One in five parents would rather children earn good wage than be kind or honest

Engineering found to be is the most attractive career choice for polled parents

More than a fifth of parents would rather their child earned a decent wage as an adult than grew up to be kind or honest, according to a new poll.

The survey of 2,000 parents in the UK found one in 20 want success for their children above happiness and one sixth already had a career in mind for their child, with 25 percent admitting to deliberately talking about those jobs more than others.

More than half of respondents were also proactive in encouraging their children to take certain subjects at school, in a bid to lead them towards their career of choice.

However, mothers and fathers often have different ideas about what constitutes a desirable career for their children.

Mothers were more likely to want their children to progress along the path of engineering and manufacturing – 27 percent compared to 21 percent of dads.

Meanwhile a third of fathers are keen for their sons or daughters to go into computing or coding, compared to just 13 percent of mums.

“Obviously, most parents wish for their children to be happy," said a spokesman for Siemens, which carried out the research. “But our results found happiness can be found in different ways – with some feeling that money can buy that happiness.

“What is interesting is that the favoured career choice above all others for mums was engineering and manufacturing, which is encouraging as those entering STEM subjects are our future makers. And dads also recognise that it is important for both girls and boys to embrace technology at school and in years to come.”

Fathers also appeared to favour careers in business or management, teaching and accountancy, while none of the mothers surveyed wanted to see their children enter a profession in sales.

Dads were slightly more likely than mums to rate academic achievement and career success as crucial to their children’s future happiness and were also more likely to try and have their children complete work experience at companies which take their interest.

It also emerged that while fathers were more likely to encourage their child to take certain subjects at school, mothers are usually the ones to push children into after-school clubs or language lessons.

While engineering topped the poll for parents’ most favoured careers - and when questioned further 46 percent of parents said they would be happy for their children to pursue the profession that 13 percent of fathers are worried it doesn’t pay well.

Fifteen percent of the mother's surveyed were also concerned that it is currently too much of a male-dominated industry.

SWNS