"When I was in high school it suddenly became cool to know kids in college, and I became a connection to Harvard parties," says Christina Kiely.

Others make friends in a more genteel manner.

"I made friends through teas. Parties were a family affair, and the students were cool about talking to us when we were little," Gregory N. Bossert says. "A lot of tutors became friends of the family." Even though Bossert is 27 years old, he says he still goes out with his Lowell House friends when they come to down.

The newest addition to the family of Harvard kids, 16-year-old Erika E. Liem--whose father became Dunster House master in July--says that talking to students in the house dining hall is interesting. "I know a lot of faces, and I'm sure by the end of the year I'll know everyone in the house."

And even though the Dudley House master and his family live in a private home in Belmont, Master Paul D. Hanson says his sons have made "deep friends" in the house.

'Few Friends My Own Age'

But although growing up in a house can give kids the opportunity to make old friends, some parents and children say it can also cut them off from their peers.

"My older children missed Newton, where every house had children, and there was a park, and they could always go out and kick a ball around with a group of friends," says Jana Kiely. She says she found it difficult to move from a neighborly suburban environment to an area where she and other parents had to arrange getting their children together.

"There were lots of kids my own age at my old house, but here I only have a few friends my age," Antonia Nagy says.

"We were at first unsure about becoming masters because we didn't want to be in Harvard Square with children," says Mary Lee Bossert, co-master of Lowell House. "The kids stayed in the Belmont school system, and it turned out that their friends really liked to come here."

And while house masters may not have to call their kids in from the neighborhood kickball game to come have dinner with the family, masters and kids both say that living at the College can impinge on the nuclear family unit.

"It definitely changes what a family is like," says Karen Hastings, who spent her high school years at North House and now designs glass art in Santa Fe, N.M. "I think I felt sometimes that there wasn't as much time spent as a family."

She added that family dinner discussions often revolve around North House issues.

"My parents are away more than they were before because they have to go to things in the evenings," Nathaniel Hanson says.

Conversely, other masters says that living among so many caring people extends the traditional family.