Despite reality TV and talent shows being the mainstay of kids' TV viewing, it seems that today's youngsters are actually shunning dreams of fame and celebrity in favour of more entrepreneurial aspirations.

Britain's top business people and politicians are the role models our children are looking up to, according to a new survey.

Once upon a time, little girls wanted to be ballerinas and actresses, and little boys aspired to play football for England. Today's youngsters seem to have their feet well and truly on the ground when it comes to future career choices.

And it's certainly not the likes of Wayne Rooney or Miley Cyrus who our kids are looking up to - out of 4000 youngsters surveyed in a countrywide poll, 43% named Sir Richard Branson, J K Rowling and Simon Cowell as the people whose talent they respect the most.

Richard Branson just edged it over JK Rowling in the popularity stakes, Simon Cowell will no doubt be surprised to hear there was just 0.39% of the vote between him and David Cameron. Despite this, politics as a employment choice does not prove popular, no matter how admired the PM might be, with nearly all the children polled (95%) selecting it as the least accessible career path.

And whilst us oldies might be relieved our offspring no longer aspire to be astronauts, footballers or TV stars, it might also surprise us that it is the more 'traditional' jobs like teaching or policing that are capturing our children's imaginations, seen by them as the most 'accessible' of career choices. Reality TV, often seen as the gateway to riches and notoriety, is now only seen by 0.78% of kids as the propeller to fame and fortune. In fact, it almost seems that fame has had its day, with only 2% of respondents listing it as the most important aspect when choosing a job - many of the young people surveyed (24%) said that hard work was the most important factor in people reaching the top of their profession/vocation, followed by self-belief (20%).

So where have all the wannabe Z list celebs and TV starlets gone? Just five years ago a survey by a mobile phone entertainment company revealed 63% of girls would rather be glamour models than nurses, doctors or teachers, whilst Jordan and Abi Titmuss were seen as role models by more 15 to 19-year-old girls than Harry Potter author JK Rowling or writer and academic Germaine Greer.

Have TV shows like The Apprentice and Dragons' Den perhaps made business and industry the new 'glam' career choice, or even a route to fame? Is the lure and appeal of Big Brother style celebrity status now seen as old hat or even exploitational by our media savvy, oh-so-aware young people? And in the Who I Want to Be When I Grow Up stakes, is David Cameron the new David Beckham?

What do you think?
Isn't half the fun of childhood having wild fantasies about becoming rich and famous?
Or should we be encouraging a more business like approach to career aspirations in our youngsters?