Pregnancy & Family Preferences & Impact – a Sims 4 mod

(Relationship & Pregnancy Overhaul, mod #1)

Pregnancy / Family Preferences and Pregnancy Interactions

——- Family Preferences: wants children, doesn’t, or neutral ——

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Assignment of Family Preferences

All Sims age young adult – adult are automatically given pregnancy preferences (wants children, neutral, does not want children). Sims who hate children always auto-get ‘dosn’t want children’ – and the opposite is true for Sims who are family-oriented.
Preferences can be changed at any time, for the played Sim in the Pregnancy & Family menu, for any other Sim, by clicking on them and going to “Actions” then “RPO Special Actions”.
Preferences can be given manually to teens. If the teen module is installed and a teen who has no assigned preference gets pregnant they are automatically given the ‘Doesn’t Want Children” preference.

Effect of Family Preferences

Preferences affect reaction to pregnancy (one’s own or a partner’s)
Preferences affect all trimester moodlets
Preferences determine which of the new interactions of this mod are available or not during pregnancy
Preferences determine reactions to the new interactions of this mod
Preferences control whether or not certain moodlets should appear during pregnancy and around partners.
Preferences affect reactions to paternity test results
Preferences affect the relationship with the child.
Clashing preferences in a couple will cause serious tensions when a pregnancy happens.
Matching preferences in a couple will make for a harmonious situation.

Interactions

Pregnancy Interactions for All Sims, Regardless of Preference

Go to Birth Class
(Ask to) go to Early Parenthood Class
Worry about Providing for the Baby
Worry about putting on Pregnancy Weight
Organise to provide for the baby
Go Buy Something for Upcoming Baby
Ask about Pregnancy:

Go to the Doctor for Pregnancy Test:

Additional Interactions for Sim Who Don’t Want Children

Announce Unwanted Pregnancy
Bemoan not having used protection
Discuss hopelessness about future with baby
(Ask to) go to counselling for unwnated pregnancy
Discuss terminating the Pregnancy

Additional Interactions for Sims who want children

Share Big News
Talk about baby room decration
Enthuse about pregnancy

Sims who are neutral have only the interactions available to all.

Moodlets

Moodlets that can be obtained from using during-pregnancy interactions, being in proximity to a partner or just because of being pregnant vary upon pregnancy preferences. See image gallery for examples.

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OTHER PREFERENCES: being pregnant, having siblings, having grandchildren, etc

Preference about Physically Being Pregnant

Info to be written.

Preference about having siblings

Preference about having grandchildren

Info to be written.

Preference about Offspring Expressed Gender

So, let’s talk about a feature which has been requested again and again and again. That is, preferences for ‘baby gender’. I didn’t want to do it the classic way because a. classic sex preferences are a historically charged topic that has caused oppression of women and b, to so;e co;;unities it can be offensive.

So I preferred to think about what those preferences even mean and are about, and make something from there.

So, we end up with a attempt here to create a bridge. This model incorporates an idea of personality and an idea of gender, by being formulated around expression (what the child might be like gender-wise and what that could mean for their personality).

A baby is a baby. A parent doesn’t care about what genitals a baby has, they care about what they assume about the child based on their biological sex – ie, they care about personality. It is always at least a bit misguided to try to deduce a future personality from a biological sex (not all girls are going to be sweet and like barbies even if they’re cisgender), BUT it’s a thing people do regardless.

SO. This is NOT about the baby’s gender identity as of that lifestage (a baby can’t even recognize its own reflection, after all), it’s about what a parent thinks a child will be like in the future, based on what the parent assumes from the link they might make, warranted or not, between bio sex and stereotypical personality associated with gender.

———– Effects After Birth + Acceptance System —————-

Unwanted Child Acceptance or Rejection

Pregnancy Acceptance

Unwanted Pregnancy Acceptance Process

This is a tough topic, and although I tried my best to remain sensitive about it, I am aware it may be of an upsetting nature to some people. If it is upsetting for you, and you believe I handled the topic poorly, please contact me as I would like to hear you out.

_____

This plays out in two ways.First, there is a process during pregnancy, which can lead to acceptance. Then, if no acceptance happens during pregnancy, the baby is born as unwanted, but another process can then take place to grow to love the baby.

1. During pregnancy acceptance possibilities

Interactions such as counseling, birth classes, etc, as well as discussing pregnancy with partners who see it in a more happy way, all have the ability to make a Sim closer to be able to be at peace with the pregnancy in question. There are a few new interactions as well, which I won’t list for now so I’m not spoiling everything.

Sims will NOT autonomously accept a pregnancy; once they are ready to do so, it still comes to the player to decide. Because I don’t want to take the storytelling power out of your hands.

(text will be improved; this Sim was engaged in various activities that helped them make the baby more real and pre-bond with it and therefore can try to make peace with their unwanted pregnancy).

If peace is made during the pregnancy, things will change. Pregnancy moodlets will show that this is an accepted pregnancy STARTING AT THE NEXT TRIMESTER (I don’t think I can safely change them in the middle of a trimester, I will try once everything else is fully finished, but I’d rather tell you it will be at the next trimester so that if I find out I can’t, you won’t be disappointed).

The Sim will not anymore get pangs of sadness about being pregnant. They will also gain the ability to do some interactions that were reserved to neutral and happy pregnancies. If pregnancy is accepted pre-birth, a sentiment is gained towards the baby at birth:

2. Post pregnancy acceptance possibilities

Could be that your Sim didn’t manage to make peace with the pregnancy. What then? The baby gets born with a negative sentiment… This sentiment will not budge until it is replaced with a happy sentiment or until acceptance has happened – happier sentiments won’t be able to be added until the child is at least of toddler age.

The Sim will struggle to interact with the baby. Doing so will give moodlets always during and after sometimes after the interaction.

This moodlet is also the one that will appear from time to time near a toddler or child with the “Unwanted Child” sentiment.
Sometimes, for an hour or two after having interacted with the baby, the Sim will not be able to be directed to do so again, except to feed the baby and change diaper, which are necessary things to do.

(I use a cheat included in the mod to trigger giving birth and my Sim happened to be in the bathroom, which is why the bassinet is in this awkward place; sorry!)At this point, there still remains a path to acceptance.

“Attempt to Bond” will have the Sim interact with the baby. There is a chance that this interaction may create acceptance, in which case the negative sentiment will leave. This interaction is NOT autonomous, as once again, I wish to leave storytelling power in your hands. So, yes, a Sim still can never grow to accept a pregnancy / birth if that’s what the story is. Such things happen in life…

Toddler age and beyondIf the negative sentiment is still there by toddler age, it will have impact there too. If no peace is made and the toddler grows to be a child, there too should be an impact. This is the part that I am yet to do – toddler age and beyond. ___________