"Let your family know that this is something you need to do for the good of your future and theirs... that you respect their opinion and if they are not willing to accept at this stage you will not hold it against them"

^ Nope. I agree that you should be civil and respectful, but don't tell your parents you respect their opinion when a) you don't and b) their opinions are not respectable. Telling them that you respect their opinion is feeding into the idea that they could be right, which they aren't.