When it comes to spending time with family or making money, the choice is clear for nine-year-old Daryl Woo .

'Family is first for me. Money is fifth,' he said, adding that his cousins occupied the second to fourth places.

His answer is typical of Singapore tweens. A study showed that family comes first for nearly nine in 10 Singapore tweens aged seven to 14.

The survey, released on Monday, was conducted by employment-services firm Adecco last December.

As for why family comes before money, responses of the 60 tweens interviewed include how 'money can't buy time with my family'.

A similar survey by Adecco in 2003 showed that eight in 10 Singapore children placed family above money.

Adecco South-east Asia's regional director Lynne Ng was encouraged by the results of both surveys.

'This, to me, is a reminder of the increasing need for work-life balance,' she said.

Many tweens in the latest survey said their parents were working longer hours, compared to previous years.

Consultant psychiatrist Ken Ung from Adam Road Medical Centre told my paper that past research showed that fundamental feelings of being loved by the family 'are better correlated with happiness than money is'.

Said Dr Ung: 'When children reach a certain age, they realise that having money is not a passport to happiness.

'They could have been influenced by family values taught in school and at home, and in media campaigns promoting healthy family relationships.'

» $24m or $200: No job is too big or small for tweens

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