I think the information age has a lot to do with (what we perceive as, anyway!) much improved parenting these days. Anyone with even the vaguest slightest interest in any aspect of their kids can find this forum or thousands like it and get all the advice, debate, theory, encouragement or criticism they could ever need and then some.
Yesterday alone we googled the appropriateness of Great Expectations for DD8 who really wants to get into Dickens (maybe we'll start with Xmas Carol), how a Magic 8 Ball works, and double-checked something about the curriculum of a nearby private school. This morning we downloaded an article from The Atlantic for her. In the 70s - pffft. You'd get Dr Spock out of the library and that would be it. The only self-improvement book I ever remember my mother having was Phyllis Diller!
Very true - I know my mum did HER best. BTW I turned out brilliant - just not employed brilliantly.
