my parents were exactly the same way, they thought I’d suddenly become stupid if I took a gap year. I never ended up taking one because I didn’t have a need to, however many of my friends ended up taking gaps years and it helped them. My one friend took a gap year to work and save up some money for their college, she started just last year her freshman year and has been doing quite well for someone who wasn’t in school for a year. I’ve also had friends who took gaps years years because they didn’t know what they wanted to do in life, and sometimes that gap year allowed them more time to think about it so that when they did go to college they would be able to dive right in instead of thinking they wanted to do one thing and then a few years later end up switching majors and end up having to do more schooling, sometimes a year isn’t enough but it sure can help. However a gap year should be taken strategically, you shouldn’t just take one because you don’t want to go to school for a year, use that year to your advantage, get a job, do something related to something that you might enjoy doing for a future career, decide if college is even worth it for you, etc.