When We Were Young?

A friend of mine who also has a daily blog, who is infinitely better at this than I am and always seems to find interesting things to talk about, has posted a blog today about favourite childhood sweets (mine has to be Sherbert Fountains). (see Music Man on Wordpress) This got me thinking about how much simpler things were when I was a child.
This worries me, partly because my wife and I are thinking about having a family of our own. I look at kids today, seeing adverts on television for the things that kids want these days and seeing what my friends' children have. It's scary what kids want and how much these things cost. My wife is adamant that our children will not have games consoles, but I have a feeling that this may be easier said than done. From what I can gather from the people I know who already have kids, there is something to be said for giving in for a quiet life! But these consoles cost a fortune, then the games are in excess of £30 a pop! where does the money come from???
I didn't exactly go without when I was a child and I know that I never wanted for anything; but I remember that quite often the toys I wanted were left in my bedroom while I played on the street with my friends.
May be this is the thing, and this is the change; that it's not as safe to "play out" nowadays. And having said that I know that once I do have children of my own that they will probably hate me, because I know that I am going to be rather over-protective!
Thinking about this does take me back, and I have to say that my favourite toy when I was younger would have been my Tranformers Optimus Prime. I know I was well chuffed when my parents bought it for me. And I found out on one of these nostalgia shows, that that will have set them back £25, which back in 19** would have been more than it is today! So thanks Mum and Dad, I know I had a low boredom threshold, but I appreciated every penny!