Observations as a Toddler to a Teen
My first teen is about to take the brave step into young adulthood, and to her I say, "congratulations, now get a job!" This experience has left me with some thoughts I'd like to share with all of you.
Pregnancy: Why is morning sickness an option? It would be nice to have a choice to discover the gender and number of children in order to prepare.
Infancy: If sleeping, eating, and pooping were tied to aspirations, they'd have them all in the bag. This stage isn't long enough to cause you to regret your choice, and while I did feel it was missing some things, I'm really not sure it was missing anything I wanted. It felt, like pregnancy, to be just long enough to remember without being overbearing or overshadowing. Some transportation options would have been nice for my single parent.
Toddler: While I haven't experienced this without Parenthood, I had a blast. The next time I'm going to have two, just to see them both using the massive playground equipment I spent a fortune on that took up the entirety of my yard. Got to get your money's worth, right? I mean, it's not like they are going to remember it. Still, a few things would have made this more enjoyable.
An easier method of setting up play dates with other toddlers would be nice, as it is now your parent must already know other sims with toddlers, and for a new sim (especially a single parent) this is hard to come by if you jumped right into parenthood. A small park you can take your toddler to that has all the other toddlers (with at least one parent) would be great to help networking. Nothing fancy, just a place with a few pieces of playground equipment. This would also be nice for those without the money or room for those pieces. You could make it a bonus for owning Toddler Stuff, which would also help in making that expansion more popular.
Child: This, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of the experience. As soon as mine became a teenager, I wanted another (actually two). Still, there's room for improvement and, as usual, I'm here to give my two cents.
Forts. Where are they? We are fortless. We have been unforted. We are without fort. We need a couch that they can turn into a fort. Why? Because we all did that, and some of us might still do. In fact, I kinda want to do that now. While this would be cute and fun to watch, do you know what they really need in the way of forts? Tree forts! No self respecting club of children is complete without a tree fort. I don't know, maybe I'm missing it or don't have the expansion, but a club without a fort is like...well, it's lame. No kid wants to be part of the "let's hang out in my room" club. While you could just buy one of those fancy forts, you also should be able to build a rickety-looking one that will worry your mother. Forts on the ground would be nice too, but I guess you could just build one of those, the same with a tree fort, but it wouldn't look the same. Some new building skins would fix this, but we'd also need ladders, rope (to climb and for tire swings), and a bucket/pulley rig to allow in pets. I guess we could just use stairs. Yes, yes, we could just build forts, but it just wouldn't be as cool.
Scouts: Loved this option, and while it's great that the requirements are more difficult as a teen, there really needs to be another bonus trait (or make the original one better) for completing all as both a child and teen. Otherwise your child could get them all and get bored once they become a teen (as mine did). Think of it like children are a Cub Scouts and teens are Boy/Girl Scouts.
There needs to be camping trips. As a child, one parent must attend. It doesn't need to be a full day, as I think the experience can be simulated just like any social event, but it does need to be a thing with goals to accomplish. This can happen about once a season, and should be completely optional, but the child/teen should get something for doing it (skill points, personality points, an item, or maybe even a trait). Teens can go without parents. This could be a bonus for owning Parenthood, Seasons, and Outdoor Retreat.
Scouts need some kind of networking system. Yes, Scouting has it's own rewards such as preparing young people to be good and responsible adults, but the vast majority of kids that want to be a Scout really want to goof around with other kids. This can easily be accomplished by making about 50% of children and 33% of teens Scouts, and when your child/teen becomes a Scout they instantly know these other children/teens, and every meeting they attend will raise their friendship.
Teenager: There's a missing period of time between child and teenager; Middle School (or Junior High if those still exist). I honestly can't think of what or how to represent this period, I just wanted to say it's obviously missing.
There needs to be a punishment system for skipping on curfew. Maybe there's a chance you'll get brought back home by the police and can't leave for the rest of the night. My teen sneaks out all the time and hasn't once gotten in trouble. No kid is that lucky.
After-school clubs would be a nice option. Each club is tied to a skill, and every time they attend a meeting they get a rise in that skill. Each meeting takes an hour and they meet every day. As well with skill clubs there also needs to be a study period where the teen can do their homework instead of bringing it home (which also takes an hour). You can only be a member of one after-school club at a time and attending meetings are optional (you can set it to auto attend all meetings if you want).
Child & Teenager: Both children and teens should have the option of purchasing a year book. This should make all other children/teens known to that child/teen so they can simply invite them to hang out. It's up to the child/teen to actually take the time to be friends with them. As opposed to Scouts, they shouldn't build friendship simply from attending the same school, but they should get some sort of advantage when it comes to meeting people the same age.
Breakfast should be an option to have at school for money, but they need to be there an hour earlier. I also don't think there's a "lunch" program either, because they always come home with the packed lunch and there's no charge for lunch. To be honest, I'm not sure their hunger drops at all while in school, because I've not taken the time to watch. I've stopped giving them packed lunches and stopped thinking about it, but it should be something to consider.
It's been asked for by countless people, but it's worth asking for again. We need a prom. Why? How do you expect Marty Mcfly to get his parents to kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance if there is no Enchantment Under the Sea Dance? Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Make like a tree and get out of here.
And that's all I can think of for now. What do you all think? What are your ideas?
Pregnancy: Why is morning sickness an option? It would be nice to have a choice to discover the gender and number of children in order to prepare.
Infancy: If sleeping, eating, and pooping were tied to aspirations, they'd have them all in the bag. This stage isn't long enough to cause you to regret your choice, and while I did feel it was missing some things, I'm really not sure it was missing anything I wanted. It felt, like pregnancy, to be just long enough to remember without being overbearing or overshadowing. Some transportation options would have been nice for my single parent.
Toddler: While I haven't experienced this without Parenthood, I had a blast. The next time I'm going to have two, just to see them both using the massive playground equipment I spent a fortune on that took up the entirety of my yard. Got to get your money's worth, right? I mean, it's not like they are going to remember it. Still, a few things would have made this more enjoyable.
An easier method of setting up play dates with other toddlers would be nice, as it is now your parent must already know other sims with toddlers, and for a new sim (especially a single parent) this is hard to come by if you jumped right into parenthood. A small park you can take your toddler to that has all the other toddlers (with at least one parent) would be great to help networking. Nothing fancy, just a place with a few pieces of playground equipment. This would also be nice for those without the money or room for those pieces. You could make it a bonus for owning Toddler Stuff, which would also help in making that expansion more popular.
Child: This, in my opinion, is the pinnacle of the experience. As soon as mine became a teenager, I wanted another (actually two). Still, there's room for improvement and, as usual, I'm here to give my two cents.
Forts. Where are they? We are fortless. We have been unforted. We are without fort. We need a couch that they can turn into a fort. Why? Because we all did that, and some of us might still do. In fact, I kinda want to do that now. While this would be cute and fun to watch, do you know what they really need in the way of forts? Tree forts! No self respecting club of children is complete without a tree fort. I don't know, maybe I'm missing it or don't have the expansion, but a club without a fort is like...well, it's lame. No kid wants to be part of the "let's hang out in my room" club. While you could just buy one of those fancy forts, you also should be able to build a rickety-looking one that will worry your mother. Forts on the ground would be nice too, but I guess you could just build one of those, the same with a tree fort, but it wouldn't look the same. Some new building skins would fix this, but we'd also need ladders, rope (to climb and for tire swings), and a bucket/pulley rig to allow in pets. I guess we could just use stairs. Yes, yes, we could just build forts, but it just wouldn't be as cool.
Scouts: Loved this option, and while it's great that the requirements are more difficult as a teen, there really needs to be another bonus trait (or make the original one better) for completing all as both a child and teen. Otherwise your child could get them all and get bored once they become a teen (as mine did). Think of it like children are a Cub Scouts and teens are Boy/Girl Scouts.
There needs to be camping trips. As a child, one parent must attend. It doesn't need to be a full day, as I think the experience can be simulated just like any social event, but it does need to be a thing with goals to accomplish. This can happen about once a season, and should be completely optional, but the child/teen should get something for doing it (skill points, personality points, an item, or maybe even a trait). Teens can go without parents. This could be a bonus for owning Parenthood, Seasons, and Outdoor Retreat.
Scouts need some kind of networking system. Yes, Scouting has it's own rewards such as preparing young people to be good and responsible adults, but the vast majority of kids that want to be a Scout really want to goof around with other kids. This can easily be accomplished by making about 50% of children and 33% of teens Scouts, and when your child/teen becomes a Scout they instantly know these other children/teens, and every meeting they attend will raise their friendship.
Teenager: There's a missing period of time between child and teenager; Middle School (or Junior High if those still exist). I honestly can't think of what or how to represent this period, I just wanted to say it's obviously missing.
There needs to be a punishment system for skipping on curfew. Maybe there's a chance you'll get brought back home by the police and can't leave for the rest of the night. My teen sneaks out all the time and hasn't once gotten in trouble. No kid is that lucky.
After-school clubs would be a nice option. Each club is tied to a skill, and every time they attend a meeting they get a rise in that skill. Each meeting takes an hour and they meet every day. As well with skill clubs there also needs to be a study period where the teen can do their homework instead of bringing it home (which also takes an hour). You can only be a member of one after-school club at a time and attending meetings are optional (you can set it to auto attend all meetings if you want).
Child & Teenager: Both children and teens should have the option of purchasing a year book. This should make all other children/teens known to that child/teen so they can simply invite them to hang out. It's up to the child/teen to actually take the time to be friends with them. As opposed to Scouts, they shouldn't build friendship simply from attending the same school, but they should get some sort of advantage when it comes to meeting people the same age.
Breakfast should be an option to have at school for money, but they need to be there an hour earlier. I also don't think there's a "lunch" program either, because they always come home with the packed lunch and there's no charge for lunch. To be honest, I'm not sure their hunger drops at all while in school, because I've not taken the time to watch. I've stopped giving them packed lunches and stopped thinking about it, but it should be something to consider.
It's been asked for by countless people, but it's worth asking for again. We need a prom. Why? How do you expect Marty Mcfly to get his parents to kiss at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance if there is no Enchantment Under the Sea Dance? Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Make like a tree and get out of here.
And that's all I can think of for now. What do you all think? What are your ideas?
