Good lord, j7n, are you missing out! Even given differences in playstyles, yours sounds really limited and as if you haven't discovered half the possibilities of the game! If you're having fun, fine, don't let anybody tell you you're doing it wrong, but - bounce around here reading threads (What's happening in your game right now; Funniest/strangest thing, What do you do with your (category)?, the Challenge section, for sure; plus the various picture threads) and I think you'll see things you want to try. Friendship! Romance! Friend/family networks! Rivalry! Disaster! Euphoria! Parties! Amazingly Cute Animations!
I love every life stage, myself. Yes, including babies. I've said this on this thread before, but it bears repeating. Every lifestage has its element of fun. And no sim is an island, nor does any life stage exist cut off from all the other lifestages.
Babies are great because of their effect on their households and the anticipation.
Toddlers are great because you get your first glimpse of how the genes work, because of the strain they place on the household system, and because almost every animation they have is adorable. Interactions with older siblings, pets, and visitors are especially interesting. Kids are great because they can start developing relationships outside their households and their independent personalities, plus they can join teens and adults on outings, and have lots of interactions and adorable animations not available to other age stages. (And if you're having trouble finding attractive clothes for these age stages, I've got one word for you: Fakepeeps. See the Downloads section.) The limited amount of visiting time they have is annoying, but you can mod it out. For every thing they can't do (why would you want a child master chef anyway?), they have something compensatory that adults can't do, and it's so much fun to see them learning new things.
Teens are great because they have their own funny/adorable animations (checking themselves out is my favorite but I also love noogies), continue to develop their relationships and personalities more, and you have all the wonderful discovering-who-I-am storylines; plus they can lead outings and take on responsibilities around the house, but you don't need me to sell you on teens.
YA is great because you have all this time on campus to really go to town on relationship drama, not just romance but rivalries, and prepping for adult life. And they do not "lose" their faces - I have no idea what you're talking about there! They finish growing into them, but the change isn't normally that serious, unless you're dealing with broken face templates. You can always buy them new clothes, including most adult styles - almost everything made for adults is also enabled for YA, and some outfits are YA only. Skilling is only a fraction of what there is to do at college, especially if you have a large group of playables there at once to bounce off each other. Toga parties! Serial dating! Inviting their families to visit campus! Inviting household on each other and just hanging out! Experimenting with new activities, new hairstyles, new people, new friends, new everything!
Adults are the anchors for the other ages and I don't have to sell anybody on them. The sims I'm most likely to find boring are adults living alone, but the solution to that is simple.
And elders - oh, how I love my elders! If they have families, they can be meddling, supportive, or demanding of them. If they don't, they can embark on new careers (if they get a new job right before transition, or if you mod out age discrimination), new businesses, new romances. I love seeing elders in love, and Romance elders are the bomb, showing the young folks How It's Done. They can congregate in retirement homes, live with relatives and become live-in babysitters, paint the town red, take all their grandkids on vacation and let them run wild! They can go around picking fights with their children's lovers and love rivals, and/or pressure their relatives into settling down. They can take all the Freetime perks and use the heck out of them - go see aliens every night, smooth talk their way through the neighborhood leaving chaos in their wake, cure visitors with soup, lead rowdy folks songs! Throw outrageous parties and pay heavenly bills! Get all the badges and give presents of fresh produce, fish, and useless tschotskes to everyone they meet!
Honestly, the sky's the limit!
Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr is
Sim Media Res .
Widespot,
Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and
Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)