Reddit mentions of Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children

I've got you on the "children not being well respected" side of things. From a socio-historical context, you have Mintz and Zelizer both arguing that historical changed to the family and industry have produced a different place for children in society. Basically, childhood was created and children are more a protected class, but largely at the cost of autonomy. I study childhood trauma and don't have anything on downplaying children's abuse, although Frones and Corsaro (part 4) talk about how the hysteria around children constantly in danger from strangers likely masks much mistreatment they actually treat, usually from people they know.

You don't think increasing wealth -> expanding consumer class -> marketing? And increasing lifespan -> longer productive life -> more wealth for family needs, thus more time to put off earning by kids? It was two sentences, pardon me for not covering every factor in the rise of childhood in explicit detail.

But there were actually a whole host of them, and not just economic ones. Here's an entire good book on the subject.