Last kibbutz children’s house closes

JERUSALEM, June 15 (JTA) — One of the last traditions of kibbutz living, the children’s house, is now a thing of the past. The era ended over the weekend, when the 80 children at Kibbutz Baram in the lower Galilee moved into their parents’ homes. Among Israel’s kibbutzim, Baram was the last holdout to the principle of children’s houses, where boys and girls of the same age group lived together, visiting their parents during the day. After a stormy debate, the decision to do away with the children’s houses was made more than a year ago. But kibbutz members said time was needed to expand the parents’ homes to make room for their children, adding that a delay was also necessary to enable residents to adapt to the change in lifestyle.