Response to Review of
The Significance of Children and Animals: Social Development and Our Connections to Other Species
Gene Myers
Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington University
Citation: Myers, Gene. (2007). "Response to Review of The Significance of Children and Animals: Social Development and Our Connections to Other Species ." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (4). Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/
I appreciate the reviewer's recognition of the broad and continuing importance of this book. Insights about human development and the human-animal relationship are hidden in plain sight before us when we see children interact with animals. Our biases and human-centric theories, however, have kept us purblind. It took some extended sleuthing to reveal the psycho-social significance of what can be observed everyday. The reviewer is correct that this research field is growing; after the book's first publishing I heard from many people interested in various aspects of children and animals. But there is much more to be studied and followed up on. I hope that other researchers will build on and further test the framework in my book, as Leslie Irvine (If You Tame Me, Temple Univ. Press 2004), Sarah Bexell (as mentioned by the reviewer), and others have done. Extending this line of research into humane education and into animal-centered conservation work are urgent priorities. It is most gratifying to see one's work make a difference, as this did in informing the design of the Brookfield Zoo's award-winning Hammil Family Play Zoo, and other settings. I hope that the updated edition of my book will find its way into the hands of teachers, parents, psychologists, conservationists, and people who work in settings with animals and people everywhere.
Gene Myers teaches conservation psychology, environmental education and human ecology at Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University, and does research on socio-moral development and connection to animals and nature.