Children Can Make A Difference and Help Their Community – Case In Point – The Llama Mama Saga

Jennifer Lund is one determined woman. For twelve years she has dreamed of having llamas on her property in Warrenville, Illinois. Jennifer is a skilled knit and fiber artist with no pets at home. Having llamas seemed an imaginative and creative way to combine her passions of obtaining their special wool for use in her hobby, and of course, loving and caring for a unique pet.

When she was finally able to prepare her property and go for the impossible dream of owning these pets, she came up against a lot of restrictions from the City of Warrenville. Livestock was limited in the city to horses. Llamas are not horses. Both the planning commission and city council had to get involved in determining how to rezone property within the city. It took over an entire year and countless meetings to finally bring the llamas to Warrenville.

My eight year old daughter, who had never been exposed to government procedure before, wanted to help. She believed in Jennifer’s dream of having llamas because my daughter knows the joy of having pets and wanted Jennifer to have that happiness too. She also wanted to see the llamas and care for the llamas with Jennifer and was curious if the city would really pass the rules to let her have them.

Although she was unable to attend EVERY city council meeting – there were many over this issue – my eight year old went to several of them. Not because I told her to go, but because she wanted to and felt it was the right thing to do.

She did research on llamas to understand more about them, she made signs (see above photo), she showed up to city council meetings after her bedtime when there were all adults and no children to support the llamas. In the process, my little girl was able to understand how the government works better. That running to the forefront of a cause and demanding change without due process is not fair to the rest of the community. When you want something improved in your neighborhood, you need to go the proper route to do it. This applies to so many things in life that I felt it was an important life lesson for her to understand.

Most importantly, she learned to give emotional support to a wonderful member of our community who truly wanted and deserved something special. She barely knew Jennifer Lund when this all started, but now she knows someone else in our suburban community who is caring and supportive – she made a new friend.

Happily my girl was there on September 8, 2009 at 8:30 PM (past her bedtime), to congratulate Jennifer as the City Council passed the motion to allow llamas in the City of Warrenville. She was the only child in the room, but she sat quietly while all the other motions were agreed upon first so she could be there at Jennifer’s special moment. Above you see the photo from that evening of former Mayor Vivian Lund, my daughter, Jennifer Lund (future llama mama), and current Mayor David Brummel smiling over Jennifer’s victory. Congratulations Jennifer!

We should all be teaching our children that supporting our friends in the community and helping each other is important. We are in difficult times when having our community around us means more than ever.

It is true that society is more isolated in many ways than it ever was. Therefore, now is the time to encourage your children get out and make a difference in the community because they need to be less isolated and more connected with the world to be emotionally healthy.

Make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Comments

[Shawna Coronado]

Thanks for all of your support! I will tell her you are cheering her on - it's been awesome to see her mind expand as she discovers how she's connected to the rest of the world. We should all be involving our children so they understand how their world works better.

Shawna

[Nothing profound]

Kudos to your daughter! She not only did a good deed but she made a good friend in the bargain.

[Tim]

That is a great story with a tremendous ending. What a great thing to develop in your child and proof that sometimes democracy still does work. Children having an impact on the political process while helping a near stranger but focused on a cause. Way to go.

[Darcy Daniels - Bloomtown]

Great story - thanks for posting! Your daughter sounds like a firecracker. :-)