"Childhood" Innocence lost?

I was sitting at the window the other day watching the kids over the back yard bounce about on their trampoline, playing with their nintendoes etc and talking on their mobile phones and it got me reminiscing about my own childhood, the first christmas I can recall vividly I was 5 years old I had watched John Wayne in She wore a yellow ribbon a few months previous on TV, and I wanted to be a soldier, when I awoke on Christmas morning and opened my presents I was so excited to see a cavalry uniform, I couldn't wait to put it on and go out and play with my pals.

I lived in a close (six houses in one block) and we had middins out the back, Middins were brick structures where we used to put our garbage for collection, my Middin became Fort Lincoln, I stood on top with my cavalry uniform on and my mates were my troop.. ok looked a bit stupid with cavalry guy, a GI complete with rifle and a cowboy with a six shooter all under attack from one little indian, but it was fun, we never had mobile phones, our means of communication was 2 tin cans connected by a piece of string, things seemed so much more innocent then, less materialistic, we made our own fun, we played "hide'n'seek" "kick the can" and of course Football (soccer) where we used our sweaters as goalposts, Kids today wouldn't dream of using chalk to make a hopscotch board in the street, they want every expensive toy or gadget that is going, it seems to me that they have lost so much that we used to love and enjoy. money wasn't important to us, we just wanted to play and we used whatever we had to hand and our imaginations to make castles, tanks, forts, and so much more.

Perhaps I am just getting old, maybe looking at things with rose coloured spectacles, but I believe we were happier children then, there was no peer pressure to have the most expensive shoes or toys, to me and my sisters opening our presents on Christmas morning was so exciting, we always got our main gift then some little stocking fillers, some tangerines, a selection box (chocolate)  mixed nuts and an annual( comic hard back book) my favourite was the Broons or Our Wullie, my sisters always got the Bunty, Judy or Jackie, we were grateful for everything we got no matter what it cost, I wish children today were as unselfish.