I can't play without children.

I go between creating a couple from scratch and have them start out with family right away to going with a single Sim and having them find Mr./Ms. Right (or at least Mr./Ms. Right Now :D ). In my current save my Sim is romancing Gunther Munch. I'm also working on rebuilding my template save because my last one got corrupted (it was still playable except none of the festivals were showing up) so once that's done I might go back to direct family play.

BTW, Maxis created a new version of the Pancakes with a toddler son, Iggy -- it's available on the Gallery. You won't have any of the neighbor relationships so you can build them as much as you want. I typically give makeovers to the Pancakes and other premades just to update the looks since they're mostly in base game clothes and hair.