landing the way you hoped.
That’s not a parenting failure. The job market your child is trying to enter is genuinely different from the one you or I started in — and most of the advice floating around either talks down to them or assumes a level of confidence they don’t currently have.
Ikigai+ in the Age of AI was written to sit between you and them — something you can hand over without it feeling like another lecture, because it isn’t one.
What’s actually in it
- A short, four-part framework (Ikigai) for figuring out what a young person is actually suited to — not just what’s advertised — which tends to work better than generic “just apply to more jobs” advice when someone is stuck and demoralised.
- Plain-English guidance on the AI-driven hiring tools (resume scanners, screening bots) that didn’t exist when most parents last job-hunted, and that quietly filter out good candidates for reasons that have nothing to do with ability.
- Real case studies of young people who were stuck in exactly this position and found a way through — not inspirational-poster stuff, actual steps.
- Written in second person, directly to the young person — so it reads like someone talking to them, not a parent talking at them through a book.
Read it free, right here on this website
No email required — the full book is right here. If you’d rather buy it, the Kindle or paperback edition is also available cheaply on Amazon further down.
Prefer something they can hold?
The Kindle edition is available right now on Amazon for $7.13, and the paperback edition is now live too, at $10.99 — cheap enough to send someone a copy without a second thought. A physical copy on the kitchen table sometimes says what you can’t quite find the words for.
Not sure where to start? Take the test first
The quickest way in — for either of you — is still the free Ikigai Test: five minutes, no sign-up, and it works whether you’re the parent trying to understand what might help, or your child is ready to try it themselves.
Already done the Ikigai Test? The Ikigai Lift is a 2-minute follow-up reading that shows exactly where you stand right now and what to try next.