Has anyone played as a kid or teen onward?

I started as a single teen once. Pretended she was a run-away and she entirely skipped school (I ignored school completely). This was back before, seasons or gardening revamps or the missing school penalties, but I wanted to make her a farmer since she couldn't have a traditional job -and living off the land seemed fitting for a runaway to me. So, I tried it. It was really, really hard. She was dirt poor for the longest time, living in terrible poverty and was absolutely miserable. She made calls to the "sadness hotline" as a daily part of her schedule. :fearful:

But, eventually, she managed to scrounge up enough cash to buy a business lot. And owning the store was a lot less stressful for her than keeping up a farm. That's when I also found that I, personally, hate running businesses in-game, but I didn't have the heart to send her back to her former life; so I stopped playing the household and let her live out the rest of her years happily without my interference.

Since Seasons and the gardening revamp I have tried running a farm again (with a YA!) and it runs so much smoother now. You can actually make a profit, and skills you learn help make the workload easier. I really, really like that new farm. Like I'm in love with it. But my first poor farmer was a very, very unfortunate soul.