Stardew Valley Children Guide: Starting a Family

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Callum Marshall

Callum is the gaming managing editor and a certified Stardew Valley aficionado, pouring hundreds if not thousands of hours into this relaxing indie title. While overseeing the day-to-day running of the site, you'll commonly see Callum carve out some time to produce some content on one of his favorite games of all time, and lead from the front. Callum has been around the block within the gaming industry, working as an Editor-in-chief for a number of well-respected gaming outlets, he has worked as a games tester, he has gaming podcast experience, has worked in gaming PR. Basically, you name it, and Callum was probably there or somewhere on the periphery.

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In life, there are certain milestones that people tend to traditionally want to do. These vary from person to person, but some are more common than most. For example, most people want to fall in love, find their soulmate, and get married. Some people will want to go on wild adventures, travel, and see as much of the world as they can.

While other more career-oriented people will do their best to lock down their dream job. What we are getting at here is that we all have long-term goals and aspirations that we want to happen throughout our time on this earth. Well, Stardew Valley is a game that shares this ideal and allows players to chase these goals in-game.

The player can find someone that they want to settle down within Pelican Town. They can go on wild adventures to far-off areas like Zuzu City, the Calico Desert, or Ginger Island in search of adventure, and, of course, they can hone their craft as a farmer and escape the rat race for a job that suits them down to a tee.

However, we want to focus on another long-term goal that players can achieve in Stardew Valley. In this Stardew Valley guide, we are looking specifically at how a player starts a family and has children in Stardew Valley.

You may be wondering what the benefit of having a child is within this charming indie title. You may be wondering how you have children and if you can get rid of them, and you may be wondering how this changes your daily routine on the farm. Well, we have all the answers, and we are going to give you all the details right now. So without further delay, here is our Stardew Valley Children Guide.

What Are Children In Stardew Valley?

Okay, so we aren’t going to explain the concept of what a child is; we reckon you have that much covered. However, within the context of Stardew Valley, a child is an NPC that a player can have when they are married to one of the romantic interests within the game.

These children can be named, begin life as a baby and grow through for stages until they are essentially toddlers. The player can raise their relationship level with them as they would an animal on the farm by interacting with them. However, these players are not as complex as the named characters within this game, so you cannot offer them gifts, and you cannot talk to them either.

In short, children within the context of Stardew Valley are cosmetic characters that allow the player to enjoy more immersive roleplay and enjoy the full farm life experience.

How Do You Have Children In Stardew Valley?

To have children in Stardew Valley, there are a number of prerequisites that players will need to understand and take care of before this is even a possibility. In terms of having the child, this is something that kind of just happens, but only if you meet all the requirements needed. So let’s run through those, shall we? Here is how to have a child in Stardew Valley:

Upgrade Your Farmhouse

Requirements: 450x Wood, 150x Hardwood, 60,000G

One of the requirements to have children in Stardew Valley is that players will need to upgrade their house at least twice. The first upgrade adds a lot more space and a Kitchen, the second upgrade adds additional storage space and a nursery, and then the third upgrade adds a cellar where you can mature wine and cheese.

You only need to worry about the Nursery, though. To upgrade the house the first time, you will need to invest 10,000G, and you will also need to provide 450 Wood as well. When you have this, you simply head up to Robin‘s Carpentry Shop in the Mountains, and you select the upgrade Farmhouse option.

Then you will need to repeat this process to upgrade the Farmhouse a second time, only this time you will need to fork out 50,000G, and you will need to supply 150 Hardwood.

Marriage

Gathering the resources to upgrade the Farmhouse is the easy part. The really tricky part is convincing someone to settle down and share their life with you, as in real-life. You got to love that realism. To do this, you will need to talk to your romantic interest and shower them in gifts to raise your relationship status with them.

This is represented by a heart meter, and you will be able to keep track of each character and whether you have spoken to them and offered them a max of two gifts that week. The aim is to get a marriage candidate to eight hearts. When you do this, Pierre will begin to stock Bouquets in the General Store.

This is a gift that you give to a character on eight hearts to signify that you want to be their boyfriend/girlfriend. This must be done first before you propose.

The player will then need to keep courting their romantic interest and raising their heart level to ten hearts. Once this is achieved, the player can then purchase the Mermaid Pendant, which is the Pelican Town equivalent of a Wedding Ring and is steeped in tradition.

This is purchased from a Mariner who only appears on the secret eastern part of the beach across the footbridge, and he only appears on rainy days. You can purchase this from him for 5,000G, and when you give this to your partner, and they hopefully say yes, you will be married mere days afterward.

Having/Adopting Kids

Now that you have a spouse and are happily married, it then becomes a waiting game. No matter if you married someone biologically capable of having children or not, the game allows you to have kids either through natural means or through adoption.

The two processes are pretty similar, and it’s essentially a waiting game. At the end of the day, when you are married and have the necessary house upgrades, a message will pop up on the screen that asks ‘Do you want to have a child‘ or ‘Do you want to adopt a child.’ Then if you select yes, the process begins.

Sadly, there is no way to speed up this process aside from rattling through in-game days. At the end of every day, you have a 5% chance of receiving this message, so if you really want a kid, you better hope your luck is in. If you have a child through natural means, the baby will be there straight away and occupy the crib when you wake up. However, if you go through the adoption process, the child will not appear until fourteen days later. 

Can You Get Rid of Children In Stardew Valley?

As you can see from the requirements above, having children takes a lot of planning and waiting, as is true in real life. So it would be unthinkable to abandon your children in this game, right? Well, the morals of this decision we will leave for you to deal with. We are here to simply state that it is possible. To do this, you will need to have met the following requirements:

• Completed the Community Center or Joja Mart Community Projects
• Finished the Dark Talisman quest
• Finished the Goblin Problem quest

If you have managed this, you will then have access to the Witches Hut, an area where players will encounter three magical shrines. One of these shrines, the Dark Shrine of Memory, allows the player to wipe the memory of their spouse, and this essentially acts as a divorce within Stardew Valley.

The second shrine, the Dark Shrine of Night Terrors, allows players to toggle monsters on their farm at night. Then the third, the Dark Shrine of Selfishness, allows the player to magically dismiss their children, turning them into doves for the mere cost of one Prismatic Shard.

Note that this is an irreversible action, and when your children are gone, they are gone forever. However, you will still be allowed to have more if you choose. I guess social services don’t operate in Pelican Town. 

What Are The Benefits of Having Children In Stardew Valley?

So, you’ve had children in Stardew Valley, and you’ve decided not to turn the children into doves as well. Good for you, parent of the year. So as you stare at the little potato in the crib, you’ll be wondering, what is the actual benefit of having a child in Stardew Valley.

Well, we will be honest, from a mechanical and gameplay-focused perspective, there isn’t much. Children essentially work the same mechanically as your pet dog or cat. You interact with them to up your relationship, but aside from that, there isn’t a lot of benefit to this. However, we will do our best. Here are all the benefits that we could come up with:

Roleplaying

The main reason to have a kid in Stardew Valley is to enjoy the full family experience when living on the farm. If you are someone that wants to raise a family in your own life, there is a likelihood that, given the opportunity, you would like to do that in a digital format.

There is a lot of joy that comes with naming a kid, interacting with them, building your relationship with them, and having them wander around and be part of your adventure. Plus, unlike real kids, it’s much more manageable and stress-free in Stardew Valley, so there is little reason not to have a kid in the game. It’s not for everyone, but if this sounds like you and you feel it will add to your experience, then go for it. 

Achievements

Then secondly, the player will need to have children if they want to achieve all the achievements for this game. Now, just to clarify, you do not need to have children to achieve 100% perfection within the game, but you do need to have children to earn the actual achievements and trophies associated with the game.

This trophy is called ‘Full House’ and asks the player to be married, have an upgraded home, and have two children. So if you are a completionist, this is a must. 

How Do You Improve Your Relationship With Children In Stardew Valley?

As we mentioned above, when you have a child, they become an NPC within the game that the player can interact with and improve their overall relationship with them, adding friendship points as you go. However, this does not work the same as named characters within the game.

You cannot talk to them, and you cannot offer them gifts. Instead, you simply interact with them once a day, much like your pet on the farm, and this raises their disposition towards you. However, we have to say that this process is a rather hollow experience.

There is no benefit to raising your friendship level with your kids, so unless you are motivated to do so by guilt or other factors, we won’t urge you to do it unless you want to. 

Are There Any Mods For Children In Stardew Valley?

If you haven’t gathered from the tone of this article, this aspect of Stardew Valley is far from my favorite addition to the game. It seems like an incomplete aspect of the title, and I can’t help but feel that the developer had more plans for this and ultimately had to pull back on these.

So with this in mind, you would naturally assume that the community at large has done something to modify this part of the game, and in this case, you would be right. Here are a few Stardew Valley Children mods that help make this part of the game a lot better than the vanilla game: 

The Farmer’s Children Stardew Valley Mod

This is probably the best mod around when it comes to adding some personality to your child. When your child is a full-grown toddler, this mod gives the child their own schedule and moves them out of the farmhouse and into the world.

The child will attend school with Penny, Jas, and Vincent, or if you prefer, the player can assign them a babysitter, and the child will tag along with them and mirror their natural schedule. It’s not a huge overhaul to the child mechanics, but it’s a subtle change that makes the children within the game more realistic and more interesting. So we would urge you to download this one. 

Unique Children Stardew Valley Mod

Then secondly, we have the unique children mod which ensures that all children look different depending on the spouse you marry. If you have the children when playing in Multiplayer, they will look like a mix of the two character sprites.

If you play in single-player, they will look like a mix of you and your spouse. If you adopt a child, the sprite will be random, and if you have a child and get divorced, the child will look like your ex-partner. Again, it’s not a huge overhaul, but it’s a nice addition and one that doubles up well with the mod listed above. 

The Kids Are Alright!

As you can see from the information above, kids are a pretty bland cosmetic item within Stardew Valley, but one that is required if you want to complete the game 100%.

In all honesty, we wish that the 1.5 updates would have added some more meat on the bone and gave children more of a purpose in this game, but with a game this special, it seems greedy to ask for more from Eric Barone. Regardless, we hope that this guide serves you well and allows you to start a beautiful family in Stardew Valley. As always, thank you for reading SdewHQ.

Stardew Valley Children: FAQs