Being the fourth of 5 children with the last being the only girl, you can imagine that my parents didn't necessarily invest a great deal of time into my personal development.
I don't think, the trend was not like it is today at that time. When we were kids, our parent did not have this feeling to invest time on us, because that was not the culture. And I am sure, we even did not feel like they should invest time on us as well. Because, we had our own ways of playing with other kids, and never troubled them.
Over time, the culture has changed, because now we see families which are mostly core and self contained. All our kids have now is TV or Laptop or a cell phone, and they get bored soon of these.
What I mean by the invest is the skill development area. No one ever checked to see if my homework was done (it wasn't) or even if I was home. My mother taught me to read though and that served me well a then I could source my own information.
Kids these days need to be bored more so they can explore their creativity.
But don't you think, that taught you one very good thing, you were becoming self sufficient. I am not saying, they should not have invested time. All I am saying is that, it was the case for almost all of us in that time. Even for me, my father probably never asked what I was doing, till I completed my 10th :) It was Mom who did as much as she could.