Students should stop taking parents to university open days as it fuels the safe-spaces culture among the ‘snowflake’ generation, the head of a leading private school has said.

Jane Lunnon, headmistress of Wimbledon High School, also said that by over-protecting children, parents are making teenagers ‘less confident’ and crippling their ability to deal with adulthood.

Her comments emerged as a new book revealed the different types of over-protective parents – including the ‘pink helicopters’, those who invest money helping their daughters’ find a suitable bachelor.

Thousands of A-level students are set to find their exam results next week as they get ready for university life for the first time in their lives.