Yes, absentgran "Parenting" had not been invented in the 1970s. Parents were people, not an industry to be regulated or consumers to be exploited.
Nursery places were few and far between. My daughters went to a playgroup five mornings a week, where we paid per term for quite good care - books, construction toys etc.
My son (born 1970) went to a different (also paying) one nearer the house from about 3. It seemed fine to me at the time, when left at the door he seemed happy to go, though parents did not seem all that welcome inside.
Then when he was 5 and starting school, and I was (at last) without a child in the house full-time, the owner of this playgroup contacted me, knowing that I was an ex-teacher, and said she was about to give up and did I want to take over from her and buy her equipment. I agreed and borrowed £50 for the equipment and "goodwill". This was to be my new job, keeping my hand in at what I knew I could do, and bringing in a little money.
Maybe I was green to buy sight unseen, but when I took a good look at what I had bought I was appalled. The "equipment" was ex-jumble sale rejects - bits of jigsaw lost, dolls with one leg missing, books full of scribbles, lumps of plasticine reduced to that pinky-grey stickiness, some full-size ex-kitchen tables and some strange rows of 3 joined folding chairs (also full-size) from when the hall had been used as a church. The goodwill turned out to be nil, as only one child on the "waiting list" actually existed. Maybe the others had heard that she had been warned by inspectors that she would soon be closed down.
I discovered this when I opened for business next term with myself and one assistant (must have at least two adults present) for three children. The door opened and in came two strangers, all set to close down the enterprise. They were amazed at the transformation.
I had thrown out most of the old stuff, haunted jumble sales (this was before charity shops took off) brought in my own children's toys and climbing frame, made dressing-up clothes, persuaded DH to build a sandpit and saw down the legs of the tables, scrounged child-sized chairs from a nursery that was closing down, spent money on paint and paper, clay, educational toys etc etc.
For two years I built it up, taking nothing from it for myself for my five mornings a week work. I had to pay rent for the hall, pay an assistant, pay back the £50 I had borrowed, buy supplies and more equipment as more children joined us, keep the accounts straight and organise the free milk (which had to be bought and then claimed for) By the third year we had more assistants, and a waiting list, mainly of brothers and sisters wanting to join older siblings, but also newcomers coming in by word of mouth, or sent by the same authorities who had wanted to close down.
For another three years I was able to take a very small wage after all the costs were paid, but it was very little. Then one of the mothers was looking for a similar project, and I felt I had done my bit, so I sold her the equipment with the considerable "goodwill" and waiting list that had built up, and retired.
By this time (1980) the voluntary playgroup movement was in full swing, with groups of mothers setting up playgroups and sharing the work, since nursery places were still slow in appearing. The ethos then was on non-profit-making and co-operation, which I thoroughly approved of.
However I was rather taken aback at getting criticism from someone for expecting to sell, not give away, everything I had built up, because "It does not belong to you but to the playgroup"
Heck! I was the playgroup, and I'd started in debt and worked 2 years with no pay. And the new owner gave it up after a year.