Teen is the (too) long age span where you just wait for them to grow up to adults so you can move them out or proceed with the next generation.

Every stage is as interesting as the player makes it. And every player has a right to choose which stages they take the most interest in. Blaming that interest on the age stage itself, however, is uncool to do out loud because people who are interested in that stage feel that something they love is being dissed and nobody likes that.

Less discourse (as is I believe the current term for divisive fandom wank) would result over all if users of the English language would break the habit of saying: "This is good, this is better, this is best, this is bad, this is the worst" when what they mean is: "I like this, I like this more, this is my favorite, I don't care for that, I hate that with the fire of a thousand suns and there's no arguing me out of it." It starts off as no big deal and then it spirals out of control as people defend their corners from perceived attack.

YIKES I was sharing an opinion, it wasn't an attack on anyone lmfao

If my toilet was suddenly missing, I'd consider thinking myself a sim.

Toddlers is the age range I find least rewarding; you can teach them to walk and talk and potty train and nursery rhyme, but none of it really matters after they age up. I wish there was some sort of benefit to those skills that helped the sim later in life. The only things a toddler can do that carries forward is relationship and skilling. And watching a toddler grind on the talking bunny gets old after a while!

Normally I take more affection for the sims that I accompany throughout their lives.

Doesn't them growing up gold or platinum help them live longer overall though, or is that a myth?

Yes, but you can get them to platinum just by fulfilling a few wants like, cuddle, play with etc. If you just potty train them, you don't need to do a lot else!

I hardly think three disagrees rates a "Yikes," but I knew it wouldn't feel nice, which is why I hurried to point out what was happening on both sides before it escalated. Which may be making you feel attacked because I was implicitly criticizing the way you expressed yourself! Nobody was attacking anybody, but both you and the people who disagreed with you feel attacked. And it's how people feel about what you say that matters. Nobody can't control how other people feel (trust me, I used to try and the harder I tried the worse things got) so - you choose your words to minimize the justification for bad feelings, and when bad feelings happen anyway you shrug and say, "People are like that. I've been like that myself. It's nothing personal." And you go about your business and nothing escalates.

I will admit, by the way, that babies present the fewest possibilities for being intrinsically interesting, because of the way they're coded. Like many people, I think there's a lot of room for improvement in the way babies work in the game. I was very pleased to get the baby dangle and bouncy chair (which should have been part of the game to begin with) as I no longer have to resign myself to leaving babies alone in a crib while the household's life goes on around them, but even so the experience of having a baby around isn't simulated as well as I'd like. Babies are primarily about anticipation for me.

The yikes was to you, @Peni Griffin , you're the drama queen. Disagreeing is fine but no one took it as far as you did. You're making a mountain out of a molehill.

There are no rules about which life stage one should like best. Or like less. Or not like at all.
I love them all, even the babies. Especially when there are twins and they keep everyone up all night.
I love toddlers far too much to bother about the learning to talk/walk/ - is there another one? - stuff. Potty training, yes. But I'd rather watch them chasing butterflies or hugging their twin than teach them to walk. In the end, they walk anyway. And in my experience, what is wrong with a bit of a challenge to get them into permaplat before they die anyway?
I love children because they can have so much fun when being taken to the park or the skating rink by their parents. Or on vacation. There is just so much more to them than coming home from school, do homework and go to sleep.
I love teens because they start to sort out their lives - skill a bit more, make BFF's, perhaps find the first date or kiss, be part of a band or a group of hikers, and generally have fun.
I adore YA;s and love it when they meet the cow and the lama and get abducted to the secret society - and I also love keeping them in contact via outings and visits with family and friends at home.
I love adults, because they are now working to reach the ambitions and dreams they had since they were young - and I make the best of this time too, making sure that they keep their family and friends in their lives (it is hard to do n hoods s big as I like to play, but then, I do not shy away from a challenge)
And I love elders. In a small west coast town, there is a guesthouse named After Enough. The owner told me that she and her husband worked very hard for years in order to earn enough money to chase their dream - this guesthouse. And one day, they had enough. And after enough - the guesthouse. To me, that is how elders are: they are After Enough. It means that they have time for new challenges and hobbies and businesses and friends and all other things.
And if anyone disagrees with me - not my problem. I am After Enough old, which means too old for nonsense anymore

Teens *and* toddlers are my favourite age stages. In real life too. I currently have a 14yo, 4yo and 1yo in the house. I kept joking that the last year would be my most stressful year ever, but I have loved every second of it.

The babies in game are super cute but unfortunately rather boring; I am also grateful for the danglemaster and bouncinator. I'm intrigued by the infant stage that has just been announced for TS4. It might actually get me to play it...

Actually there is a benefit to watching those toddlers grinding on the rabbit: it gets them more charisma points, which in turn helps them get into college. I find that if they have as many skills as possible, they don't have to study quite as hard and can kinda goof off during their college courses.

However, everything else you wrote is true. That's why I put them on almost everything automatic-I cheat and give them the talking, walking and potty training the minute they grow up to toddler (because it's so damn tedious otherwise-let's get real about it.) and just set them down with a rabbit-to tire themselves out while everything else goes on; they have a food source and they know how to put themselves to bed..Toddlerhood is the most boring stage of all besides infancy and sometimes I wonder if the toddlers themselves aren't bored to pieces...

Yes, I understand that which was why I said 'only thing that carries forward is relationships and skilling'. My point was that watching a toddler play with the skilling toys gets a bit boring, and yet the other things like learning to walk or talk are a bit pointless (unless you are playing long age ranges, which I'm not).

You'd think I either love or hate elders because there are so many in my game. Like, am I holding onto them as long as I can or have I stopped playing them because I find them boring? Who knows? Certainly not me and my bushels of elders.

I think of it from a slightly different angle. Rather than some "benefit" to teaching toddlers those skills, I would prefer if there were some penalty if the toddlers were NOT taught them.
Some possible examples (just throwing out ideas):
Failure to be taught talking could limit the child/teen/YA to no better than a "C" average in school or a lifetime cap of 2 (or some small number) of charisma skill points.
Failure to learn potty training could mean a lifetime of a more rapid decrease in hygiene or a lifetime of quicker "bladder accidents".
Failure to learn to walk could mean a lifetime of a more rapid decrease of fitness.
There are probably better ideas. Those were just of the top of my head.

What have I started? I never said that adults are boring. It's merely that given a group of Sims of varying ages, I seem to gravitate towards the teens and the children. And by not giving the adults interesting things to do, I possibly make them boring. Obviously I don't feel that the vanilla teen stage is too long -- if I did, I wouldn't have played Andrew as a teen for the last ten years! I still look forward to seeing him, and I'm still learning new things about him. And he's still finding new things to do.

One possible reason why I feel more comfortable with the younger Sims is my height. I'm about 5 foot 3 inches (160cm). I reckon that's about the same as TS2 teens. If I was talking to Andrew, we'd be eye to eye. I'd have to look up to talk to Gloria. (Andrew says to me, "So you should look up to my mum. She's better than you!")

I generally don't watch them. I leave them to get on with it. When they're playing with the rabbit, they're not screaming to be fed, or to have their nappy changed, or to be let out of the crib. And they're not playing with the toilet. . . . And the rest of the family can maybe get on with life for an hour or two.

Me? I haven't disagreed with anyone. In fact I love you all. Which I've just demonstrated by clicking on "Love" for every single post since my last one in this thread. :lovestruc

I find that any lifestage can be as boring or fun as I make it and i've been loading my game with content that makes all of them more playable and I can't wait to be able to play my Pleasantview game and get to play each of them thoughout the playthough of the town.
I've also had to find a way to edit my graphics SGR file after fiding that Notepad would onlyy save edited SGR file as text files.I tried Notepad++ and was able to save the SGR files in the original file format with that instead of the regukar Notepad.

This is some brilliant stuff! I really like the consequences you thought of per failure. Like personally I fulfill the toddler's wants because the toddlers want them but I'm not motivated like I would be if they all grew up with detriments to their physiology later in other life stages.

There's a wet the bed mod here that triggers if children weren't potty trained. https://modthesims.info/d/476536/si...update-fix.html

@HobbsED Now I love that idea!
@Charity Thanks for the link, no idea this existed!

I impose limits on myself; I'm not allowed to look at the needs or wants panel of a toddler who has not been taught to talk, and I am not allowed to control a toddler who can't yet walk. Potty training has the advantage of not needing to change any more diapers, just like in real life, but if I wanted a more pressing penalty I'd download the bed wetting mod.

They say Einstein only started talking when he was 4 years old.
My toddlers are Einsteins

I suspect that my first Pleasantview settlers won't have any room for a regular double bed when their house is finally built and will have to settle for the chealest sofa bed to get that into the home before they face their first winter in Pleasant Valley in the 17th century.

I feel sorry for them.
From History.com ( https://www.history.com/topics/inve...cts-and-fiction ).... "Einstein actually treated his wife quite badly: He had (and flaunted) many affairs; he was distinctly unhelpful around the house and he made Maric obey a long list of humiliating rules (“You must answer me at once when I speak to you,” for example.) The two divorced in 1919 and Einstein married his cousin Elsa (yes, really).

Sounds to me like low charisma or a "C" average in school might be a lesser punishment.