Lifespan

I play on Long, but generally age up infants within a day (just long enough to bond a bit with the parents because that's the best way to start with a high relationship with kids), age up toddlers as soon as they max all their skills, age up children once they've completed the 4 childhood aspirations and have made a fairly good dent in character values, and age up teens once they've at least reached an A in high school and are in the green for the character values. Once they're young adult, I generally let them go through the full long-lifespan lives, only aging them up when they actually hit their "birthday." I like the long lifespan because it allows me to have an easier university schedule (2-3 classes a term), and get greater use out of festivals and seasons (each season is 2 weeks, so each festival occurs once per season). If I start getting bored, I'll toss something else at them: a new skill to master or aspiration to work on, send them on vacation, or go ahead and have them procreate so I can start over again with their kids and mostly leave the adults to their own devices.