1. People had way less free time / resources to be able to watch over their kids 2. Children used to die all the time from various causes. I remember e.g. the

1. People had way less free time / resources to be able to watch over their kids 2. Children used to die all the time from various causes. I remember e.g. the case of Mozart who had just one surviving sibling and 5 who died early. I can't imagine what the parents had to go through - their first 3 children died early. You have to become desensitized to not go crazy. 2. Social status / value of children grew a lot.