Kids shouldn't be cleaning autonomously.... «12...Next Go

bixters

I posted a thread similar to this a couple years ago, but it seems like the devs didn't really care...So.....

This needs to stop.
When I was a kid, I don't recall EVER willingly washing the dishes, taking out the trash, or cleaning of my own free will. My parents would have to train me to do these things.
Why do the sim children do these things autonomously? It doesn't make sense. Parents should train their kids to clean, they shouldn't just do it on their own. In the real world, parents clean up after their kids, NOT the other way around
This is so annoying and immersion breaking. It also makes the game too easy.

Can we please stop having this annoying, unrealistic and immersion breaking autonomous action cancelled??

And yes, I am annoyed by this. I hate having to cancel my kids' actions when they attempt to take out the trash autonomously. I was actually so irritated that I exited out of the game and made this post.

Let kids be kids, not MINIATURE ADULTS. THANKS!!!!

Edit: And I'm not saying that all kids should be slobs. What I'm saying is that not all kids should autonomously clean, like they currently do in game. The only one who should clean autonomously are kids with the Neat or Proper traits.

Kathykins

Sims should only clean autonomously if they are Neat, perhaps also Proper. Any other trait I can't remember right now...? That also means Vlad won't do your dishes/remove trash when he comes for a midnight snack. Another small example, my sim got a visit from a friend today. Before my sim could start talking, the visitor was headed for the downstairs bathroom. There was a small puddle of water that I missed earlier. They are usually also very quick with cleaning out bad food from the fridge.

I think they should tune ALL sims, not just children. The autonomy for cleaning is way too high.

Also, not all kids are the same. I loved helping my mother with her housework.

Calico45

Some kids do clean on their own at times. A rare specimen, yes, but some have associated it with "being an adult." Usually when they are young enough to be really poor at it. I thought it was still somewhat ridiculous myself until I saw the faux cleaning toys. *shrug*

More commonly speaking, I certainly tried to clean on my own if I thought I was going to get in trouble. The kid that makes and mess and doesn't try to hide it is the odd one to me.

Daravi

When I was a child I took out the trash on my free will. From a pool of family chores that was the easiest and fastest task so far, it existed less waste then and it was done in less than 5 minutes. I was not that stupid. I know if I would complain about it, my parents would have given me something else to do, which would definitely have cost more time or has to done more often.

StrawberryYogurt

I think this is a you thing lol...some kids are neat. Others are sloppy. All need direction and teaching generally by parents but youre leaving no room for personalities. Besides maybe a toddler wont autoclean but a child would, assuming they've been trained/learned from adults to do so. There isnt gradual aging so at child stage, you should clean up on your own, just not the entire house. Kids do clean. Even a messy cat will lick its own behind 🤣

SnowBnuuy

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's 'unrealistic' for a child to do their own cleaning or tidying up. Not every kid grew up the same way you did, all kids have a different experience. For example, some kids might do it to try and be 'grown up', it was part of why I tried to help out around the house when I was younger because back then I wanted to be like a grown up and help my family out. Parents don't always clean up after their kids, either; there are plenty of parents who will encourage their children to tidy up now and again where possible, to encourage a sense of responsibility into the child. In fact there are plenty of parents who do very little for their children as well.

I'd argue that childhood isn't all just playtime and having fun, learning to be more responsible is just as big a part of growing up as going out to play and such. It makes sense for a kid to possibly try and copy what the parents do without necessarily being 'trained' to do it, trying to be a 'grown up'.

It's not necessarily that the devs 'don't care' about the feedback posts. It's a harsh truth, but we must realise as players that we won't always get what we want and that we won't always get noticed when there's so many players talking about what they want from the game. If only a few players have an issue with something it's unlikely any change will be made. All I can suggest is looking for a mod that might disable it for you, or see if you can request someone to make one somewhere possibly.

bixters

Calico45 wrote: »

Some kids do clean on their own at times. A rare specimen, yes, but some have associated it with "being an adult." Usually when they are young enough to be really poor at it. I thought it was still somewhat ridiculous myself until I saw the faux cleaning toys. *shrug*

More commonly speaking, I certainly tried to clean on my own if I thought I was going to get in trouble. The kid that makes and mess and doesn't try to hide it is the odd one to me.

Yes, I agree some kids do clean on their own, but usually not without the guidance of a parent and without prompting from a parent. I don't think it is realistic that ALL kids clean in the game autonomously.


And do we not have a Neat Trait for those specific kids that like to clean??

bixters

StrawberryYogurt wrote: »

I think this is a you thing lol...some kids are neat. Others are sloppy. All need direction and teaching generally by parents but youre leaving no room for personalities. Besides maybe a toddler wont autoclean but a child would, assuming they've been trained/learned from adults to do so. There isnt gradual aging so at child stage, you should clean up on your own, just not the entire house. Kids do clean. Even a messy cat will lick its own behind 🤣

ALL kids in the game clean autonomously. How is that realistic? It's not. I would be fine if only some kids cleaned, but ALL of them do it autonomously.
So no....it's not just a me thing. I'd just like a game where kids in my game act like kids, where, like you said, some of them clean and some of them don't.
At the moment, all kids will clean autonomously, regardless of their traits or what their parent teaches them.

bixters

Kathykins wrote: »

Sims should only clean autonomously if they are Neat, perhaps also Proper. Any other trait I can't remember right now...? That also means Vlad won't do your dishes/remove trash when he comes for a midnight snack. Another small example, my sim got a visit from a friend today. Before my sim could start talking, the visitor was headed for the downstairs bathroom. There was a small puddle of water that I missed earlier. They are usually also very quick with cleaning out bad food from the fridge.

I think they should tune ALL sims, not just children. The autonomy for cleaning is way too high.

Also, not all kids are the same. I loved helping my mother with her housework.

I agree, they should only do these things autonomously if they have the trait for it. And, I agree that the autonomy in this game is bonkers

MoonlightGraham

Some thoughts from my daughter, who's reading as I type to make sure I get her points across correctly.

"I will definitely do some housework on my own. I hate it when my room is too messy or cluttered, so I'll make my bed, put my clothes away, and dust. I don't mind rearranging my closet. I like cleaning the bathroom I use the least, but I love it when it's clean. I feel good when I finish these tasks, too. I wasn't really 'taught' to tidy up my room. I just like it that way.

"I really enjoy caring for our pets. I feed our dog and cats, brush them, and walk our dog. I don't really like cleaning the litter boxes, but I can't stand it when they aren't clean.

"I have been putting away clean dishes as long as I've been old enough. I'm better at it than Dad is.

"I'll also do more housework if I am trying to get (or stay) on Mom & Dad's good side.

"However, I will not clean your grill or take out your trash if I visit your house."

-Z, age 12

bixters

SnowBnuuy wrote: »

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's 'unrealistic' for a child to do their own cleaning or tidying up. Not every kid grew up the same way you did, all kids have a different experience. For example, some kids might do it to try and be 'grown up', it was part of why I tried to help out around the house when I was younger because back then I wanted to be like a grown up and help my family out. Parents don't always clean up after their kids, either; there are plenty of parents who will encourage their children to tidy up now and again where possible, to encourage a sense of responsibility into the child. In fact there are plenty of parents who do very little for their children as well.

I'd argue that childhood isn't all just playtime and having fun, learning to be more responsible is just as big a part of growing up as going out to play and such. It makes sense for a kid to possibly try and copy what the parents do without necessarily being 'trained' to do it, trying to be a 'grown up'.

It's not necessarily that the devs 'don't care' about the feedback posts. It's a harsh truth, but we must realise as players that we won't always get what we want and that we won't always get noticed when there's so many players talking about what they want from the game. If only a few players have an issue with something it's unlikely any change will be made. All I can suggest is looking for a mod that might disable it for you, or see if you can request someone to make one somewhere possibly.

I agree that childhood is a time when kids are supposed to learn how to take care of themselves and be responsible. That's why we have the Parenthood pack, so Parents can teach their children these things.
If kids just autonomously clean, what is the point of that pack? They aren't learning anything. They instantly know it as soon as the game programs it in their heads.

I would be fine if kids would make mistakes while cleaning and have to grow to be better at it. But as it is, it doesn't make much sense. All kids will just autonomously clean regardless of their traits.

I think this "feature" just plays into Sims 4 weaknesses, it's lack of depth and general easiness compared to previous iterations.

bixters

MoonlightGraham wrote: »

Some thoughts from my daughter, who's reading as I type to make sure I get her points across correctly.

"I will definitely do some housework on my own. I hate it when my room is too messy or cluttered, so I'll make my bed, put my clothes away, and dust. I don't mind rearranging my closet. I like cleaning the bathroom I use the least, but I love it when it's clean. I feel good when I finish these tasks, too. I wasn't really 'taught' to tidy up my room. I just like it that way.

"I really enjoy caring for our pets. I feed our dog and cats, brush them, and walk our dog. I don't really like cleaning the litter boxes, but I can't stand it when they aren't clean.

"I have been putting away clean dishes as long as I've been old enough. I'm better at it than Dad is.

"I'll also do more housework if I am trying to get (or stay) on Mom & Dad's good side.

"However, I will not clean your grill or take out your trash if I visit your house."

-Z, age 12

And you trained her to do all those things. Since you are her parent. I don't think as soon as she turned 5 she was instantly doing these things herself.

Simmingal

hard disagree. my parents are very slob and i became neat as response to seeing the chaos so its very possible kid might do that on their own without anyone telling them to

but i would like if guests didn't autonomously go clean my house and take care of my trash cause its somehow failing the mood of my fancy parties

and that goes for guest kids as well though its slightly more realistic that ill mannered kid might go do nonsense things in your house

slobs also definitely should never clean after themselves kid or not

bixters

Simmingal wrote: »

hard disagree. my parents are very slob and i became neat as response to seeing the chaos so its very possible kid might do that on their own without anyone telling them to

but i would like if guests didn't autonomously go clean my house and take care of my trash cause its somehow failing the mood of my fancy parties

and that goes for guest kids as well though its slightly more realistic that ill mannered kid might go do nonsense things in your house

Wouldn't just adding the Neat trait be an easy fix for that? Cleaning is still something kids need to learn from somewhere, they don't just magically start cleaning.

FatTribble23

I do agree with you @bixters. While I was a neat kid who didn't have to be told to clean my room, I didn't and still don't like messiness, I didn't wash dishes or clean the tub unless I was told, though. It's quite unrealistic that all kids clean autonomously. Improving kids is on the top of my wish list for sims 4. Give them more to do, and make them more like kids, dang it!

bixters

FatTribble23 wrote: »

I do agree with you @bixters. While I was a neat kid who didn't have to be told to clean my room, I didn't and still don't like messiness, I didn't wash dishes or clean the tub unless I was told, though. It's quite unrealistic that all kids clean autonomously. Improving kids is on the top of my wish list for sims 4. Give them more to do, and make them more like kids, dang it!

Thank you I'm glad you understood and agree with my post.
I was recently playing in an apartment, and despite having different toys and activities for kids to do, they chose to keep cleaning. It was very annoying. The fact that all kids feel the need to clean is unrealistic.
Kids definitely need more activities to do, because I just get bored playing with them.

MoonlightGraham

I wasn't aware that all young Sims cleaned autonomously. I'm a teacher, so I see lots of kids who are about the age my daughter is now. Some are neat, and some are sloppy. Most are somewhere in between. Many won't pick up something they drop, and some have no problem creating messes, either carelessly or deliberately.

I agree that it's not something every Sim child should do. In fact, most shouldn't. Nor should all Adult sims do this. There ought to be a range of behaviors, from Neat Sims who enjoy cleaning to those who actively make messes and leave you to clean them up.

Rouensims

I like it when my young Sims clean. 😅

bixters

MoonlightGraham wrote: »

I wasn't aware that all young Sims cleaned autonomously. I'm a teacher, so I see lots of kids who are about the age my daughter is now. Some are neat, and some are sloppy. Most are somewhere in between. Many won't pick up something they drop, and some have no problem creating messes, either carelessly or deliberately.

I agree that it's not something every Sim child should do. In fact, most shouldn't. Nor should all Adult sims do this. There ought to be a range of behaviors, from Neat Sims who enjoy cleaning to those who actively make messes and leave you to clean them up.

Yes, all sims will clean autonomously. (except those with the Slob trait, apparently- haven't tested it myself) I'm not sure if I wasn't clear in my original post.
I think that autonomous actions should be based on their Traits, Likes, and Lifestyles, not because of the game's programming. Right now, all sims are programmed to do cleaning autonomously.
I think only sims with the Proper and Neat traits should clean autonomously.

Seeing all kids in my game autonomously cleaning is especially jarring. Some of them might enjoy cleaning, but others should be playing and doing traditional "kid stuff".
We have the pack Parenthood, which is about parents teaching their kids to be responsible. But, if kids just clean instantly, there's no point to the pack at all.
It just adds to my annoyance with how bereft of content Kids are in the game. They barely have anything to do, and then the game programs them to clean? It totally breaks my immersion.

Wolfnightsinger

I don't have this problem, but I wish I did. Unless I specifically give my Sims the neat or proper traits, they rarely clean up after themselves. Puddle on the floor? Let me whine about it and walk away. Without cleaning it up.

Most of my Sim children are the source of the messes and they never clean it up.

I'd happily trade for cleaner Sim kids.

troshalom

@bixters I disagree - If you have seasons the autonomous cleaning helps them form scout badges.
If you want slobs get parenthood they will sling paint everywhere

Also kids learn from watching as much as someone teaching. So if parents are neat, kids are neat and vice versa.

Babykittyjade

ALL sims should stop cleaning unless they are neat. Drives me crazy that all sims get up to wash their own dishes after eating and it makes chores useless.
It's not just a child issue. My friends literally go around cleaning my house all day. Let me be a slob in peace lol
I made a post about this before but no one seemed to think it was a problem....
And yes I tried mods. Doesn't work. I tried atleast 3 different ones and they still get up to do their own dishes.

babajayne

I think it’s so weird that children who are guests will stop watching TV to go take out the garbage or clear the dishes from the table in the next room. I don’t care if you’re a neat freak, no kid does that.

Why can’t the kids just relax and hang out with their friends?

I use Bienchen’s mods to stop the autonomous cleaning.

TARDISgrade

As far as I remember, the children in my game never clean up (nor do the teens) autonomously (even when they have joined the scouts and should feel motivated to earn that badge).

Some of my adults, however, do clean up autonomously - in spite of not having the neat trait and autonomy being always disabled in my game.

Amapola76

I don't know, I don't mean this in a snarky way, but have you spent much time around toddlers or small children in real life? Most of the ones I've known (ours, nieces and nephews, godchildren, friends' kids, kids I've babysat, etc.), both boys and girls, have always loved to play at cleaning from a pretty early age, were absolutely fascinated by the vacuum cleaner, begged to help sweep, etc. And I wouldn't exactly call myself a domestic goddess, so I don't think it's just that they're following my stellar example.

bixters

troshalom wrote: »

@bixters I disagree - If you have seasons the autonomous cleaning helps them form scout badges.
If you want slobs get parenthood they will sling paint everywhere

Also kids learn from watching as much as someone teaching. So if parents are neat, kids are neat and vice versa.

With Parenthood, they will sling paint everywhere, but then they'll clean it up themselves, making it practically useless.

I don't believe there's any correlation between neat parents and neat kids in the game. Traits have almost zero impact on how children behave. Children will clean regardless of their own traits or their parents.