I will never forget a time back in about 1973 when I went into a used book store (I was still a poor college student then!) and bought a bunch of books for my 3 year old daughter. The clerk told me with astonishment, "I can't believe you are buying children's books...NO ONE does that! Most women come in here to buy used romance novels. Their kids are with them, but they don't buy them any books." So lazy, uninvolved parenting is apparently not new.