My daughter wants to study art, but I want her to do engineering. What do I do?

I get some version of this question every week. A parent has one idea of what success looks like, and their child is quietly building a different one.

Here's what I'd ask first. Is the worry really about art versus engineering, or is it about safety? Most of the time, it's safety. Engineering feels like a known path. Art feels like a risk.

But the world has changed more than the worry has. There are real, well-paying, stable careers in design, animation, UX, and creative technology today that didn't exist when we were making these choices ourselves.

Before deciding anything, spend a month actually learning what she means by "art." Is it fine art, design, illustration, something else? Look at where that specific path actually leads. Not where art led in 1995. Where it leads now.

And ask her one more thing. Not "what do you want to do," but "what have you already been doing, without anyone asking you to?" That answer usually tells you more than any argument will.