What are some things you do with your sim couples when the kids move to uni/move out?
I have a few that I am not sure what to do with, but feel they need some new direction.

I usually give them a new hobby or work on their skills. I mean thats a thing people do right? Or a new career/business depending on age.

It is very rare that I have empty nesters as I usually have the family heir stay in the house with them. If for some reason I do end up with older sims living alone, they usually adopt a grandchild that is simply too much for the parents' to handle at that time, or perhaps I have them work on their badges. Sometimes I have them open orphanages or businesses. Most of the time, though, they end up helping their children raise their grandchildren.

This is actually a problem I have too. My neighborhood founders are getting old fast. Some of them don't have houses but live in apartments with their kids. When the kids move to Uni/Move out, I'm going to have a nice retirement home ready for some of my old simmies. I was going to change the orphanage over, but I may need it in the future.

Start a business - or a second/third/fourth one.
Go on vacations - take the children along, and then go on a second honeymoon. Later, take the grandchildren along.
Start doing some sport. Write a novel. Buy a new house with a garden and do the gardening. Start a brand new hobby (or two, or three).
Keep fit. Do yoga (or tai chi).
Throw parties three times a week and make at least one a family reunion.
Visit all the community lots in the hood as often as possible and make new friends to invite to all the parties.
Go on a date (or dates) - (with spouse!) - there probably wasn't time for that since the wedding.

Some of my empty nesters are still working hard at their careers, which keeps them busy. Others may choose to start a business, travel (or even "live abroad" by buying a vacation home and spending most of their time there - that's what the Oldies are doing in my current version of Pleasantview) or help out with grandchildren (for example by providing childcare so that both of the child's parents can work, or by having the child to stay at the weekends).

I play my sims according to their wants, so they pretty much do what they want to do, at least to some extent. If they're happy "stuck in a rut" then I leave them that way. There are so many connections in my 'hoods, because I play in one day rotations and there are lots of dates/outings/parties/get togethers to keep everyone connected, it's very rare for me to get bored with a household.

These sims are not elders, they are middle aged with about 15-20 more days of adulthood due to how my aging is set. (adults have 74 days of adulthood) They all have kids who are young adults, 18-22 who either are now at uni or have recently moved into a small flat. They do not have grand kids yet. All these sims have at least one business due to my integrated hood play style. I took the few that could afford it on a summer holiday. I recently made over TwikkiI. These were founders who had a lot of debt so most can't really afford a new business or a holiday.

I was playing the couple who run the restaurant yesterday. Certainly going to their business takes up a lot of time seeing it's close to being a level 8 restaurant. I had him start writing a cookbook since he had the want to write a novel. They have paid their debt but have to pay 2 servers so they are lucky to keep about $500 in pocket. All I can think of is a hobby, perhaps one that would make them extra cash although she spent most of her adult life writing restaurant reviews trying to get out of debt so I don't want her doing any more writing. I heard Sun&moon were going to do a canning type workbench which I would love to have her use, but then again she is the chef and cooks all day maybe she might like something else. Perhaps buy a pottery wheel with his novel money? Not that she is interested in arts and crafts. I have at least 3 of these couples now that I am at a loose end with apart from making them work even longer hours at their businesses. Left to themselves she likes to jump on the trampoline and he likes to paint. If I do get a pottery wheel it would probably be better used by him.

A pottery wheel is a good idea in my opinion - it does not take up a lot of space and it seems as if all Sims enjoy doing it.
I have to wonder if they want to do more writing - they seem to have that skill Personally, I will make them write more.
(How are the pups?)

Some ideas:
-stay in the family home and continue with careers and add a new hobby
-downsize their home and take more time off work for travel
-have them start building their dream retirement home - a refurbished lighthouse on the beach, cabin in the mountains, one bedroom luxury home, hobby farm...
-quit their careers or sell the existing business and start new businesses
-increase 'volunteering' by spending time on certain community lots, or developing a community lot and then giving it back to the community
-raise and train a pet
-now kid-free, have more dates and visit community lots they didn't often get to with children
-have another child; some siblings are spaced by twenty or so years

It doesn't happen too often, I tend to keep houses in the family so sims usually move back in with their parents after uni or never leave. Though when I do, I sometimes adopt animals, send them (the elders, not the animals) on vacations, have family reunions often, buy/start a business etc.

Unlock all the neat stuff in the game; Vacation memories, hobbies, stuff like that. But usually an adult child will move back in, especially if I didn't hook them up with anyone in college.

Adding in a new hobby seems to be the thing. The pottery wheel does not take up much space. The train would not fit at most of the houses so it can only be small hobby items. I could put in some of the workbenches I have in my medieval game like basket weaving and candle making. Anna and Amit are lucky since they have a backyard with some room.


I like this idea. If I teleport them in to other business I have a feeling they won't be able to do any business interactions like restock which is a shame as some need the help . At my hospital I use the simlogical meeting controller to bring in my nurse and she can't do any business related actions but perhaps they could teach classes. I can see Anna wanting to teach others how to cook. In my old large integrated hood I had an adult learning centre, perhaps it's time to do something similar.

Downsizing when you already live on a 1 by 1 or 1 by 2 block not possible lol. Poor founders are mostly poor. Not much room for kids unless they are unattached and given my penchant for pairing them all off and having babies they will all need new homes lol.
Can't quit their businesses these are needed to run the town.

Two of the YA couples do have a toddler so their parents will be heavily involved there. One grandma already had a want to teach Asia how to talk-is that a normal want for a grand parent? I made them selectable at her birthday party and saw the want so I let her fill it.

Grandma teaches Asia how to talk.

I love empty nesters. I feel like, generally, they're financially established, and you can really refocus your attention and your money on them without it coming at the expense of the children. It's a great time for reinvention, for new jobs, for new hobbies, for vacations (!), for new businesses.

Actually, I really want to sort of designate an older adult couple or an elder couple to explore the vacations to their maximum, as I've never REALLY fully explored all the vacation subhoods. I feel like established sims are good for that, too - exploring the things you've never really tried before.

@ joandsarah77 I am of know help here sorry, I have a "very hard" time letting my kids leave a certain stages of life, the Child Stage and Teen is my most favorite.
Because of this I have a terrible confession to make "Before the New Year" get here, because I want to push myself and I do mean push and at least let my teens go to UNI for the New year.

Here my "confession" I have had University in my game for years, ok this is hard to say but and but again bear with me you all please, this is hard for me to say ok here I go " I Have Never Played University" ok I said it.
Why? Because of the reason I stated above I have an extremely hard time letting go of my Sims children or should I say letting them growing up and get out. I am going to try to change this behavior for the New year.
And let the parents have a break.

unless my household gets too large and unwieldy, the kids stay at home to marry and raise their family. It solves the problem of what to do with the empty nesters

Simonut, play them how you want. That's the great thing about sims 2, options. Perhaps you should make a young adult in the uni CAS and play them through.

smorbie1, so you don't send them to uni either?

In my game, they will all go to Uni, they do not have a choice (because I love playing Uni)
It is also a good time for the empty nesters when all the kids are finally gone - with the packs of twins, it may be the first time in Sim years that these Sims of mine get a chance to do what they want to do again.
So dates with spouses and second honeymoons are high on my list for them as soon as the last kid is off to Uni.
Yet I also like the extended family idea, and some graduates will move back with the parents, especially those who does lack funds to start out on their own. Besides, they can help in the business.

Not all of my elder Sims are or will ever become 'empty nesters' seeing how, as in real life, not all have children and not all marry. So, what they do in their elder years varies and at the same time depends on how I am playing a particular household or community.

*Some will continue to be a part of a multi-generation family household and may be elder parents (or parent), Aunt, Uncle or perhaps one or more elder single siblings.
*Some retire and others (even while sharing a family home) will continue on with their career or business.
*Some embark on a new adult career (via Sim Blender).
*Some who live with family will move out on their own. (Which is what I have Dora Ottomas do!)
*Several years ago I built a one floor retirement home where some elder Sims (usually those who are childless or who have no living family or do not want to live with family) move in together. This ends up to be quite interesting owing to how some personalities clash while others get on well together. They travel together, dine out, play cards, keep a garden and enjoy all manner of outings..including shopping sprees, night clubbing, bar hopping and generally having "the time of their lives" ( they love the skating rink). They also may find romance.

(EDIT) Neglected to add that some elders make use of the Elixer Of Youth and then there is the 'aging off' cheat. :-)

Oh, and it has been brought to my attention that (as in real life) not all 'empty nesters' are yet elders.

I'm tempted to empty the adoption pool for my empty nesters.

All mine will become young adults but not all will go to uni.

teafortwo, these sims are not elders, they have about 20 days left as adults but since my adults get 74 days these are middle aged sims whose kids have left for college/moved out.

What's amusing is today when I loaded up Anna and Amit's house, he had rolled a want for a recliner chair and to stay home from work, lol I was like you're still too young for retirement Amit. Another middle age sim did have a retirement want-which worries me a bit. I thought only elders could roll that. I did give them a pottery wheel with Amit's novel earnings and he did decide to try it out (thanks icad for autonomous hobby use items!)


Pretty good for a first attempt but he does have 10 in creativity.

I made over a library I had downloaded into a learning centre. Some of them can volunteer to teach things there.

]

No, they go to uni if the family has the money and if the child isn't already working in his career or isn't a servant. But after uni they move right back home unless the family size is too big.

Is there a cut off age during their adult lifestage after which your adults can't have children any more, Jo? Or can they get pregnant right up to 5 days before old age (or whatever the cut-off is)?

In my game sims are adults for 41 days - from 20 days old until they are 61 days old. Some may be young adults for up to nine days, from 20 to 29, if they go to and graduate from college or university, but others go from teen straight to adult, so their time as an adult is pretty long. Female sims "go through the menopause" when they are aged somewhere between 40 and 50 (I use a random number generator to set the age when they are created/born) and after that they can no longer get pregnant naturally. They still have the option of IVF, though it's expensive, or adoption (up to age 57, but then they must adopt a teen) and males remain able to impregnate females until they die (and can become pregnant as a result of alien abduction until they are 56, as that's the game's cut-off).

I find that having a set point after which sims can no longer get pregnant makes older sims more interesting for me. It adds to the variety of possibilities for them, I guess? Some sims can't have babies after 40, some can keep having kids until they're 50, and if there's a big age gap between the partners then the male may still be quite young when the female partner goes through the menopause (say, a 30-something male with a 40 day old partner). If he went to college/university he may have only recently graduated. If a sim or a couple is really keen to have a baby despite being quite old they may save up to pay for IVF or adoption. There may be an "oopsie baby" after their older child/children have moved out. I use mods to allow teens and YA's to get pregnant, so it's possible that older adults may be grandparents already, though it doesn't happen that often. If they have (younger) siblings they may become uncles/aunts and have youngsters around them because of that. It's not just grandchildren they can babysit, after all!

I can see when the 'fertility clock' has quit ticking when the 'try for baby option' vanishes.
I have a life span mod installed so that each life stage is a bit longer plus a longer pregnancy mod. It is not uncommon for a Sim to become pregnant late in life in my game. Currently the Morgans (from Polgannon) are elder parents of a toddler! Obviously the only way they will become 'empty nesters' would be to survive until this 'surprise baby' flies the coop; which, seeing how this community is being played birth to death, may not happen.

Joandsarah, thank you for bringing to my attention that not all empty nesters are already elders !

laura, this is a question I have yet to figure out. I really don't want these sims to be having anymore oopsie babies as the hood already has 4 of those now aged child to teen. Because I do use risky whohoo and don't use ACR I don't have any form of birth control. So basically once they have had kids they hardly ever get to woohoo again has been how I deal with it. In a way removing risky woohoo and going to a dice roll like I do my young adults might in practice be a better way to go but I rather like risky whohoo and not quite knowing what will happen. I could also simply use the simblender but it goes against my grain to terminate pregnancy as well. What I would like is a separate birth control mod.

Try for baby only vanishes 5 days to elder-far too late for me. At the end of 74 days (37 years) my sims are about to turn 60 (elder) 5 days before that they are 57 and a half. If fertility stops at 45 I need something to stop pregnancy at 30 days to elder. Also I use a faster pregnancy mod only 2 days. I could populate an entire town with one couple if I tried. O_O

What triggers the game to stop fertility at 5 days to elder, is this something I could apply to my 30 days to elder adults? Mostly to females since male abduction is a rare occurrence.