I'm not too bothered about not having a pre-teen stage. Although I'd like one (if anything, I'd love "gradual-aging" - but I imagine that's way off into the future) stretchskeleton works fine for me - I just find it annoying that they don't stay that size when I exit the lot. I also have a mod that lets children kiss (not romantic, just the family kiss interaction renamed "give cooties") which causes them to fall in 'puppy love' (have a crush on each other). Which has been quite a cute little mod to add to my game. The only awkward thing is that when the child ages to a teen, they keep the crush - which doesn't bother me much because usually the crush would also turn into a teenager that rotation, but I imagine if I didn't play rotations it'd be super awkward for an adult to still have a crush on his childhood sweetheart

The idea of 'hacked children' kinda creeps me out. Firstly because they levitate like a ghost and no animations they do looks normal... but also because it means children can make-out and woohoo (if Inteen is installed) and the body shapes I have seen for "preteen" children give them an unnaturally curvy body - and I know people develop at different paces, but Sim teens seem to have around a B-cup, and adults around a C-cup so it just seems a bit weird for a child to ever have anything more than an A-cup.

No, preteen is the right word.

I love the idea of more age groups!

When a sim is late in the child stage, I consider them preteens. I wouldn't give them special, developed bodies. I just give them less childish hairstyles, clothing, and room decor. Occasionally, they can get into dating to some extent: I don't use mods that allow children to go on dates, make out, or woohoo (eww no) but I do use the "kiss kiss darling" and "earthy hug" gesture as age-appropriate forms of affection. They can also "classic dance", even in a vanilla game.

I would not want pre-teens, I don't quite get what they would bring to the table. Sims take a little bit too long to grow up as is, the only way I could see it implemented is curbing a few days off the teen stage.

What I do think is that the adult stage could need some expansion. I hate that the YAs became the sole focus of the franchise in Sims 3 and 4, but in 2 we could have needed a split into young adult and middle aged, just to make Sim adulthood longer.

I think sims grow up way too fast. 8 days of childhood isn't at all representative of childhood. Teens don't really count because they can be grown to young adults anytime. They could be teens less then an hour if the player has them go straight to uni. Myself I use a double aging mod, so toddlers 8 days, kids 14 days. Teens I give 10 days. YA hood is great with mods because it can be uni or it can be owning a shop, doing odd jobs or just bumming out. With adults, the sims look very young so I add wrinkles after about 30 days.

I have Cylon's eight-day teenager mod. That seems just right to me.

I always wanted a preschool age where the child would learn ABC's, how to tie shoos, and write his name, stuff like that. Then a tweens age, and a middle age as well.

The toddler age range has to cover the pre-school age as well. What I do is after 4 days if a family has the room and money I will use a booster seat for meals rather than bottles or a sippy cup, the toddler has a toddler bed that they can get in and out of themselves, and of course they can walk, talk, use the potty and sing a nursery rhyme. If they had a dummy (paci) I will remove that and occasionally change the hair style and clothes.

adult is middle age though

Lol! Adults look barely old enough to shave. Middle age is 40, something of which I am very familiar with!

I can sort of understand the concept of where they were comin from in givin the six life stages. However, as we all know life is more than just a step from one stage to the next. The jumps that were made from one stage to the next seem, well a bit extreme, and give the impression of missin out on things.

If they'd of put more life stages in would people really of been satisfied? Look at how many people actually speed through some stages as they find them 'boring', then there are those who extend the stages as they feel it's not long enough.

Me, personally, would have loved to see at least 3 more life stages added so that it would go somethin like this:
Baby - Newborn to under a year
Toddler - 1yr to 4yrs
Child - 5yr to 9yr
Preteen - 10 to 13
Teen - 14 to 17
Junior - 18 to 23
Young Adult - 24 to 40
Adult - 41 to 60
Senior - 61 to ...

I like that Cali, get on with modding that for us, okay (imagine smiley imogi right here).

Umm... yeah sure your wish is my command

Err, where do I start? I haz absolutely no knowledge of modding?
:p

I've never liked the idea of a pre-Teen stage. I guess older adults are not too interested in visiting all that again. What would be ideal, I think, would be a game were you could set as many stages as you liked to suit your own interests. Maybe it could be done as a tick list - include the following: <tick tick tick>

Same, what's wrong with child-teen? Pre-teen seems pointless since it's really just child age. Middle age though is sadly lacking since sims jump from a fresh faced 20 to looking 80.

I could see just going from child to teen if children weren't so helpless. I don't like going from "unable to stay home alone to" "able to drive."

I don't really see a need for a built in middle-aged stage, though. A 45 year old isn't that different than a 25 year old, in terms of health, rights and responsibilities.

See, can't make everyone happy as someone always has a different opinion on what they feel is good/bad

I like Jo's suggestion where we'd of had the option to pick what life stages we wanted.

Now if only we could get EA to go back and redo 2 by doin all the things they shoulda did and didn't, while at the same time keepin it the game we love. Yeah, I know.. pipe dream, but isn't the sayin if ya gonna dream then dream big :D

That was maxon's idea, but I vote for that idea for sims 5.

For kids
use a Social Worker mod-then they can be at home
Add in a cooking mod-then they can make themselves cereal and sandwiches.

For teens: Make rules based on age, so don't let new teens drive or take a job.

By middle age I didn't mean new actions I meant a different body shape and older looks. Also some of us are very unhealthy. I always was but things have got a lot harder since I turned 40. I think if you talk to a DR you will find obesity, diabetes and heart conditions are a lot more common after 40.

Ohhh blarghh I don't know why but I constantly get the two of you mixed up. I even looked up to check to see and it was your name I saw.

Must be our charming personality and good looks.

I'm happy having a social worker, in general, to take neglected kids away, so removing that system isn't an option for me. I'm also happy with my CC wrinkles.

Sure, some people are less healthy once they hit 40, but those sorts of ailments are unlikely to make their way into a Sims game, and the average 40 year old can still get around relatively as well as they did 20 years ago.

But it just goes back to not being able to please everyone. I wouldn't be opposed to a middle-aged system, but if we had to choose, my priority would be on things that affect game-play.

I do not look like Jo.

People change significantly as they become older adults. A lot of things but appearance is certainly one of them. I think of the sims as adult from about 20-ish to about 70 or 80 since the elder stage is clearly elderly (I say to my students (international) don't call an older person an elder while you're in the UK or they will be cross - it means a different thing to a Chinese student than it does to me). Anyway, I do find it grating that once my sims start to age they still look like they're kids (by which I mean young adults). People in their 40s, 50s, 60s and so on simply don't look like that. It breaks my suspension of disbelief.

How would pre-teens affect gameplay anyway in a way that middle-age sims wouldn't?

I was, of course, joking. I don't think even the most talented or modders could do that.

If there were preteens, or even if the game handled childhood the way toddler-hood was handled, the game could explore the milestones that are a part of childhood - learning to read, learning to make simple meals, ride bikes, being able to leave the lot on their own, etc.

I can't think of anything that I'd let an adult do that I wouldn't let an older adult do (or the other way around, either). I do agree about wanting a more gradual aging process, but I pretty much take care of that already with CC.