🌻GROWING PAINS 2.0🌻{PREVIEW}

They sure do grow up, don't they?

Hey Everybody it's Jordy here with an update to my Growing Pains Mod!!!!!!!!

It's been a while since we've seen an actual update to this mod and for good reason! I wanted to work more on interactions between sims as that's something I don't really focus on with my other mods. That is why this update may feel very interaction heavy. The idea was to give more depth to this mod overall and I think you'll like what I've done.

REMEMBER YOUR VALUES:

The debut post of Growing Pains introduced the Family Values Traits that your sims could obtain from the Rewards store. As promised, I wanted to expand on those existing traits!

As a quick refresher there are 3 Family Values:

1) Wellness

2) Education

3) Creativity

With this update, each trait was given interactions, wants/wishes and a variety of buffs! I'm not going to list every one of them but i added roughly 20+ interactions combined! Some of these interactions come with buffs, notifications or both! Some are just for storytelling!

HOW NURTURING:

Introducing or I guess possibly (Re)introducing the Nurturing Trait! If you've ever played the Sims 3 you might remember this trait showing up in a well known possibly the most famous expansion pack EVER (GENERATIONS)! I thought Growing Pains would be the PERFECT mod to bring this back to the game. So yes, Sims can now be Nurturing in a way. They'll spend more time focusing on kids and they can learn the parenting skill at a faster pace! Expect them to have a better long lasting relationship with their kids! Nurturing Sims have their own Wants as well!

EMPTY NESTING:

I wanted to add more storytelling elements to the mod which is why I'm bringing in the Empty Nest Syndrome. This is exclusively to Nurturing Sims!

Depending on certain interactions (Both In game and with Growing Pains Interactions), Nurturing Sims will potentially gain the Empty Nest Syndrome Trait! ETA: To not overwhelm any one, I've reduced the chance of a nurturing sim getting ENS!

In-Game Interactions:

1) Tucking Child/Toddler into bed

2) Reading a Book to a Child or Toddler

3) Researching Parenting Methods (Parenthood)

4) Teaching Child to Say Sorry or Please and Thank You (Parenthood)

5) Loving Hug

6) Best Hug Ever (Growing Together)

7) Asking Kids About School

But no worries! I've added some methods to help keep your sims from feeling the blues for too long. They can do things such as joining a ENS Support group, Calling up a ENS Hotline or Research about ENS on how to deal with it! But be warned there's a chance it won't go away!

CAREER APTITUDE:

For Sims that need a little "push" on figuring out what career may best suit them, Teens & Young Adults, can take a career aptitude test either online or via rabbithole!

The results of the test will be delivered via notification 48 Hours after taking the test and the results will show which career your sims might be suited for! Results are random but things like traits or skills can really change which results you end up getting!

PRESCHOOL DAZE ARE HERE AGAIN:

The Preschool Module has now seen an update as well! Something that I wanted to do but wasn't quite sure how to make it happen was a place for infants to go to daycare and they can!

The Gentle Lullabies Nursery School is solely for infants! This school has the same hours as the other preschools but infants will only be gone for 5 hours. There's a chance they'll start working on their milestones while they're away!

Chance Cards have also been added! In the future, I'll add school specific ones! To make things more interesting some results are more likely to occur based on toddler's traits and some choices are added based on traits or quirks (Growing Together required).

Speaking of Chance Cards....There's now a chance your little bundles may get the opportunity to "graduate" and age up! If you're not ready for them to age up you can always opt out of it. (Hint: The chances of getting this chance card grow higher the closer your toddler gets to their birthday)

They'll even earn a buff from it:

Some new interactions have been added such as being able to Discuss Sending Toddler's to preschool, Research local daycare centers and asking Toddler's how preschool was! Notifications and/or buffs will be the end result:

(Research Daycare Centers interaction on PC)

Also some minor tuning was changed so sims aren't gaining their skill levels too fast! However the specialized schools will still show a higher skill increase. I've also added a notification so you'll know when a toddler is leaving/returning home!

NEW MODULES ON THE MOVE

That's right! I've got not one but two new modules for Growing Pains coming...well sort of!

The idea is for me to have a soft launch for the modules to get feedback and see what you're all thinking for the official releases! This update overall was more focused on the interactions so part of that are the two modules I have planned: Little Wonders & Oldtimers! Little Wonders will focus on younger sims (infants, toddlers & kids) and then Oldtimers as you can guess will focus on gameplay for Elders! These are modules that will come out hopefully sometime next year because i'm still figuring out what i want to bring to these modules and i'd also like your input as well! For now, the modules will be part of the CORE file (main file) but when they officially release next year they will have their own files!

The Little Wonders module has a few interactions:

1) Ask About Getting a Pet

2) Play Pretend with Imaginary Friend (Requires Growing Together)

3) Complain About Chores

4) Brag about Imaginary Friend

5) Brag about Good Grades (Must be at least a B student)

6) Lie about Good Grades ( Must have a D Grade or Lower)

The Oldtimer Module has a few interactions as well:

1) Reminisce Menu:

a) Reminisce about Good Times

b) Reminisce about Bad Times

2) Demand Respect

3) Ask When You're Having Kids

Examples:

(Please Note, I understand that the term "old-timer" subjectively has negative connotations associated with it, I would like to express that i no way, shape or form am using this term to bring any harm when naming the module, it is simply used in a generalized way. )

A PREGNANT PAUSE

Pregnancy related interactions have finally been added to Growing Pains! I've added some interactions for pregnant sims and their family members/friends when interacting!

One "feature" that I created was Sympathy Pains also known as Sympathy Pregnancy! Whenever your pregnant sims use one of the interactions ("Explain Pregnancy Symptoms) there's a chance that their partners may get a Sympathy Pains buff! Typically the moodlet lasts for a few hours and sims may experience symptoms like nausea or back pain to name a few!

Parents both New & Parental Professionals can now access the PB&J's NooBoo Essentials Website!

This will be a central hub for parents/caregivers who want to research different names, learning different parenting techniques and can even buy new supplies (an interaction that has since been revised and improved)

(Sims will need to sign up for an account before being able to access the website's features)

NAMESAKES

I think I mentioned baby names, right? Well an idea that popped into my head was the importance of having a name and to add some gameplay to it, expecting parents can actually decide to name their future nooboos after another sim!

To make it extra special, sims will get a sentiment from this and buffs:

Future plans for this will include more gameplay for Namesakes!

Pregnant Sims can "Daydream About Baby's Future" (Self interaction) which grants a moodlet!

TIME TO TUTOR

Something that occured to me that we don't have is the ability to have a tutor! That's right, sims can now hire a private tutor for their kids! This one was a bit of a challenge cause I'd never made a custom hireable NPC before so it came with some of its own challenges and learning how they work basically! BUT enough with all that so how does it work?

With any hireable service, you just go to the "Hire Service" section in your phone and there you will find the hire tutor option:

The Game will announce when a tutor is on the way and will actually chat with your kids and teens and yes even help them with their homework autonomously! To keep the tutor from being there forever but also keep them from leaving too early in case you have a lot of kids that need help with homework (I see you 100 Baby Challenge Simmers) the tutor will only be around for about 3 hours at a time!

Note: In order for the tutors to do their job, kids will need to start doing their homework first and the tutor will walk over to help them!

If you own Parenthood, Tutors will also help with School Projects as well! (Just Be sure to ask nicely first!)

OH THE NEW PLACES WE WILL GO

The Quality Time Interaction has seen some slight new changes in the mix! I've added 4 new locations for families to hang out! Some come with new buffs!

MORE CHANGES!?

Yes my friends we have some changes that were much needed! For instance, a lot of the places gave your sims HUGE boosts in their skills but I've basically toned them WAY down so you're not jumping to Gardening Level 7 after 3 hours berry picking anymore!

The Ask If Following On Simstagram has some new reactions!

Back to School Shopping will no longer need Seasons! You can go at any time friends!

NEW PHONE ICON:

Afterschool Clubs have some new improvements as well! When Kids attend certain clubs they may come home with things like new paintings, books maybe even a new gaming console???

(Sims in the Writers Club may now come home with children's books)

(Pixel Arena Members can receive gaming consoles)

MORE INTERACTIONS:

I managed to sneak in some new interactions outside of the Family Values traits!

KEEP IT CAMP:

I feel like I left teens out a lot in this update (mainly because they were the focus during the first go around) but I didn't want them to be completely left out! With that being said, I offer you a new career for your Teens!

Teens can now become Camp Counselors! The Career has 3 Levels!

BUSY BUSY BUSY

A Special Addon is something I've been doing called the Busy Bee Parenting League! This is an optional addon that grants a new set of custom OddJobs for your sims! The Busy Bee Parenting League offers some different things:

To include some more cross pack features, I've added some gigs that will require other packs to work! For the most part this addon is BGC! This Addon will require my READ ALL ABOUT IT File to work!

This Update feels a little bit more fuller now that I've graced myself from my original deadline. There are so many more ideas I've got in store for Growing Pains and this update is just the start! So expect this mod to only get bigger and better in the future!

Thank you all so much for this journey we're on! As always I've got my eyes on what to do for V3 but I left an easter egg in this update! (Hint: Check One of the new Interactions that's NOT from a Family Value)

💜DOWNLOAD HERE 💜

💼MOD REQUIREMENTS 💼

~LOT's CORE LIBRARY

~READ ALL ABOUT IT MOD (For Busy Bee Parenting)

📝 GENERAL NOTES/FAQ 

~Having an Issue with the Mod? SUBMIT A FORM

~Ask in the Modfixit Chat

🕰️ EARLY ACCESS DATES 🕰️

~Vault Tier: NOW

~Cowplant Tier: 9/4

~Public Access: 9/18