New features
New gameplay objects
- Buildems Blocks Play Table
- Bulletin board
- Doctor play sets
- Private journal
- School projects
New gameplay mechanics
Parenthood introduces character values for toddlers, children and teens, and gives parents more control over their offspring. They can be either disciplined or encouraged, both affecting their journey to adulthood. There are five different character values: Manners, Responsibility, Empathy, Conflict Resolution and Emotional Control. Character values appear in the Simology panel for Sims aged toddler to teen. Parents can encourage or discipline their children to help develop these character values. A toddler, child, or teen can affect their own character values by performing certain interactions, such as making a mess or setting the table. If Sims have a high or low enough level in any of the character values, they will receive special traits when they become young adults.
One of the other big changers to children's character values is the new parenting skill. This skill can only be learned by Sims who are young adults or older, and helps them by having more options on raising their children. Parents with this skill can punish their children in many ways ranging from time outs to grounding, where parents can restrict certain activities. However, children can ignore these punishments, negatively affecting their character values. Children will also come to ask their parent or caregiver different questions in the form of chance cards. The higher the parenting skill is with the caregiver, more options will appear that will affect the children's character values. When a child becomes a young adult, they will have a new type of relationship status with their parent, based on how high their friendship meter was during childhood, and how much discipline they received.
Children and teens will now sometimes bring school projects when coming home from school. These projects can be crafted together by family members older than toddlers and can be done either carefully or sloppily. Doing the project either way and with or without help will determine its quality level that are poor, good, and excellent. When children or teens bring the completed projects back to school, their performance will increase.
Toddlers, children, and teens can now experience different types of phases, ranging from picky eaters to Sims who want to dress in a bear costume. The phases are in the form of traits and affect the growing Sims actions greatly. When a Sim enters a phase, a notification will appear telling the player the news. Parents can also ask their children about the phases and will be informed ways to get rid of it.
Over 93 buy and build mode items are introduced in Parenthood, designed as very homey. Bunch of new clothing and hair styles are also included for all ages, along with a brand new aspiration called Super Parent, which is centered around raising up children to adults.
Music
Alternative
- Avid Dancer - Little Bird
Pop
- Sigrid - Don't Kill My Vibe
- Charlton Pettus - Guargadon
- Fickle Friends - Hello Hello
Managing Sibling Rivalries and Family Bulletin Boards
The family bulletin board serves as the central command post for household rules and chore assignments. Parents can set firm curfews for teenagers, post household chore rosters, and pin children's hand-drawn crayon artwork onto the cork surface. When teenagers violate curfew, parents can issue realistic groundings—revoking phone privileges, banning television, or locking them out of computer games.
Helping school-age children construct complex science projects on living room rugs fosters family bonding while ensuring students bring home pristine A grades. Earning positive character values before young adulthood equips teens with enduring personality traits like Good Manners, Responsible, and Compassionate that provide lifelong social advantages.
Navigating emotional mood swings, sibling disputes, and childhood monster under the bed terrors makes Parenthood an indispensable expansion for meaningful, generational family storytelling.
