I said I like pre-schooler, not pre-toddler.....

I dont like the voices for Elders either. I hope they change that. But I think the middle aged things is acutally good. After my sims graduate from college and become adults, it seems like time flys by and they are becoming elders in 3 days! Its not enough time IMO. So I would actually like

Baby
pre toddler
toddler
child
pre teen
teen
young adult
adult
middle aged
elder

It seem to make alot of since to me! Now for pre toddler, I see the sims being able to change the pre toddlers clothes, and carry them kinda like they do toddlers, but just have them smaller. It would be much more realistic. Thats just some of my ideas.

The YA stage annoys me in TS2 because I raerly send my teens to college so i never get to play YA, you should be able to have them at 'home' aswell as college

I like the pre-schooler better than the pre-toddler. It is quite a jump from like 3 to 8. I also understand why people are asking for pre-toddler. Babies develop so fast there's room for lots of improvement there, but each stage would only last like a day.

Maybe it should go Newborn-Infant-Toddler.

Newborn's would be similar to the infants in Sims 2 (with clothes). I would have them be like 0 months - 6 months.

Infants would be aged 6 months - 1 year and could crawl and start learning to say a few words. Maybe they could play with a few small toys.

Then Toddlers aged 1-3 could learn to walk and talk and get into all kinds of things. Ooh, I was just thinking. Since we'll be sending our Sims into a building to go to work, maybe we could drop our Babies and Toddlers off at a Day Care center instead of hiring a Nanny.

Then Pre-schooler-Child-Preteen-Teen. Pre-schooler's would be in like the 4-6 age range, Child would be 7-10, Preteen 11-14, and Teen 15-18. They would all go to school which would be Preschool, Elementary, Middle/Jr. High School, and High School.

Pre-Schoolers wouldn't have homework and it might only last like half a day. And maybe go to Day Care for half a day if needed. (I actually did this when I was in Kindergarten.)

Children should learn to read and maybe have a little homework. I don't think it should take as long for them to do their homework as the older kids.

Preteens could get their first puppy love crushes and maybe little peck type kisses. It should have all the awkwardness of middle school.

Teens should be similar to what they are now. They should have more romantic interactions than they do now. (I'm not saying woohoo or pregnancy b/c I know it won't happen, but I remember what it was like when I was a teen.) I also think they should have to learn to drive.

Finally YoungAdults-Adults-MiddleAged-Elder.

YoungAdults should be extended a little. Age 19-29. They could go to college and start their careers and/or families. There should be a college in the big seamless neighborhood complete with a dorm to live in.

Adults would be like 30-44. They would have their families or maybe just starting them. They might be already in a career or starting a new one. Adults are basically in the prime of their life and can do anything.

MiddleAged could be 45-59. I think they should possibly have a mid-life crisis. Go on a crazy vacation. Buy a new expensive car. Start a new career. Go back to college. They should do something that makes them try to be young again. (Not all of them of course.) They're probably pretty far in their career and working towards retirement. I think the probability for them to get pregnant should be low.

Elders of course would be 60-Death. I just hope there are lots of things for elders to do and they are not forgotten. They're children will be busy with their own families so there needs to be things for Elders to do together. I also think they should have Retirement Homes or Senior Apartments for them to move into if they want.

Wow, that was a lot. I was just going to comment on the Pre-Toddler/Pre-Schooler thing, but I got to thinking about all the stages again. Kudos to anyone who actually reads it all. :D

Ah, you put me in the adult category. I like mine because I'm still young adult.

(25 btw)

id put middle aged before older adult.... but yeah great idea....hope they do.....

I like Feenkitty's idea, as it is closer to what I had thought of. But I do agree with Faithlove that there could be an "old" life stage after elder, that would be fun.

The only problem I can see with adding more age groups is custom content creators would have to create more meshes etc. But frankly, I hope to severely limit my custom content in TS3 and focus more on gameplay.

I agree that ages need to be added. I would LOVE gradual aging but I don't see it happening. Pre-school age, pre-teen and middle age would be GREAT stages to add. To go from a child to almost an adult is not realistic and frankly is annoying. I think the teen age lasts way too long and that could be solved by adding pre-teen and cutting the teen stage down. Even more unrealistic and annoying is going from a 20-something to having gray hair and wrinkles.

Actually I think the teen stage is fine as far as days because it gives us enough time to study skills to earn scholarships and to have a long-lasting teen romance.

That's true! I guess I just get impatient for them to be able to move out

I agree, leave the Teens the same and extend several of the other life stages. YA is way too long though, but that should be fixed by having them as part of the main hood.

If they did divide it so much though.. I would like for them to stil have babies as young adults and stuff. :D

I think YA only seems long because they can only be in college and nothing else. Once we have them as an actual life stage, I'm sure they will be more fun that adults, so long as they can still get married and have kids.

I think YA just seems lopsided right now because it lasts almost as long as the adult stage. People are typically in college for four years, whereas they're an adult for around fourty years. I think the young adult stage should last about as long as the teen stage.

I agree but it is true that in Uni EP it seems long because of it being an exclusive life stage.

If you play in rounds and play it one day at a time, the YA stage is 28 days. I squeeze it down so each year is a sim day and then graduation is a day for a total of 5 days in college. So it seems really long because I play one day in my families and then play a whole year on my college lots which is 6 days and 6 hours. If I didn't play it that way, their parents would die before they graduated.

I love this. This is the perfect aging systems the sims should have. But I think the "Old" age group would be... I dont know. Maybe it would be harder to keep your sims alive. Maybe they would need more attention. That would make it a challenge.
And maybe once they get "80+" its an option that allows them to move in with one of their children and their families.

By the way... how would gradual aging work, anyway? Just curious.

Hmm... now that's an interesting question. Maybe there would still be life stages, but they just grow throughout that stage. At the end of the stage they still have a birthday to mark passing a milestone, but they wouldn't grow because they would already be the right size. Then once they are adults and stop growing for a while. After a time period they would start to age, wrinkles and grey hair and what not.

I guess. It's just a very confusing thing but I am all for gradual aging.

I don't like gradual aging, but I would be all for adding just three more stages:
Preschool age (3-4), pre-teen/young teen (11-14) and middle-aged (45-67).
Infant
Preschool
Toddler
Child
Young/Pre-Teen
Teen
Young Adult
Adult
Middle Age
Elder

That would be perfect. I can't understand putting in five new life stages. It's too much like gradual aging by giving each stage so few days.
I think Sims live pretty long by my standards. Try only playing six days in each house through a neighborhood with two neighborhoods - each with a college, downtown and business district - and you'll think so too!

Don't you have pre-school and toddler mixed around? Toddler should be first and then pre-school. But I agree, life stages are easier to create than gradual aging because it is a simpler method. But I am all for those three ages with young adult included as not college-mandatory.

I think it should be:

Baby (1)
Toddler(2-4)
Young Child (5-8)
Child(9-11)
Preteen(12-14)
Teen(15-17)
Young Adult (18-25)---- with this one i think that they should have an option of either going to college or not going and still staying as a young adult. i also think that they should be able to visit home once and a while
Adult(26-35)
Middle-Aged (36-45)---- maybe a little graying hair
Older Adult (46-63)---- maybe complete GRAY hair not white!
Elder----(63-death)

Gradual aging would be nice!

Your version of middle-aged is a bit too early. No one in their 30's at all are considered middle-aged. Middle-aged normally starts in the 40's or 50's. As for Young Child... that is so funny because last year I was thinking of that being the name for that stage.