Talk:Children

This talk page is for discussing Children.
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Does anyone know what influences child's appearance?

From what I've seen in screenshots and such, all children seem to have the same brown hair appearance.--Enkidu (talk) 16:38, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

I can't find any sprites other than the brown-haired ones. The only variables are male/female and dark/light-skinned. If you've seen something else, I think it must have been a mod.

Are you asking what determines gender or skin tone? Margotbean (talk) 18:46, 14 November 2016 (UTC)margotbean

This is exactly what I am asking --Dawwy (talk) 22:05, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Skin tone is influenced by the skin tone of the parents. If both parents are dark-skinned, the child will be dark-skinned. If only one parent is dark-skinned, then there's a 50% chance for dark-skin. If neither parent are dark-skinned, then the child will not be dark-skinned. When adopted, skin tone is random. Gender is random for the first child. For second child, I think it's the opposite of the first child. --BryghtShadow (talk) 08:54, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Is there currently any benefit to gaining friendship points with your children? "Call the cops." - Carter Blake (talk) 21:04, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

It might count toward friendship achievements, but I haven't tested that theory. Otherwise, I can't find anything in the game code to indicate that it makes any difference at all. margotbean (talk) 22:10, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Use of Singular "They"

I've opened this topic to discuss the use of "he/she" instead of "they" to refer to the player's spouse on the Children page.

As of the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the use of "they" or "their" to refer to one person is incorrect grammar, unless the person in question prefers it. The APA regularly publishes scientific articles and guides to increase gender sensitivity, and bases its guidelines on recommendations from leaders of the LGBTQ community in the US. Thus, they may be considered the authoritative source on gender-sensitive writing.

As of v1.2 of the game, no resident of Stardew Valley has expressed dissatisfaction with his, her, their, or hir sex or gender. Marriage candidates are referred to as "he", "she", "her", or "him" by other villagers.

For these reasons, the choice of "his or her" and "he or she" is more appropriate and grammatically correct than "they" or "their." If the game starts using "they" then so will the wiki. Until then, "he" and "she" are the appropriate terms.

This discussion page is the place to express differing opinions. Thanks, margotbean (talk) 20:36, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

About fifty years ago when the first woman was elected as the leader of a nation, newspapers weren't sure what title to give her. Today no one uses "Prime Ministress" when a woman holds the office; the title is still "Prime Minister". There has been a trend to remove gender distinctions like these from the language.

Around the same time that the first female prime minister was elected, the gender-specific "stewardess" was dropped from use in airlines and replaced with "flight attendant." While the word "actresses" was once used to refer to female actors, today "actor" is used for any gender. The same happened to the word "waitress". "Firemen" of any gender are now "firefighters." It's not necessary to indicate if a nurse is a "male nurse." In the futurist Star Trek, "sir" is used for a commanding officer of any gender.

Gender is just one more thing that divides us instead of bringing us together. It does not need to play such an important part in our language. The gender of a person is rarely relevant, especially in today's world where gender is completely arbitrary and can be changed on a whim.

Maybe it is kind of liberal, but my 5th grade teacher taught my class to use gender-neutral "he" when the gender of a person is indefinite. Gender-neutral "he" was a normal way to handle indefinite genders before someone felt the practice was sexist. With the general trend over the past 50 years to drop the female-specific forms of words and use the masculine forms for both genders, returning to gender-neutral "he" makes a lot of sense. Singular "they" is a blight on the language and is not congruent with the grammar of the rest of the English language. Removing gender distinctions is the obvious solution to the gender-neutral pronoun problem.

-Jecowa (talk) 05:41, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for your thoughtful comments, Jecowa. I have read them, and can relate to my own life experiences. However, before the discussion goes further, I want to remind everyone to stay on topic -- that is, discuss opinions about the 4 instances of "he or she" (and its variations) in use on the Children page of this wiki.

With that in mind, I don't think removing 4 instances of "she" would be the best choice. Although I have always felt that "mankind" and "he" included me as a woman, in this case, their absence might be more confusing than gender-sensitive. margotbean (talk) 07:32, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

"He/She" works great until ConcernedApe adds a non-binary-gendered character such as Purple Playground Spring Toy as an eligible bachelor. Like with the APA, the Chicago Manual of Style also prescribes against using singular "they" in formal writing (unless referring to a differently-gendered individual). -Jecowa (talk) 11:29, 15 December 2017 (UTC)

In my opinion, use of "he or she", "he/she", "s/he", gender-neutral "he", or any other alternative to the completely unacceptable singular "they" applies to the Children page in exactly the same way that it does to English in general. And that is because what is good language in general is what should be used on the page. I remember the time before all the nonsense about "he" being sexist except in exclusive reference to males had arisen with any particular force. It worked fine, and no one was either confused or affronted. The issue was raised in loud voices only in order to support a social agenda. Loud voices are no longer needed. The agenda has been worked out sufficiently in people's lives that pointy language serves only as a reminder of past hostilities. Even "he or she" is a residual of that, but if it makes anyone happy, I'm happy to use it. At least it's correct grammar. The gender-neutral "he" is still my best preference as it is the simplest solution, and none of the storm and stress of the last 60 years has come up with anything better. But if anyone disagrees, my only negative hot button is singular "they". Any form of gender list works ok. Butterbur (talk) 09:11, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

The 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the APA has been released! It endorses and recommends the use of singular 'they'. I've moved the discussion to a separate talk page: here. Please feel free to continue the discussion on that page. Thanks, margotbean (talk) 20:05, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Switch version bug

First child I've had in the game showed up on fall 19th year 3, instead of appearing inside the crib in it's stage one sprite it appeared floating over the top let corner of my house using the stage two sprite. Specifics: spouse Leah, fully upgraded house, decorated, multiple decorations inside nursery. Following day the child skipped straight into stage three. Exact same bug was mentioned on Reddit but for PS4, any known cause? Cerce (talk) 12:49, 18 October 2018 (BST)

Oh my gosh the same thing happened to me and I was wondering why, (info: Spring (forgot day, I think it was the 16th) year 3, spouse: Shane, not fully upgraded but with nursery, no deco in nursery I did in the room beside it.) it happened on Xbox one. Ultrabobt (talk) 19:21, 18 March 2019 (UTC)