I usually have long life span enabled and then age up when I feel it's time. Newborns and infants I age very quickly because I don't really enjoy that life stage in the game. Toddlers get 3 to 4 Sim weeks. Children and Teens I usually age one Sim week after they achieve an A grade in school. If the Young Adults in the household are the parents of the Teens, I age them to adults when the children become Teens. Adults become Elders when the Teen children become Young Adults, but not immediately. Usually 1-2 Sim weeks after. At that point I will usually turn aging down to normal so that the Elders can pass when the time comes. Then I put aging back to long life span.
That sounds very structured and like you put a lot of thought into it 😀 I tend to age up newborns and infants very quickly, too, because I find them annoying. Toddlers get as long as it takes them to max out their skills, same with children. I think I really need more structure with this, right now, it's rather chaotic and more like "Hmm, maybe this Sim needs to age up now" than an actual plan.
