purpose? monkeys!

Every month, my younger kids' school has a special day set aside when they discuss a specific character trait. Then the kids are supposed to come home and discuss the trait with their families that night.

Yesterday E. came home and announced that we all needed to sit down and discuss "purpose" together. We tried at supper but no one seemed to get into the groove. So I decided E and I could talk about it, just the two of us, after supper.

The discussion went like this:

Me: So E., I think the best way to figure out your purpose is to start out by envisioning how you would like the world to look. How would an E-designed world look?

E.: (Without skipping beat and in complete seriousness) It would be full of monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys.

Me: Okaaaaay, but would people have enough to eat? Would there still be wars?

E.: The monkeys would all play soccer.

Me: But leaving the monkeys aside for a minute, would people be nicer to each other?

E.: The monkeys would all know how to cut up their own food with sharp knives. They wouldn't need any help from humans.

And so it went.

No meaningful discussion of "purpose" took place.