My parents never meant to be "horrible." And I'm giving the wrong impression if that's how they sound. They mostly just didn't "get it."
My Mom would've been perfectly happy for me to come home and work in the factory she retired from after 47 years.
That's the good thing about my parents... they always figured out when they didn't "get" me. Well, Mom did anyway. Dad and I are on the same wavelength. Mom always wanted us girls to get done with high school and then do something nice and old-fashioned, like volunteering at a hospital, before getting married. But when I figured out I wanted to be a computer programmer, she went along with that. Even if she didn't understand it.
My sisters have it much easier, since once Mom got over her knee-jerk "college is too vile and worldly for you girls" thing with me, she is a lot less worried with them. By the time the bothers start leaving, she'll be handing them their suitcases on the way out the door and saying "See you at graduation".