Jeff Yablon, aka Rent-a-Dad
Adulting is not always easy. At times, we just wish our parents were around to help us out. But often, that’s not possible. In that case, there's a handy Rent-a-Dad for hire. For $80/hour, Jeff Yablon will build furniture, look over your resume, or even help brainstorm that big (scary) purchase. He's available to assist anyone who needs some fatherly help or advice in the New York City area.
Yablon began Rent-a-Dad in the summer of 2018. He had recently retired and wanted to continue to “feel useful” as he had in his working days as a COO-for-hire assisting start-up companies. After some soul-searching, he found that being a parent (Yablon has three grown sons) is something that always made him happy. “For me,” Yablon tells My Modern Met, “Rent-a-Dad® is a perfect way to combine my problem-solving skills with a passion for…being helpful.”
Of all the tasks that Yablon can take on, the most common request is to build furniture. In fact, there’s one IKEA bed that he’s assembled so often that he has a nickname for it: Frankenbed. “It's gotten to the point where I'll walk into someone's apartment and throw my hands up like, ‘Oh no, not that piece again!’ but like a dad,” he says, “I get to work and get the job done.”
Rent-a-Dad can even act as a stand-in for a parent. Yablon’s most unusual hire came from a high school senior who needed the dad to attend a parent-teacher conference with him. “The boy explained his parents were strict and since his grades were suffering, he was afraid to bring them to school for the meeting,” Yablon explains. “But he really wanted to attend so he could get the guidance and direction he needed from his teachers to improve his grades. He wanted someone there for moral support and to ask the kinds of questions a parent would and get the feedback he needed. So that's what I did.”
If you’re in Manhattan or certain parts of Brooklyn or Queens, you can hire Rent-a-Dad. Check out all of the services offered here.
Rent-a-Dad: Website
My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by Jeff Yablon.
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