Sims2: The Taraldsen family

Trygve Taraldsen and his toddler daughter Taitje moved to Bluewater Village from a neighbourhood very, very far away.  They've been living off their savings, but now that Taitje is starting school, Trygve is thinking about a way to make money.  He is thinking of cooking and selling specialty dishes from his homeland, like his grandmother's fiskesuppe and pannekaken.  Here he is reading cookbooks to plan out his cooking, as well as fire safety - compared to most Sims, he is concerned about fires, and plans to get Taitje to read up on it as well.  Even if she can't handle a fire extinguisher on her own, he figures it's good for her to know sooner rather than later.

On her very first day of school, Taitje brought a new friend, Pippin, home.  He just got off the bus with her, and he lives close enough that he can walk home when they're done playing. 

Yes, I actually have someone named Trygve Taraldsen in my family tree.  He was born in 1890 in Grimstad, Norway; emigrated to the US; and died in 1943 in Brooklyn, New York.  I don't actually know what his daughter's names were, or even if he had any, but I do have a Taitje Tappen born in 1740 in New York state, so I figured that was close enough for my purposes.

Children very often bring friends home on the bus, depending on how friendly and outgoing they are.  I used to get them to do various interactions with their friends, like sharing interests or playing "Mary Mack" or tag.  However, I've discovered that over time their favourite, which almost every child loves, is playing "cops and robbers", which is what Taitje and Pippin are doing here. 

Here's another example of the thought that went into the game, that I appreciate.  There are two kinds of interactions in the game; time-limited, and ongoing.  For example, if I direct a Sim to talk to another one with "About Hobby..." or "Gossip", that takes a certain amount of time, then it is done.  Sorry if this sounds simplistic, but it's important in multi-Sim households.  I can give one Sim up to eight directions at a time, and they all stack up at the top of the screen when that Sim is selected.  I can go on to some other Sim in the household, knowing that they will do the things I asked them to do (with some exceptions, of course!).  The other type of interaction is ongoing.  If I ask a Sim to talk to another Sim with "Chat" or "Hang Out", that interaction will not end on its own.  It's perfect for a time when I want to build a lot of relationship between two Sims, and I don't want to ask them to "Gossip" twenty times.  I can still stack up more interactions after that, but when I'm ready for them to move on, I cancel the interaction in progress by clicking on it.  Sims will stop on their own if their needs for hunger or sleep get too bad and they get angry with me.

Just to keep things interesting, Sims won't necessarily do what you tell them to do, or expect them to do.  If you direct them to do something like do homework or play chess and their needs are not met, they'll tell you that they're NOT in the mood to do that right now, and they'll drop the direction.  If they can't get to the item they need or another Sim is in the way, they'll also drop the action; and how hard they try before giving up is dependent on their personality and what kind of mood they're in.  Sometimes they'll try to do what you directed, but not follow through; this happens most often with washing dogs (who will often run away) or changing diapers.  So for those things, I know I need to keep an eye on them until it's done, if I really care about it getting done.  (I care more about diapers than dogs, obviously, but the dogs can get annoying the way they keep hanging around, shaking their heads and flapping their ears around, whining with green stink wafting off them.)