The parents were very disapproving because their family was considered to be of high society, and it was incomprehensible to her relatives that a child of such a family would take up what was then considered to be a lowly profession. And this occupation is also very hard, to labor in the dirty environment. All of this is incomprehensible to her parents, and even to the point of breaking up, and then her parents because of the daughter's firm attitude and made concessions, and then so on.
PS: It seems to be that I have read the biography for about three years now, so I should be right! I'm not so sure about the later ones.