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boomerang kid

boomerang kid (also boomerang child) noun an adult child who returns home to live with his or her parents after being away for some time: With the country in tough economic times, more young American adults, over age 18, are returning to the family nest. Some boomerang kids may come and go for years, if not decades. Historically, the number of boomerang kids rises when the economy turns sour. The average boomerang child surveyed was 22 years old and had been away from home an average of two years. Researchers found that the rate of return of boomerang children to their homes did not depend on how wealthy the parents were.

The origin of this expression is very logical—check the noun boomerang by using our dictionary look-up.

There is also a noun to describe this process of returning, boomeranging, but this is more often used in the context of work, where an employee returns to a previous employer:Because there will be continued shortages for top talent, the trend of boomeranging will become a far more common event.

Other compounds are also possible, but less common, including boomerang son, boomerang daughter and boomerang family.

For lots more colourful expressions, check out the Oxford Idioms Dictionary for Learners of English, which contains over 10,000 idioms and expressions, often with their origins explained.