Baby Expert: Trust Your Neighbors

(Year 234, Spring) - The worst mistake I see in Parenting is taking your children for granted, says baby expert Heidi L. Wooblershield. She claims that babies are a blessing, but not being blessed with them is not the same as being cursed.

- Some of us won't have our own children, but then we might become the greatest resource to someone else's child instead. Raising a new generation is just as much a community matter and that is where we are all equally important!

The Five Units Challenge - Report 35 - The final Rush

It's time for the final report! Will they make it in time? Will Garvin Clump manage to max out skills in painting, cooking, singing and gardening + one more - while granny Donna is still around? Phew, I worry there won't be time enough, but let's try!

Garvin was still only a toddler, and yes you have some steep stairs ahead of you, little boy! Strategy is to focus max on his toddler skills, hopefully that might get him a jump start later.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #15 - Skills

So, this challenge already reached report #15 and Donna is still a teenager? Well, not for much longer! She will grow up during next report, and her dad Abraham becomes old and grey in this report - stay tuned!

This challenge is mostly based on skills - not just random skills, but those based on someone's personality and interests. Donna is forced to max out her dad's Painting skill, and her mom's Cooking skill. In addition she can pick one personal skill, which she will not decide quite yet. Will it be singing? Will her unit of the garden simply contain a karaoke machine?

Donna's main heir will then need to max out all those 3 skills + one personal, and finally the last main sim will need to max out a total of 5 skills... while Donna is still in the house! I'm not even sure that will be possible...

The Five Units Challenge - Report #14 - Sylvia's Unit

It's weekend, and Sammy probably thought that he could make as much noise as he wanted. But seriously - playing the guitar while your siblings are eating breakfast?

Sammy is not very good at playing, some practice will do him good.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #13 - Grown Ups

Guess what - twins grew up to young adults! I forgot to throw a party, it just happened. So, with Rudolph and Sammy ready to start their grown up lives, things might get a little bit more relaxed...

Rudolph seems unhappy, while Sammy is more optimistic. Rudolph's full set of traits is Cheerful, Geek and Jealous, and in addition he is Responsible and Good manners. He got himself a tech job.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #12 - Catching Up

After a break, I'm back with my Five Units Challenge and the Clump family. It's been 4 weeks without playing, and that's all what it takes to forget most anything. I like this family, but I needed some time to get under their skin again, and to catch up with my rules. So, a quick resume might be in place...

This challenge focuses on DNA and skills. The challenge can only be forwarded to a child who has black hair and green eyes, and the main sim must max out all skills previously being focused on in this challenge, as well as one more skill added - based on that main sim's interests, hopefully. At any given time there is one main sim who is restricted to rules, while the rest of the household can live their lives pretty much as desired.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #11 - Donna's Birthday

Knowing these reports are dragging out - you might think how can I possibly keep going for 3 generations (challenge rules), when gen 1 sim is still a child on report 11? Well, good thing is that I will be more familiar with the various Parenting GP routines come next generation. But even better news - Donna will very soon become a teen!

Like seeing for the first time that a child can set a table by free will, is quite cool!

The Five Units Challenge - Report #10 - Into the Wild

With Parenthood GP installed, I'm testing this all through a challenge ongoing for 3 generations. So far the founders raised 4 children, 2 of them are already teens. I like Parenthood GP very much, and it's fun to see that also other installments from community lots to activities get a new flavor. Today they will test yet another feature!

Gathering a family for a group meal is very easy, and they normally sit long enough for some chatting, too.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #09 - First Unit

It's time for another report from the Clump family and my ongoing challenge! Sylvia and Abraham's 4 kids are all going to school, Rudolph and Sammy are teens.

Boys share one bedroom upstairs, while girls Fiona and Donna share another room.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #8 - Teenagers

I'm getting quite addicted to my The Five Units Challenge (rules), in fact I like Parenthood GP so much that The Sims 4 is becoming a good game! There's still a lot to explore, and along the road I also find that there is plenty of content from previous EPs and GPs that I did not try yet.

 All of Sylvia and Abraham's children are now in school, and toddler stuff was set aside. No more potty training, highchairs or tower building in a while.

The extra time allows for Sylvia to get more involved with the garden. There are many plants she would like to add, although she is mainly growing the base species.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #7 - Skill Pondering

Days are very different now that 3 of the 4 children have started school. They take even better care of themselves, and the parenting is more about assisting with skill building and manners than to handle basic care. My challenge has worked well this far, but it's only just started...

Twins Rudolph and Sammy are out playing with a kid that Rudolph met in school, Clara Adrian who lives at Oasis Springs. Fiona is also with them playing, over there by the pirate ship.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #6 - Family Photo

My little challenge goes on and it's time to celebrate! Sylvia maxed out her cooking skills, so cooking will be the theme of her outdoor unit! Because she is first, she can pick any of the 5 prepared slots - they are all free.

The entire family celebrates with a solid serving of mac and cheese. Well, they forgot to place Donna in her highchair, so she ate while seated in the armchair instead.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #5 - On The Move

Life goes on in the Clump family - go here if you like to read about this challenge. Sylvia and Abraham now have 4 kids, and it's quite a handful to tackle! I expected the days to become a tad repetitive, but because the children reach new life stages, there will constantly be new content from the Parenthood GP for me to discover. I really enjoy it all!

Although, I've been thinking of moving this household, more about that below.

Abraham and Sylvia works quite well as a couple. I was a bit worried for Abraham being a Loner, would he coop with such a big family?

The Five Units Challenge - Report #4 - Skills status

My Five Units Challenge goes on, and it's time to consider the founders' main skills as well as the outdoor units they are supposed to build. The household now counts 2 adults, 2 children, 1 toddler and 1 baby. Thanks to the Parenthood GP this will probably become my most hectic household ever.

Everyday is starting to get real hectic for the Clump family. Abraham brings in most money by painting, and thanks to his latest masterpiece selling for nearly §2.000 they were able to expand the house with a new story. Sylvia grows and sells crops, which also brings in some money.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #3 - Growing Household

The Clump family lives on, and in this report from my ongoing challenge twins Rudolph and Sammy will grow up! In future reports there will probably be less pictures per lifestage, but right now I'm enjoying watching the everyday actions of the toddlers, and have to share :)

I'm impressed with how well adults take care of their small children on free will. My only complaint is that when I check what action they are up to, the thumb will not tell, because so many interactions starts with Talk or Walk, etc. I can tell they initiated something, but I'm not able to see whether I should interrupt them or if it's the action I wanted them to perform.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #2 - First Real Family

My little challenge for this summer/fall moves on rapidly, and twins just grew up, yay! Abraham and Sylvia had twins, and now seeing their genetics is quite exciting.

The toddlers seem to behave calmly and with manners, but I guess that will change soon enough? It's been a while since toddlers were introduced to TS4, but I hardly had time to play them until now.

The Five Units Challenge - Report #1 - Founders getting Started

I'm not having the time currently to play my games as much and detailed as I would like, so instead of random and quick visits to my ongoing hoods, I figured I'll run a smaller new TS4 challenge, allowing me to test the Parenthood gamepack. So, here's a few pictures from my new attempt at the Five Units Challenge. Find the rules here if you want to check it out!

I created Abraham Clump and Sylvia Rotting in CAS. They look quite ordinary, but according to rules a few details were given my attention. A small house was built and I was actually surprised how easy it was to get a decent starter home. I expected that their start funds would not give them a quite spacious home, but that they would need to stress a while to get the essentials.

The Five Units Challenge

I'm running a challenge and here is the set-up and rules, in case you like to do something similar.

My founders Abraham and Sylvia just moved in. Follow them on this blog - #thefiveunitschallenge.

I will post reports from my version of this challenge summer and fall, starting this July.