The biggest problem of growing up in a commune style arrangement, from myself-as-a-kid perspective, is discipline. My mother tried to solve this problem by saying "If any adult tells you to do or not do something, you listen. If you do not listen, then I will hand you an appropriate punishment when I hear about it." Appropriate punishment usually meant grounding or extra chores.

The trouble with this method was the other adults. I remember someone telling me to 'get your feet off the table', a behavior my mother didn't give a damn about. There were other instances where people shoved socialization policy down our throats instead of safety rules. When we kids didn't put up with that, it started a whole flap about who and what and why people were disciplining who's kids. They tried to change the rules, only allowing certain adults to discipline the kids. Not long after that, one of my "cousins" was running with a wheel barrow, and some adult told her to stop. As she turned around to lip off and say she didn't have to, the wheel hit a bump and conked her. She got seriously hurt.

Kid's don't respond well to the "do as ye Will" philosophy. They need much more guidance than that, but the don't need societal hangups shoved down their throats either. I would recommend that before you park a kid amongst any unrelated adults, you should lay down the guidelines for discipline well in advance.