Ideas at a Glance for Toddlers
So as an aside from the family play thread chat I wanted to offer people a place to suggest their ideas for a perfect scenarios for toddlers in TS4 in a bite size format as suggested by a couple of us...
Forum Discussion
I haven't read through the whole post, yet, but I wanted to get my toddler desires down before they're over influenced by everyone else's.
I want toddlers to learn more than basic skills. I want them to learn from the type of family they have, from the way they are treated or neglected, and from the way they interact with their environment.
I'd like for all toddlers to be curious. They naturally want to get into things, climb on things, throw things, hit things, etc. I'd like for parents and siblings to have the option to scold or praise their behavior. Or ignore it. Child aged siblings could use these interactions to torment the toddler or be a great sibling. This should be like training pets in previous games. They get a little meter that they won't make messes and will put away toys, they will not play in the toilet or garbage, they won't jump on the couch, they won't throw things, hit other sims, bite, etc. Or, you could encourage the bad behaviors and that's all the stuff they will do. ---while we're at it, can we have a system like this for children and teens, too?
I want toddlers to be highly emotional. Toddlers only really know four basic emotions. Happy, sad, angry, and afraid. They throw tantrums when they can't understand what they are feeling. I'd like an interaction to calm a toddler, maybe a time-out chair, where they can sit and reflect. Then a parent or sibling could come and hug them or yell and it would either teach the toddler about secondary emotions like content, fury, anxious, love, etc. And with that, players will get access to different types of interactions. When toddlers learn love, they never stop saying it. They always want to kiss and hug. When they learn fear they start having nightmares. When they learn anxiety, they don't ever want their parents to leave. And from there, maybe we could influence the tot to be more independent.
I also want more interactable objects. Just like others have mentioned, I want to teach my tot to swim, I want them to have a kiddie pool for smaller houses, I want them to have tricycles, rocking horses, sandboxes, and lots of learning toys. They should have toys to teach them to walk (push carts, walkers) and talk (singing toys, alphabet toys), which would give them social and motor skills, which would carry over into childhood. Then lots of creativity toys and mechanical toys for mental skill (blocks, legos, construction trucks that could dig in the sandbox). Toddlers should grow in abilities. When they gain more skills, they should be able to do a lot more on their own. Toddlers who can walk should be able to get in and out of bed on their own (yes to toddler beds!). They should be able to use regular chairs at the table. They should be able to sit on the couch and watch TV. They should learn to turn the TV on themselves. They should be able to pull a bottle or sippy cup out of the fridge. They should be able to go up and down stairs on their own.
And of course, I want more interactions with family. Parents should be able to carry their toddler while doing just about anything. Including laying in bed/sleeping and taking a shower together. Or falling asleep on the couch together.
And most importantly, we need a camera setting for the in-game cameras to allow us to be able to take pictures as a family or with different ages. I want to be able to take pictures of my toddlers, children, and teens together.
I want toddlers to learn more than basic skills. I want them to learn from the type of family they have, from the way they are treated or neglected, and from the way they interact with their environment.
I'd like for all toddlers to be curious. They naturally want to get into things, climb on things, throw things, hit things, etc. I'd like for parents and siblings to have the option to scold or praise their behavior. Or ignore it. Child aged siblings could use these interactions to torment the toddler or be a great sibling. This should be like training pets in previous games. They get a little meter that they won't make messes and will put away toys, they will not play in the toilet or garbage, they won't jump on the couch, they won't throw things, hit other sims, bite, etc. Or, you could encourage the bad behaviors and that's all the stuff they will do. ---while we're at it, can we have a system like this for children and teens, too?
I want toddlers to be highly emotional. Toddlers only really know four basic emotions. Happy, sad, angry, and afraid. They throw tantrums when they can't understand what they are feeling. I'd like an interaction to calm a toddler, maybe a time-out chair, where they can sit and reflect. Then a parent or sibling could come and hug them or yell and it would either teach the toddler about secondary emotions like content, fury, anxious, love, etc. And with that, players will get access to different types of interactions. When toddlers learn love, they never stop saying it. They always want to kiss and hug. When they learn fear they start having nightmares. When they learn anxiety, they don't ever want their parents to leave. And from there, maybe we could influence the tot to be more independent.
I also want more interactable objects. Just like others have mentioned, I want to teach my tot to swim, I want them to have a kiddie pool for smaller houses, I want them to have tricycles, rocking horses, sandboxes, and lots of learning toys. They should have toys to teach them to walk (push carts, walkers) and talk (singing toys, alphabet toys), which would give them social and motor skills, which would carry over into childhood. Then lots of creativity toys and mechanical toys for mental skill (blocks, legos, construction trucks that could dig in the sandbox). Toddlers should grow in abilities. When they gain more skills, they should be able to do a lot more on their own. Toddlers who can walk should be able to get in and out of bed on their own (yes to toddler beds!). They should be able to use regular chairs at the table. They should be able to sit on the couch and watch TV. They should learn to turn the TV on themselves. They should be able to pull a bottle or sippy cup out of the fridge. They should be able to go up and down stairs on their own.
And of course, I want more interactions with family. Parents should be able to carry their toddler while doing just about anything. Including laying in bed/sleeping and taking a shower together. Or falling asleep on the couch together.
And most importantly, we need a camera setting for the in-game cameras to allow us to be able to take pictures as a family or with different ages. I want to be able to take pictures of my toddlers, children, and teens together.
