[mxkopy]

There's this saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." I'd say

> The concept of play date

and

> expectations on parent actively playing with kids, actively teaching them or doing enriching activities are higher

are the result of the erosion of such 'villages'. As you imply the way kids hung out in the past was way more ad-hoc and unrestricted by things like travel time. I think ultimately that was because there was a mindset that people didn't have back then, namely one of perfect planning of all outcomes in regards to raising a kid. I think that too is a symptom of not having villages - how do you plan around 20 different near/family members interacting with your kid? You just kind of accepted that "grandma knows best", "auntie knows words", "Jack will be a good influence", etc.

Basically I'd agree that parents might interact more with their kids, with the caveat that it's due to a decrease in engagement overall.