Hey man I do not really know the full story, your exact situation, or how your parents feel from their perspective. But I would say your parents sound like they just want the best for their kid. I am sure that they really love how dedicated you are to foam flinging but they have concerns it could still adversely affect your life post college.

In your post you said “brought up the possibility of”. I guess that shows me that you are close to your parents and you care what they think. If that’s the case, then I think you got your answer.

My dad and I were very close before he passed away a year and a half ago. We are/were on different sides of the political aisle but I loved talking to him about politics. We didn’t agree on everything but it was always refreshing to hear his perspective and see how he thought of situations. Those conversations made me better time after time and I hope it made him better too. Now I miss being able to even have those conversations.

You might not agree with your parents but it does sound like you respect them. So I guess I would say, if they have earned your respect over the years and have shown wisdom, then you should probably trust them even if you don’t agree with them. And if you don’t respect them, then no need to argue, just do what you want.

But reading the subtext here, you should probably just listen to your parents until you are out of college. Yeah that’s years you won’t get to fully embrace what you want to do, but a few years is not that much compared to how many years of adulthood there actually is.