I think this is a generational fault line that's pretty common even in good relationships. Older generations could get by making way less pragmatic choices. Many of the older generation graduated into an economy where the default state was almost full employment. Long term unemployment, or being stuck in a dead-end job, was for losers. So even nice parents often look at their kids and think their kids are losers or doing something wrong because everybody they grew up with who had the kind of problems their kids have were really dysfunctional people.