Helicopter parents keep pushing boundaries, and experts are starting to wonder if there’s ever going to be an end to the madness. In recent months, a new disastrous pattern has begun to emerge. Over protective parents, mostly concentrated in larger cities, have begun insisting on the right to watch their children lose their virginity. The controversial practice hasn’t just raised eyebrows, but legal concerns. One of the parents championing this intrusive movement, Layla Salo, claims that it’s just good parenting.

“There’s nothing indecent, unhealthy, or illegal about a parent wanting to make sure that their child’s first time is a success,” says Ms. Salo. “In a society as dangerous as ours, it’s important to make sure that our children are choosing the right partners and engaging in appropriate sexual behaviour that is neither risky nor crass. As a mother, I feel compelled to protect my son and my daughter from making sexual mistakes that can have severe repercussions on their lives. I think there’d be less unwanted pregnancies and less rape if more parents insisted on watching their kids have sex.”

Human rights lawyer Beaugard Beaubien doesn’t agree. “Frankly, I think what these overprotective parents are doing is a form of child abuse. Not only that, but it’s incredibly disgusting and invasive,” says Mr. Beaubien. “I think that we, as a society, have gone deeply off the rails if parents are not skulking about in the bedrooms of their children, watching them as they engage in sexual congress. That’s just wrong. It’s wrong and it’s disturbing and it needs to end.”

Ms. Salo disagrees. “No one can stop me from watching my children lose their virginity,” says Ms. Salo. “No one! It’s my right, my duty, and my obligation to ensure that my children lose their virginity in a healthy, appropriate manner.”