IT'S A question that's the subject of speculation: Who will be the next Prime Minister of Singapore?

A leading HR firm recently did a tongue-in-cheek take on the burning issue, asking 60 kids between the ages of 7 and 14 what they would do if they found themselves in the hot seat one day.

The answers gathered by Adecco, a Fortune Global 500 company, ranged from the amusing to the thought-provoking.

Adecco conducted the informal survey last month, sending out a short questionnaire to the children of its employees and clients.

In the survey, the children were also asked how they would, as adults, maintain a work-life balance.

'There's a lot of discussion right now about careers and jobs, so we were hoping this survey would provide an entertaining read and some food for thought,' said Ms Glennis Chan, 31, Adecco's director of sales and marketing.

The answer was clear for nearly nine out of 10 of the respondents: Family comes first.

Common responses included 'money can't buy time with my family', 'I love my family more than money' and 'family can last you a lifetime'.

The children's answers come at a time when more children may be seeing their parents work longer hours than before amid the recession.

'It's a heart-warming response,' said Ms Chan. 'We tend to think that because children are better off these days, they would be sucked into a materialistic lifestyle. But our survey shows that this isn't true.'

Ambitions was another topic of the survey.

The usual career choices - doctor, lawyer, teacher and policeman - topped the list of what they want to be as adults.

One child, who said he wants to be a doctor so that he can 'help treat people', said he expects a monthly salary of $200.

Another, who hopes to become a pathologist as he is 'interested in dinosaurs', expressed a nagging worry. He hopes he will earn enough to 'buy computer games'.

This article was first published in The New Paper on 7 Jan 2009.