But raising a child on Harvard’s campus also comes with its difficulties.

“You are trying to wrangle a baby up and down the steps, and there are tourists taking pictures of you,” Sky says of juggling a six-month-old and groceries from their car parked several blocks away from the yard.

‘PART OF THE TEAM’

For their part, many freshmen say they enjoy the presence of a young child in their entryway because it helps them to put their problems into perspective.

Robert E. Powers ’14, who lives in Page and Molyneaux’s entryway, says challenging Nora to clean her plate before him in Annenberg Hall for example provides “a good break” from college life.

“It doesn’t seem like a lot on the surface, but when you’re living such a hectic lifestyle like we are in college, little things like that just brighten up your day,” Powers says.

Stephen L. Kent ’14, another student in the same entryway, agreed. Kent says when he comes back exhausted from a long marching band concert, seeing Nora cheers him up.

“She’ll see me in my band uniform, and she’ll just smile. That’ll make it all worth it,” he says.

Many proctors’ children quickly become important members of their dorm community.

Elizabeth C. Spira ’11, a Peer Advising Fellow in Sky and Geoff’s entryway, stressed how well-integrated the proctors’ son Harlan is in Grays.

“All the e-mails are signed Sky, Geoff and Harlan. He’s part of the team,” she says.

For the annual Freshman Pumpkin Carving Contest, their entryway emptied a pumpkin and carved two holes on the sides. They then had 6-month-old Harlan wear it.

“We called it ‘pumpkin couture,’” Geoff says, laughing.

Looking back at his time at Harvard as a small child, George W. Stubbs ’11, who lived in Greenough for the first three years of his life, says interacting with undergraduates as a young child has had a profound effect on his life.

“My theory is that it socializes you very well,” Stubbs says, adding he thinks he is more social and open to talking to people because he was raised on campus.