Part of the equation your are referring to, also, was the genuine need to have children when we were more dependent on small farms. 150 years ago a son could be an asset in a completely practical economic and logistical sense by the age of 10 or 12, to a degree that even the most perfect kid couldn’t be now. Not to mention that with the infant mortality rate many parents needed to have 5 kids so that 2 or 3 made it to adulthood.
Yes, exactly so!