This got me thinking about what I like and dislike about the more fleshed-out teen experience in Sims 3: I despise the curfew that I have no control over that means teens will be brought home in a police car and grounded, if they don't get home before midnight. and once they are grounded it can go on forever because if they get grounded on Sunday, they'll still be grounded and technically not allowed to leave the house by the time they must go to school. so they either get grounded all over again for leaving the house to go to school, or grounded for staying in the house and skipping school!
And they use the Creepy Walk of Sims4 vampires the entire time they are grounded, which can be the rest of their teen years, and sometimes for life because it sometimes never goes away.
In Sims 3, teens do have proms (rabbithole though) graduations (again, rabbithole but it does add something), the chance to learn to drive while teens (the have to ask, or be offered by, a parent or adult they are close enough to) which is funny and realistic with the halting, awkward driving getting better as they learn.
ETA I forgot to mention in Sims3, household adults get whisked away on a free vacation while teens and children get left behind, just so teens get the chance to throw a Teen Party unsupervised. They can also throw slumber parties. It adds a lot of dimension.
They also have Mood Swings, whereas in Sims4, my teens get Phases but I don't remember if that's due to a mod I am using or if it's the game.
I hate that teens in sims3 can still have imaginary friends, but you can't dare delete them or the game will corrupt. and the imaginary friends always have a nasty trait like evil or insane. So THAT's what your baby was cuddling close all night in the crib and befriending as a toddler...an evil insane clown you can never get rid of. Sleep tight! :grimace:
I like that teens in Sims3 (and in Sims 4 unless that's again, because of a mod?) can use the Bubble Blower. It adds some realism to rebellion and exploration.
Preteens as an option are just what I consider the older end of the Childhood phase. I wouldn't want them to try that in the game. A new size of sim, new clothing meshes, new animations for everything, and it would be as short as the toddler stage, or the baby stage, and would be...mood swings (same as teen) but shorter stature is all? too much work for too little gain imo.
Cool thread, looking forward to others' answers!