Incidentally, I know kids who are completely left alone academically by parents starting very early, but I know of one distinguished academic and his wife who helped with his daughter’s papers through college – I suspect they did for their son as well, but I didn’t hear about that. Incidentally, sometimes the kids who are left alone show signs (at least from my outside observer’s point of view) of lacking guidance later on (e.g., when picking majors, jobs, etc.).