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 still haven't caught up with this thread but I'm really happy to see that a lot of people are in the same page in wanting toddlers to progressively learn things and then become more independent. If toddlers come back to TS4, I truly hope EA will take this into consideration. I think it would make toddlers a lot more fun to play with, and it would give EA much more freedom and opportunities to create more content for them, things that we never had before.
Since I didn't make a list of the things I want to see (because I basically want everything people are suggesting in this thread haha), I will make one focusing on toddlers learning something and how I would like that to affect things. I will basically repeat most of the things that have been said already, but well, I think this is an important topic when it comes to toddlers so the more we talk about it and share our thoughts, the better. :)
For one, I think toddlers should have specific skills that show on the UI, so we can see the progression of those skills. They could have 5 levels, but be quicker to learn than normal adult skills.
Talking:
There should be multiple ways our tiny sims could learn this skill. Either by being taught by another sim, like we have in previous games, or by a toy, like the bunny in TS2. We could also have a toddler TV channel, where they could also learn how to talk by watching. This way, those players who don't want to have a sim teaching the toddlers (because parents are always busy or for whatever reason), can choose other ways. Options are great and it adds more fun to the game. ;)
Once they learn how to talk:
- New interactions: Talk with other toddlers/children when playing together, making it easier to develop their relationship (TS2 had this I think). Ask for things (like if they are hungry, ask for food. Super useful for when they are at home alone with a nanny or other non-controllable sim).
- New activities: Talk with toys (teddy bear!) and fulfill the social need.
Walking:
I think this skill should be the more important one. Before they learn how to walk, they should be more dependent on older sims. They would have to be carried around, up and down stairs, have help to do certain things, etc. They should first sleep on cribs. They could learn how to walk by either having another sim teaching them (like previous games), with a walker (like the one in TS3's store) or they could do it on their own (a self interaction), grabbing to chairs and other furniture, trying to get up on their own. All of those things would raise the walk skill.
Once they learn how to walk:
- Well, obviously they start walking instead of crawling. They could now sleep on toddler beds where they can climb up and down on their own (but give us some parent/toddler interactions where we can tuck them in on the bed and kiss them goodnight). They could go up and down stairs (in a toddler way of course). They could climb to couches (I really want them to interact with more objects in general. Always bugged me that we couldn't have a toddler sitting on the couch watching TV).
- New activities: Dancing. They could get up and shake their bums. :D Jump on couch/beds.
Eating:
At first, toddlers should have to be fed by another sim. This could be really cute, like if the toddler doesn't want to eat, they could refuse to open their mouth and the sim feeding them could make funny faces and sounds to try to make them eat.
Once they learn how to eat on their own:
- There should be another option for a highchair that snaps into tables, or maybe just a booster seat like this that you can apply to any dining chair, so toddlers can eat on their own at the table along with the rest of the family.
- Toddlers start playing with food, maybe throwing something across the table.
Then there's the potty of course, but I don't see how that could be different from past games. There's a potty, your sim takes the toddler to it, after a while they learn how to do it on their own. I also want skills like logic, social, music and painting. Once they complete those, they will have a boost to those skills when growing up.
Since I didn't make a list of the things I want to see (because I basically want everything people are suggesting in this thread haha), I will make one focusing on toddlers learning something and how I would like that to affect things. I will basically repeat most of the things that have been said already, but well, I think this is an important topic when it comes to toddlers so the more we talk about it and share our thoughts, the better. :)
For one, I think toddlers should have specific skills that show on the UI, so we can see the progression of those skills. They could have 5 levels, but be quicker to learn than normal adult skills.
Talking:
There should be multiple ways our tiny sims could learn this skill. Either by being taught by another sim, like we have in previous games, or by a toy, like the bunny in TS2. We could also have a toddler TV channel, where they could also learn how to talk by watching. This way, those players who don't want to have a sim teaching the toddlers (because parents are always busy or for whatever reason), can choose other ways. Options are great and it adds more fun to the game. ;)
Once they learn how to talk:
- New interactions: Talk with other toddlers/children when playing together, making it easier to develop their relationship (TS2 had this I think). Ask for things (like if they are hungry, ask for food. Super useful for when they are at home alone with a nanny or other non-controllable sim).
- New activities: Talk with toys (teddy bear!) and fulfill the social need.
Walking:
I think this skill should be the more important one. Before they learn how to walk, they should be more dependent on older sims. They would have to be carried around, up and down stairs, have help to do certain things, etc. They should first sleep on cribs. They could learn how to walk by either having another sim teaching them (like previous games), with a walker (like the one in TS3's store) or they could do it on their own (a self interaction), grabbing to chairs and other furniture, trying to get up on their own. All of those things would raise the walk skill.
Once they learn how to walk:
- Well, obviously they start walking instead of crawling. They could now sleep on toddler beds where they can climb up and down on their own (but give us some parent/toddler interactions where we can tuck them in on the bed and kiss them goodnight). They could go up and down stairs (in a toddler way of course). They could climb to couches (I really want them to interact with more objects in general. Always bugged me that we couldn't have a toddler sitting on the couch watching TV).
- New activities: Dancing. They could get up and shake their bums. :D Jump on couch/beds.
Eating:
At first, toddlers should have to be fed by another sim. This could be really cute, like if the toddler doesn't want to eat, they could refuse to open their mouth and the sim feeding them could make funny faces and sounds to try to make them eat.
Once they learn how to eat on their own:
- There should be another option for a highchair that snaps into tables, or maybe just a booster seat like this that you can apply to any dining chair, so toddlers can eat on their own at the table along with the rest of the family.
- Toddlers start playing with food, maybe throwing something across the table.
Then there's the potty of course, but I don't see how that could be different from past games. There's a potty, your sim takes the toddler to it, after a while they learn how to do it on their own. I also want skills like logic, social, music and painting. Once they complete those, they will have a boost to those skills when growing up.
