What is it with the helicopter parent movement anyway? I guess I do know, it's parents who can't stand to see their kids fail because they see their children as an extension of themselves and thus their child's failure is their own failure and they don't want to be judged by their kid's failures.
I don't know if it's even all that new. I remember in 2nd grade we had to make one of those peephole boxes as a book report. I read Linnea in Monet's Garden (still one of my favorite books) and tried to make a keyhole box that depicted the scene that's on the front cover.
http://365daysuntil30.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/linnea-in-monets-garden.jpgI don't remember how it looked but heck, I drew it as any 8 year old would, I guess. Drew Linnea as best as I could, drew a bridge on paper that I cut and pasted on the bottom of the box, on which I had painted Monet's garden and the water lilies. My dad decided that wasn't good enough so he drew Linnea himself (and he was a good artist) made a little bridge and got colored cellophane to make the water. It was VERY clear that I did not do it myself and the project got an "A" but my classmates accused me of cheating and told me I didn't deserve the "A" because my dad did it for me.
And that was in the mid 80's.
When my oldest's second grade teacher told me that I could have done an assignment for him because "all the other kids had their parents do it for them" I didn't really say much but when I told dh about it later I rolled my eyes, shook my head and said "Um no, I already went through 2nd grade." I had
helped my son with his book report but I wasn't going to do it for him.