Good Hummans

At Pepitas, we believe one of the best things we can do for children is keep growing ourselves. This year, that growth ith is a whole community effort.

Thanks to a generous donation from Third Place Books, every teacher and caregiver at Pepitas has a copy of Raising Good Humans by Hunter Clarke-Fields, and we're reading it together all year bit-by-bit. It's a book about what happens inside the adults in children's lives and how our reactions, patterns, and self-awareness shape the children we're raising and teaching.

It fits right alongside what we already believe as a congregation: that every child is made in God's image, worthy of belonging and deep respect.

Across 50 short chapters, the book gives our community practical tools to live that belief more fully, treating hard moments as invitations to get curious rather than occasions for punishment, and trusting that connection is the foundation everything else is built on.

We're starting with Chapter 1: "Choosing Presence Over the Automatic Reaction," Clarke-Fields' case for why good intentions alone don't hold up in a hard moment. When stress takes over, the reactive part of the brain crowds out the part that can pause, listen, and choose a response, which is exactly why "quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry" (James 1:19) is easier to affirm than to live. Picture a teacher watching two four year olds fight over the same toy for the third time that morning. The old pattern says raise your voice and take the toy away. Presence looks like one breath first, then kneeling down and asking each child what they need. Her claim, backed by research, is that this pause can be practiced and strengthened over time, which is a hopeful word for anyone doing this work, staff and parents alike. It's also the ground our own framework stands on: children can only feel safe, loved, and capable when the adults around them are steady enough to offer it. Our calm has to come first.

You don't need a child in the building to put this into practice.

The same pause applies at a stalled out committee meeting, a tense conversation with an aging parent, a moment of road rage, or a disagreement with a spouse: anywhere the automatic reaction usually wins.

This month, try noticing just one moment before you react. One breath, one beat, before you speak. That's the whole practice to start.

In love and play,

Melissa