On this week’s ‘So You Think You’re an Adult’ segment, one letter writer asked how to resolve an argument with their parents over their career.

“I’m 26 and I’ve recently decided to leave my stable office job in a big multinational firm to pursue a career in freelance writing and content creation,” they told Moncrieff.

“I’ve always had a passion for writing but my parents have always been very practical and encouraged me to go into somethings secure like finance or law.

“Now, I've finally made the leap to quit my job and follow my passion – but they’re furious.

“During our last conversation, my mother started crying and told me I was throwing my future away.

“My father became visibly angry, calling me irresponsible and accusing me of not thinking things through.

“I haven’t spoken to them since that day.

“I want to continue pursuing my dreams but I also don’t want to lose my relationship with my parents.

“How can I make amends and heal the rift while still standing firm in my decision to take this career path?”

Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-couple-having-an-argument-7876284/

Broadcaster Barbara Scully said the letter writer should let the situation with her parents cool off first before having another conversation.

“Let everything calm down for a bit, let the parents cool off,” she said.

“Then obviously you need to talk to them and you need to push back against some of this, understanding that they have her best interests at heart.

“I think all of us parents just want our kids to be happy and if you can kind of illustrate to them and explain to them that this is what is oing to make you happy in a way that the job in the multinational with the big money and the pension and the free healthcare won’t make you happy.

“I would be hopeful that she can repair the relationship, they will accept it in time.”

Find your own happiness

TV personality Declan Buckley said the letter writer should stand firm in their decision, even if it doesn’t work out.

“Without sounding like a new-age, self-help kind of person, but I was trying to find out who I was and that journey is actually the only journey in life,” he said.

“Everything else is incidental because you can have the best job in the world in societal terms and you can be desperately unhappy.

“You can also strive for the entire length of your life to be what you think your parents want you to be – and you will have a horrible time.

“Really, what your parents are trying to say is, ‘We don’t want you to make any mistakes; the kind of mistakes that we made’, and they’re allowing themselves the benefit of having made mistakes.

“But they want you to almost skip through that part of life – which is life.”

Declan said that this person’s parents might not come around to understanding their career, but the relationship will hopefully be able to continue anyways.

Listen back here:

Main image: Women quarreling at kitchen. Image: Iakov Filimonov / Alamy.