I do understand why those of us who enjoy playing family Sims from birth to death have been disappointed with the absence of the toddler or pre-school life stage. It truly is odd to have an infant one day and a school age child the next! However, personally, I've grown used to this and have found along the way that no toddlers does not (for myself) ruin the game. (Toddlers would make sense and would make family play feel more complete.)

We've all had our say on the issue of toddlers and perhaps MAXIS will yet provide them? That being said, let's focus on making the most of family style gameplay despite this hole in the fabric.

So, how do you play a family? How do you play and manage multiple generations? What have you learned along the way that adds depth? What questions do you have? Other than toddlers; what would you like to see added that relates to families? Do you have a favorite family related challenge?

And, PLEASE!, let's refrain from turning this into yet another "why I hate Sims4" thread. (Thank You)

I am sorry but this version is not a family one for me. My sims family in 3 is/was over 30 generations including time spent building a lot, making worlds and so on. No matter what, this is not a family game for me when 3 of the life stages are either gone or a mess. I don't hate Sims 4. But there is no way this version is family oriented. IMO.

One of the first things that needed to be done would be to implement a proper adolescent lifestage again, either by ravamping the one that's in the game (dunno how possible that is) or by implementing a *groan* preteen stage.

First of all they need to be shorter than adults again. Doesn't matter how tall or short teens are in real life; Sims 4 has cartoon aesthetics and cartoon aesthetics include exaggeration of aspects, so shorter teens. I should be able to tell a teen from an YA/Adult simply by looking at the sim. Soome teenager specific clothing might also be nice again...

They'd need to have options like "sneak out" again, with the possibility to be caught by the police and getting into trouble.

While I'm not the biggest fan of the way aspirations are handled in Sims 4, I think the idea of multiple "child aspirations" had merits and it would be interesting to see this expanded into "teen aspirations". One could focus on grades and schoolwork, one on dating, one on popularity, one on rebelling, one on everything that makes them feel more "grown up" etc. etc. etc. I think this would be a great way to exploit a age category that always seemed a bit long and empty.

Also the implementation of some more of the milestones trials and tribulations of that phase; learning to drive (assuming cars come back), studying before big exams (maybe something like a random scenario) very first dates/kisses/fooling around, a "going steady" relationship like in earlier titles. Teen clubs/gangs. Running away. Wild Teen parties that get them in trouble with their parents. School projects that take a lot of time and a set of tasks to complete (edit: this could even make good use of the "collecting things" mechanic I find so superfluous, your geology teacher wants you to collect specific minerals etc) .

There's a lot of potential things they could do with teens, it doesn't have to be an empty expanse of "smaller, sterile adults"

I have just added jackboog21's Grow Up Aspiration mod:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=587786

It just so happens that I am creating a new family. so , will be able to give this mod a try. Has anyone else used this mod? How has it worked out for you? I know that some family players have wished for something that shows when a Sim has grown up either well or badly.

LATER: I can give my personal "stamp of approval'' (LOL) to this mod :-) It provides a new, fun aspiration choice. Also jackboog21 has been replied promptly for my plea for help. Being new to using mods I did not know that we need to enable them in the game options menu!!

Hmm, I use poses to make pics and that way pretend it's family orientated game.

I'm sure you could "get used" to getting violated by an elephant every day at 6PM as punishment for existing. It doesn't mean it's acceptable.

I wasn't hateful, right. I'm nothing more than loving!

aside from obvious missing features from family orientated game play, I hope one little tiny thing that would give me a lot of joy: I want the sim to recognize their parents. When the sim gets wishes, instead it saying "name" on the wish (relating parent sim), it should be "mom/dad".

I really want a Generations pack already. It seems like the logical pack to include toddlers, preteens, improved versions of teens, universities, etc.

But that is probably too much for them to handle since they can't even create decent apartments or cities

The more you act haughty using buzzwords about people directing hate at you that only exists in your mind the more entertaining it is to post in these threads you know.

I think you are totally right. All of those would be great to have. And will we get them? I would say u know what may freeze over first. It they cannot even make a chaise, well............

I hear you! I too wish that teens were a bit shorter than adults and wonder if a 'mod' could deal with this? Teen specific clothing would be welcome. I see how important it still is for teens in RL (real life) to express themselves and to experiment with hair and clothing styles of their own - separate and distinct from adults. One of my family play wishes is for extra, optional life stages (toddler and pre-teen). The absence of these things does not spoil my enjoyment, however, having them would certainly add to my enjoyment.

NOTE: I've not yet used any CC clothing, however, perhaps this could be a way to provide a few wardrobe items for teens only?

To me just doesn't feel like a family game anymore, to watch a baby goto a child in one stage just kills it for me,and with the teenager just like a YA, EA just killed the family play, I still try but it gets harder all the time. I am just abut to play as EA wants and just party all the time.

I pretty much have given up also. I played 3 from start to now totally legacy style. One family from the get go to just recently. I am on just generation 6 I think in 4 after over 2 years. I finally gave up and created a new sim to put in the city. Played her one RL night and have not turned on the game since then. EA want us to play their vision/story. And it is not about family play. Sadly, for that is one of many fun ways to play.

I really enjoy playing families and well as roommate houses. Obviously (Besides Toddlers), I would of liked a true Teen life stage, growing up more than twice your height from Child to "Teen", is just as creepy as Baby to Child.

True, sudden transforming from infant to child and a child doubling in size when puberty hits really is kinda creepy (LOL). One gets used to it..well,,because this is how it happens and Sims are Sims. Still..

Roommates (or housemates) can be pretty interesting - especially when they have different or clashing emotions and personalities. Also fun to add an oddball boarder or two to a family household.

The family household that I am currently playing (Wilburns) consists of a single YA father, Emmet, with a young son, Irvin, and the father's flirty YA alien sister, Emma. My backstory is (in part) that Emma is a product of one of those Strangetown (TS2) alien encounters. Emmett is a divorced father with custody of his child. They've arrived in SanMyshumo (Saint Bingo !!). Owing to a large inheritance (via motherlode naturally) they were able to move into a posh penthouse apartment ( Landgrabb Apartments). Whether they can afford to continue there; time will tell! Emmett (a foodie) has began a culinary career while Emma aspires to become an astronaut.

The Grow Up aspiration mod is being given a test run with little Irvin.

There is a Slider's mod, been out for some time, and it still works just as well with the latest patch and CL (So patches never break this!)

Just throw the files in your mod folder, click on any sim, go to cheat console, type add_slider Height <Any number between -100 to 100, 0 is default), eg. Add_Slider Height -100 will make a sim a lot shorter, or add_slider Height +100 will make them very tall (With bigger heads, hands, and feet too!)

http://modthesims.info/t/571799

I have used this for ages and it works great. I have all different heights of both adults, kids and teens.

It's weird because over the years as I was playing sims 4 I slowly started going back to sims 3 and sims 2 for just that. There is something about creating a family and building a legacy that always makes me come back to the other sims games. Sims 4 is missing so much as far as the family section compared to the other games there's less focus and content geared towards families. I know they took toddlers out for a reason, but it doesn't feel the same without them. The teenagers are being neglected and are kind of boring at this point because they are so similar to young adults.
I was trying to create and build a family and I got to the 3rd generation in the sims 4 and after that the family tree stopped showing the 1st generation. It was like they were erased from the family entirely, (I think it had to do with the tombstones?) but after that I was kind of upset about it so I stopped playing and went back to the sims 2.

We all have different preferences and differing attitudes and approaches to how we play any game. I don't find that TS4 forces me to play in any one particular way than does TS1, TS2 or TS3. I and others decide how to play and if we find that a game is just not our cuppa tea it is time to move on to something else.

It makes perfect sense to play the games that you enjoy and leave behind what you do not enjoy.

How do you keep track of your families and/or individual Sims? I do the same here with TS4 as I do with TS2 and TS3. My record keeping happens outside of the game. There are different methods for doing this and it is always helpful to learn how others keep track.

Thought I would share a little about myself and why I began this thread.

I am a (long time) older player in my 7th decade. As a Sim I would be an elderly elder ((LOL)). Playing The Sims is one of many things that help to keep me "Young At Heart". The Sims is one of those games that appeals to both younger and older players providing common ground where age does not matter.

I began this thread as a way to communicate with and to exchange ideas with others who enjoy Sims 4 and who enjoy playing families.

Mod The Sims has long been a place where I and others have found help, quality downloads that enhance or Sim games, freindship and tons of plain old fashioned fun.

It is dissapointing to see the overall proliferation of posts and replys here in the Sims4 forum that are rude, unkind or just another opportunity to "trash the game" rather than posting in a helpful and on topic manner. I understand why some Sims4 players say they no longer visit this forum unless they need technical help or perhaps wish to take part in a challenge. :-(

Congrats on making Space Pony, though. You should screencap it before it goes away.

I think one interesting aspect is getting a sim to visit your own family, because many cases they are doing something, they not normally doing when your playing them, like someone's using chemistry set, and there's someone in the pool and spa, I guess we are too much of a god, to give them time for these things.

This is a public forum and if you post a topic such as let's talk about family play you will not get all sunshine and roses answers. If there are folks that feel that 4 is not family oriented they will say that. You cannot expect only posts from people who think like you do. It is not going to happen.

You are totally right. Everyone of us is different and everyone of us plays differently. We should all play as wanted.