My parents (Actually my whole family) agreed that cosplay is a good hobby because
1. I can beat out my fear of interacting with people(upfront)
2. Getting over my stage fright
3. Learn to be photogenic
4. ITS BETTER THAN ME DRINKING OUTSIDE IN THE NIGHT WHILE SMOKING AND PARTYING
^---(I died laughing when they said that, I don't even smoke party or drink xD)

Well there are pro's and con's about cosplay
specifically for our country there are more con's about cosplay
especially if its being exposed differently and wrong to the media
Here they see who's the Queen or King of cosplay in our country (which became a HUGE controversy in our cosplay community we kept saying that such titles doesn't exist in cosplay, everyone is equal unless they are popular (like kaname alodia kipi etc etc)
but "Cosplay Queen of the Philippines"... really?
Some (only some) of the "well known" cosplayers here don't even interpret the characters very well =__=.
Some act too cutesy even if the character is serious while some act seductive slutty and sexy even though the character there cosplaying as isn't even like that...
see?
And other people think that cosplay is slutty
most of the post I see in some pages on facebook I kept seeing cosplayers acting slutty (even though their character isn't slutty) and some kept saying "this is why guys became nerds, the reason why they like games blah blah blah and all that shizz.
If that's how most people in my country view cosplay then I'll just quit attending conventions (I already did but my friend made me go to one on dec and that's the last one I'll attend unless the con changes my mind).