Israel's kibbutz system, established at the beginning of the 20th century, was originally formed to set up 'collective farming' societies. Once children became part of the structure, a unique child-care system was founded, known as collective education.
The revolutionary pedagogical ideals of this child-rearing arrangement complemented the larger ideologies of the system in that the main focus of the kibbutz was not on a family unit but on the group as a whole; families were allocated budgets and not given any economical control, and were allowed little authority over socialising and controlling their children. The kibbutz community became an extended family and replaced the nuclear family unit.
Kibbutz Caregivers
The caregivers / caretakers were the most important social influences on the children’s development since they were responsible for the socialisation of all the infants and young children. According to Spiro, caretakers fell into three groups: care-givers, kindergarten teachers, and the parents and other individuals who played some role in the children development. Melford Spiro in his book, Children of the Kibbutz, Harvard University Press, 1965, called kibbutzim caregivers "Agents of Socialisation".
Early Care of Kibbutz Infants
Child-rearing in the kibbutz was and still is not static. Kibbutz educators constantly paid attention to new theories about child-rearing development and adapted their methods accordingly.
Changes in the approach to feeding infants, for example, took place. For babies, breast-feeding was encouraged instead of the previously preferred bottle method and demand feeding became the rule over specific feeding times. The mother had to be available for the infant during the first six weeks, during which time she was not expected to work, whether she was breast feeding or not. After six weeks, the mother resumed working, part-time, until the baby was about four months of age.
Role of the Caregiver
The caregiver was available for the child in the absence of his mother and was in charge of the infant house and its inhabitants. There was usually one caregiver for every six children. She carefully followed the health of the children, washed, weighed them and liaised with the doctor. She kept notes on behaviour and also guided mothers regarding the process of feeding and taking care of the infants during the first six weeks.
Between six to nine months, the children were divided into groups of about five infants and they were assigned a more permanent caregiver who stayed with them for the following five years.
The Structure of a Typical Infant House
A typical infant house in the 1960s accommodated about 20 infants aged from one week old to about 15 months. The building consisted of two separate sections: one for those who had been weaned and one for those who had not.
Younger babies were placed in two large rooms with five to six in each room. Every infant had his own crib and toys.
The section for the infants who had been weaned also accommodated six children in a room.
Kibbutz - Contact with the Family
The kibbutz parents were not permitted to raise their children but were allowed to take their children daily for a half-hour period once the baby reached three months old.
As the children grew older, the parents met with them every day in the afternoons between 4.30 and 6.30. Once the children were returned to the children’s houses, they were fed, bathed and put to bed by a caregiver. After which, the night-carer took over until the morning. Her job was to pacify the children, comfort and reassure them. In some kibbutzim, parents were allowed to put their children to bed.
The pattern of visiting established in the early years was maintained throughout childhood. Towards the end of the kindergarten period, as the children became more involved in peer and group activities, their visits to the parents’ homes became shorter.
Changes Made in Child-Rearing
Before the 1940's medical concerns dominated the approaches of child care. Cleanliness was maintained to the point of being sterile. The major concern was to keep babies alive. After World War II and Israel’s year of independence, the concern shifted from health to the emotional needs of the mother and children. The affects of maternal deprivation and attachment theory studies of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby and psychologist Rene Spitz forced the kibbutz to re-evaluate the role of the mother and family in the children's lives, consequently:
- the feeling of parental participation was allowed to increase.
- the kibbutz became aware that children need intimacy for their emotional growth as well as space for activity
- training of caregivers became centred on developmental knowledge and emotional development.
In addition, in the '60s, care-giving began to be influenced by developmental psychologist and philosopher Jean Piaget. However, until the late 1970s, early 1980s, the kibbutz community remained a form of extended family and the nuclear family unit still did not exist within the collective system.
Read also:
Israel's Kibbutzim - Ideological or Anthropological Experiment
Israel's Kibbutz Movement - Collective Child-Care and Education
Sources:
- Bettleheim, Bruno. Children of the Dream. London: The Macmillan Co.,1969.
- Psychological Bulletin: Children of the Dream Revisited. Vol. 116, No. 1. The American Psychological Association, 1994. 99-116
- Rabin, A.I., Growing Up in the Kibbutz. New York:.Springer Publishing Co., 1965.
- Spiro, Melford E., Children of the Kibbutz. Harvard University Press, 1965.
Lesley Lanir - Freelance writer, lecturer and teacher trainer Lesley Lanir, writes on foreign language learning disorders, linguistics, and literature.
