ATLANTA (CNN) -- Could former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani really be an old softie?

He joked during Thursday night's Republican presidential debate that being called "soft" could help his reputation a little. And at a town hall meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, Giuliani, hands on knees, leaned down to ask children what they wanted to be when they grow up.

When one child told him a "doctor and a lawyer," Giuliani responded, "You can be dangerous" adding with a chuckle, "What do you want to do, sue the doctors or take care of the lawyers?"

Told by two other children that they wanted to be police officers and firefighters, he said, "I want to make sure you get along."

Giuliani also noted his many dreams as a child himself. "I changed what I wanted to be every other day," he said.

Asked if he ever dreamed of being president, Giuliani noted he wanted to be several things -- a doctor, a priest, a pilot and a reporter. He added that being president might have been a "little dream" in the back of his head, but he "never thought it was realistic."