This mod requires Lot 51 core library

This mod is base game compatible, and is enhanced by Parenthood and Growing Together.

Childhood Dreams is a story telling mod where child Sims can write down what they want to become, who their first love might be, what their future self might look like, and the superpower they wish they could have in the future. As they grow up, the mod will track whether they realize those dreams, leave them behind, or decide that they've grown out of them.

Private Journal

To get started, find the Private Journal in Build/Buy under Study -> Indoor Activities. You can use the journal from this mod, or the journal from the Parenthood Game Pack.

When a child Sim clicks on the journal, you will see interactions to write down a dream career, a first love, a future self, and a supernatural fantasy. After the child finishes writing, the dream will appear in that Sim's notebook.

You can open the notebook by clicking the notebook icon in the bottom left. The notebook will also track whether those dreams are still waiting, have come true, or have been left behind.

Dream Career

Child Sims can have a dream career in two ways.

You can manually choose a dream career (support careers from Mods) for them by clicking the Private Journal and selecting Write Down a Dream Career. If you manually choose a career, the dream will be considered self-inspired.

Only non NPC careers meant for adults (OK if teens can join them too), including full-time and part-time careers, will be considered valid dream careers.

Alternatively, a family member can encourage them to think about the future, describe their own career, or answer questions about what their career is like. These interactions can be found under Friendly -> Childhood Dreams.

After that, the child can use the journal interaction Write Down a Dream Career Inspired by Someone.

Only family members (not neccesarily in the same household) can use these interactions by default.

If you want a non-family Sim to inspire a child, you can have the child adopt them as a caregiver if you have Parenthood, or use tyjokr's Recognize as Family mod, or use the custom cheat interactions by shift-clicking on another Sim (with testingcheats on) -> Childhood Dreams -> Allow [Target Sim] to Inspire [The Child Sim] (Added Jul 14, 2026):

If the child writes down a dream career inspired by someone, the mod will look at all valid family members with valid careers and choose one based on a score. Friendship level, whether the family member talked about their career, certain special careers, and deceased family members can all affect this score.

After the child writes for a while, you will receive a notification telling you whether they decided on a dream career, what career they chose, and who inspired them (if it's not self-inspired).

Sims can also "Ask [Child]'s Dream Career." You'll receive a notification:

In Jason's case, his father is deceased, so the notebook remembers his dream as being inspired by the legacy of his dad.

Manually Choose a Sim as Dream Career Inspiration (Added Jun 10, 2026)

Available by clicking the private journal. You can choose a Sim to become the inspiration for a child Sim. Only family members (you can have the child allow that Sim to inspire them by using the cheat interactions of this mod, adopt them as a caregiver if you have Parenthood, use tyjokr's Recognize as Family mod) with valid careers will show up.

Retirement/Decease

For retired Sims, the mod automatically records the career they retired from.

For deceased Sims, the mod records their last known career because Sims leave their job when they die. However, this only works if the mod was installed before their death and they have not been released to the netherworld.

Child Sims do not need to have met a deceased Sim to be inspired by them, as long as they are closely related and that deceased Sim hasn't been released to the netherworld. This includes parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings, and cousins.

Childhood Crush

Child Sims can write down a "first crush" by clicking the journal and choosing a childhood crush. The crush must be a child or teen, and they need at least 15 friendship.

As they grow up, the notebook can track what happened to that first love. Maybe nothing ever comes of it. Maybe they start dating. Maybe they get engaged. Maybe they get married. Or maybe they'll break up, and it becomes a dream once lived.

Dream Future Self & Supernatural Fantasy

A future self is a reward trait (you can already find them in the reward store) the child Sim wishes to have someday. It represents the kind of person they hope to become.

A supernatural fantasy is the occult dream they wish could come true. Maybe they want to become a fairy. Maybe a vampire. Maybe a werewolf, spellcaster, or something else entirely.

These dreams can also be written down through the Private Journal. Wait until the child finishes writing for the choice to be registered.

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Moving On (Added Jun 23, 2026)

Young Adult and older Sims can decide to move on from a childhood dream by clicking on the journal:

This changes an unrealized dream’s status from Still Dreaming to Moved On.

However, this does not stop Sims from completing those dreams later. If a dream comes true, its status will still update normally. The Moved On status only appears when the dream is currently unrealized, where it would otherwise display Still Dreaming or A Dream Once Lived. This gives you a way to show that this Sim has grown out of that childhood dream.

These interactions are only available by clicking the private journal already owned by your Sim (Your Sim should automatically put the journal in their inventory after writing). If it's a new journal, you'll have to claim that journal first by using any available interactions on the journal.

What happened to childhood dreams?

Claire's Story

Claire became an athlete, but had to quit and find another job after an injury. The good news is that she started dating her childhood crush, Sean Kim. Rumor has it that Sean is going to propose to her on their trip to Tartosa.

Adam's Story

Adam joined the Secret Agent career and made Uncle Bryce proud. He also managed to become a "Dokusasori," which surely comes in handy in his line of work.

Jason's Story

Jason followed in his dad's footsteps and became a detective. If only his dad could see it from above...

As far as I know, no one has become a supernatural creature yet! Maybe we should set our sights on something more realistic, lol.

Additional Features:

Config (Added Jun 10, 2026)

You’ll now find a ChildhoodDreams_Settings.cfg file next to the .ts4script file. You can use this file to prevent certain careers from appearing in the dream career picker or being automatically chosen as inspired careers.

Open the config file with a text editor, such as Notepad, then add the tuning IDs of the careers you want to exclude like this:

Save the file when you’re done. Do not use “Save As.” Make sure the config file stays in the same folder as the mod’s .ts4script file; otherwise, a new config file will be generated.

After editing the config, restart the game for the changes to take effect. You can also edit the config before starting the game.

If you don't know the tuning ID of the careers you want to exclude, you can check the beginning of the ChildhoodDreams_Log.txt file, which is also generated in the same folder as the .ts4script file. The log should list all valid dream careers currently found in your game, along with their tuning IDs.

If you don't plan to exclude any careers, just leave the config be, it won't do anything if you don't touch it.

Cheats (Added Jun 23, 2026)

Starting with the Royalty & Legacy patch, custom career creators may need to update their careers from older 64-bit tuning IDs to newer 32-bit tuning IDs to avoid causing issues with the game. When this happens, the game treats the updated career as a different career.

If one of your Sims had a childhood dream career from a custom career that later changes its tuning ID, this mod will no longer be able to recognize the old saved dream career (it will display "A forgotten childhood dream"). The same thing can happen if a custom career is removed, or rebuilt in a way that changes its tuning ID.

If this happens, you can use the repair options to re-choose the Sim’s dream career and career inspiration.

Shift-click on Self (with testingcheats on) and choose the Childhood Dreams pie menu. You’ll see two cheats there: one to choose a self-inspired dream career, and one to choose a dream career inspired by another Sim.

Future Plans:

I plan to add more journal interactions in future updates, allowing Sims to revisit their childhood dreams, reflect on who they have become, and write new entries when the status of a dream changes.

Compatibility:

This mod does not override any in-game resources and is very unlikely to conflict with other mods.

Requirements:

Base Game Compatible (Parenthood and Growing Together recommended but not necessary)

Lot 51 core library

Translations (Download Separately)

French by Heidi (LuniverSims.fr)

German by Zombuk1