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It's rare that a game reminds its players that time is passing like The Sims does. The latest part of the series, The Sims 4, continues with this trend and allows you to play with Sims of different ages - babies, infants, toddlers, children, teenagers, young adults, adults, and elders. And just like in real life - the Sims also age (unless you switch their aging off in the settings).

Related: The Sims 4: Every Life Stage And How Long They Last

However, there are sometimes circumstances in which you may wish for certain Sims to age faster. The more common option is to age the Sims up, but there's also a possibility to age them down, even though that's not as popular. Each method is different and some of them are faster than others - but all should work.

Updated On March 30, 2023, By Helen Ashcroft: As The Sims 4 continues to expand with Growing Together there are now more reasons than ever before to take control of your Sim's age. This expansion gives all life stages milestones to achieve, meaning that adjusting aging is more likely to be beneficial.

If you're playing around with milestones, goals and achievements this list will help you learn all the different ways to adjust the aging process.

12 Change The Lifespan Settings

Sims 4 Growing together family hiking with infant in a carrier

If you feel like the aging process of Sims takes too long and the birthdays aren't coming any closer but don't want to resort to cheats or celebrate the birthdays sooner - there's another option.

In the settings of the game, just change the lifespan of the Sims from Normal to Short. This way, Sims will have shorter lives, and, therefore, will also age faster. You can also adjust the lifespan to long if you want more time to complete your goals.

11 Let Life Take Its Course

Sims 4 get together outdoor gathering

If you don't want to do anything regarding the age of your Sims, then you can simply choose to wait it out. Once the time runs out for them in their age group you'll get a notification, and then they will age automatically at the end of their birthday.

In this case, the aging process can happen off-screen, since you can allow auto aging of all households, as well as just played ones. However, it will give Sims in your household a sad mood if you miss the notification and don't prepare a party or cake for them on their birthday!

10 Add Days To Your Life With A Pregnancy

A Sim happily touching another Sim's pregnant belly as the pregnant Sim smiles in The Sims 4

Pregnancy is a natural part of life in The Sims. However, to ensure that pregnant Sims don't age up during their term, the game makes a clever restriction. Basically, any childbearing Sims will stop aging during pregnancy, and will only age up after the baby is delivered.

So, if you want your Sims to age up naturally in The Sims 4 it's good to know that the aging counter will stop while they are pregnant, adding a few extra days to their lifespan.

9 Put Your Sim Under Stress To Reduce Their Lifespan

The Sims 4 Sim drowning in a pool

Sims who get into accidents end up getting so stressed that they start aging faster. It's a realistic — and somewhat grim — way to age up a Sim in The Sims 4.

Related: The Sims 4: All Sim Deaths And How To Cause Them

That being said, you should be wary of the intensity of these accidents. If it crosses a line, then your Sim can very well die. A little stress can shorten an elderly Sims life though, just make sure you don't cross the line. Too much woohoo can be bad for your health at that age.

8 Prepare A Birthday Cake And Add Candles

The Sims 4 Birthday Cake

The easiest way to age a Sim is with a birthday cake. If you've chosen to suspend aging and manually age up your Sims this is the fastest way to do it. Simply bake a cake and then click the top and select Add Birthday Candles.

Your chosen Sim then simply needs to use the blow out candles interaction and they will age up. For infants and toddlers a parent can help them blow out the candles.

7 Click On The Bassinet

a sim holding a baby

Babies, now known as newborns, have a different natural way of aging. Since there's not much the Sims can do with them, apart from feeding them, changing their diapers, and cuddling them, you can let them age anytime they want to. It's very simple and fast as well.

You simply need to click on the crib and chose the option 'Age up'. The baby will disappear, and an infant will appear in their place. You can then sell the crib or choose to keep it for any potential siblings.

6 The Beauty Of A Cheat

Sims 4 base game different styles shown in cas

If there's no time to prepare the cake or the Sim hates cooking, you can always use the age-up cheat. Open the cheat console by pressing control + shift + c. Then type in 'testingcheats true' and then follow it with 'cas.fulleditmode'.

Related: The Sims 4 Essential Cheat Guide For PC And Console

This allows you to gain access to the age-up cheat in Sims 4. Simply use the shift and click on the Sim you want to age up. Choose the option 'modify in CAS'. Once there, it's easy to manually change the Sim's age, as well as other attributes.

5 Visit Another Household

The Sims 4 Children Playing

Why stay at home when it's possible to visit neighbors and have fun? That's at least possible in the world of The Sims 4 where no one mostly seems to mind if Sims barge into their home at any hour - as long as they're at home at that time.

Such visits can not only deepen mutual relationships but also age the Sims. If the Sims visit another household with babies, they can then click on the baby and age it up.

4 Play Temporarily With Another Household

Sims 4 everyday clutter in lounge

If you previously played with only one household and now you want to switch things up, you can create a new household and let the previous one unattended for a time. If not changed in the settings, the Sims from the first family will still age, even while you focus on the new household.

That's especially noticeable if there are some children or elders in the original household - they can either grow up or die while you're busy with the new family.

3 Prepare The Right Flower Arrangement

Sims 4 seasons flow arranging table and garden

The Sims 4 gives the Sims the opportunity to practice an artistic hobby - flower arranging. The more they learn, the more arrangements they can create and even gift to other Sims if they want to. However, one of them can be quite dangerous, at least for elderly people.

Related: Sims 4: Amazing Save Files To Replace The Default

If the arrangement is scented with the Death Flower, the recipient of the gift will age up. And if that Sim is already an elder, they will die.

2 Use Mods

Two Sims share their first kiss on the beach in Windenburg

With the wide variety of mods present for The Sims 4, it's only a given that multiple mods exist to control the aging of Sims. Using any one of these mods will allow you to age up your Sims without any problems.

The Age Manipulator is one such mod that allows you to accomplish this task. Of course, given the sheer number of options that available to age up Sims, many find that downloading a mod won't even be all that necessary.

1 Aging Down Sims In The Sims 4

Sims 4 grandparent playing with an infant while the parent nods off

Aging Sims up is one thing - but what if somebody wants to age them down? Unlike in real life, everything is possible in The Sims 4. There are two notable ways to achieve this.

Potion of Youth

There's an aspiration reward called the Potion of Youth. When the Sim buys it and drinks it, their age will be set to the start of the current age group they're in. For example, if it's an adult who's already lived ten days of their adult life, they will return to the start of their adult life.

However, not even the potion allows returning to a younger age, to young adults from adults, for example.

Essence of Life

Another option to temporarily stave off a Sim's aging and age them down is to use the Essence of Life. This is achieved by using the carnivorous abilities of a Cow Plant.

When this eats an unfortunate Sim, it will produce an essence of the dead Sim, which really is as morbid as it sounds. Have another Sim drink it and their life span will be prolonged as they will grow slightly younger.

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