Your Children (AP)

After marriage in Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, you can add on to your family by having children. Animal Parade allows players to have two children total, and you can choose the gender for both of your children. Each child will have appearance and personality based on your spouse.

To have children, you must have a Level 3 house and befriend your spouse to the appropriate heart level. Regular candidates must have 14 hearts before asking for children, the Witch and Wizard require 15 hearts, while the Harvest King and Harvest Goddess need 16 hearts.

Appearance
Since two children per file are possible in Animal Parade, there are four predetermined "styles" of children. Two for each gender determined on who is born first and second. Although they have the same face style, the firstborn child have a slightly more mature look.

Your children will always inherit your spouse' hair and eye color, but their hair color will be a shade darker than your spouse'. Children can be dressed in various clothing.

Personality
Your child will have a possibility to have different personalities in game: Quiet, Fiery, Studious, and Romantic. Personalities change depending on who you've married. Your child's personality will only change dialogue and chores they specialize in. You will get two choices at each stage of their growth, with each choice reflecting their personality one way or another. Like with marriage candidates, you must ask your children for help between 6am and 7am if you want them to do chores on that day.

Pregnancy
Randomly in the morning, your spouse will ask if you want to have a child. Agreeing will result in them asking what gender you would prefer with the due date being told through calendar. You can pick either of two gender or let your spouse choose. If you disagree, you will lose hearts gradually. Your spouse will keep asking regardless of how many times you say no.

Birth
On the due date, the female side of partnership will feel unwell. The couple will be automatically transported to Choral Clinic, where Irene will ask that the male wait outside until their baby is born. After being told their gender, you will be prompted to name them. Irene also sends a baby crib and childcare book to your house.

This rule does not apply to the Harvest King or Harvest Goddess. If you chose to marry one of them, they will deliver the child themselves at your home. Whichever celestial being you married will leave you with a crib after this event.

Newborn
At this stage, child interactions is limited. You will be asked what you think your child's personality will be. Selecting the first option will lead to a Fiery or Studious. If you answer with the second option, it will result in a Quiet or Romantic personality. Regardless of gender, the baby will wrapped in a blue towel.

You can interact with your baby if you have a rattle, which can be used if they are crying or simply for entertainment purpose. You will also be able to pick your child up and take them out of the crib for a while. Showing them to other characters will result in them reacting to usually how cute the child is. The baby cannot be put down when they are in your arms and can only go back into their crib.

Crawling
Two weeks after your child is born, they will learn how to crawl while growing in size with hair and eye color becoming more apparent. Baby boys will wear a green jumper with a cat hat, while baby girls wear an orange jumper with a rabbit hat.

Upon being given a choice to make with this stage, the first option will lead to a Fiery or Scholarly personality type. The second option will lead to a Quiet or Romantic personality. You can sooth your baby at this stage if they are crying. As in Newborn Stage, you will still be able to pick up your child if you leave the house.

Walking Stage
Two weeks after your child learns to crawl, they will start to walk. Changes start to become slow at this point in your child's growth. Apart from learning to walk and slowly growing up, nothing significant changes. The same interactions apply as the Crawling stage.

You will get another personality choice: the first option will result in a Scholarly or Romantic personality type, while the second choice will result in a Fiery or Quiet personality type. This is the most recognizable personality type choice, as it deviates from the regular personality changes.

Talking Stage
The talking stage happens two weeks before they are fully-grown. In the Japanese version, when your spouse asks what you'd like to be called, you will prompted to pick an option. You can actually choose what your child will call you the casual "Mom"/"Dad" or formal "Mother"/"Father". This option is absent from Western versions; your spouse will only ask what you'd prefer to be called, but you don't get to choose. Once a choice has been made, it cannot be changed later.

Fully-grown
The child will be fully-grown two months after they learnt to talk. From this point on, you can interact with them by gift-giving and talking, and there will be events with children.

Upon waking up in the morning on the day they grow up, a cut-scene of your family getting ready going to Simon's Photography Studio to take photos will play. Before that, there is a cut-scene of them visiting Perry. The picture is automatically put into your album and can be displayed at your house. The same scene when your second child is born will happen, but with both children.

Afterwards, Hamilton will give you a Child's Bed so your children will now sleep in the second bedroom of house. You will also be able to dress your children through the dresser. Each gender comes with two default outfits to choose from and additional clothing can be purchased from Sonata Tailoring. Different genders will wear different clothing and cannot be shared.

Second Child
Now that your first child has become fully-grown, you may have a second child. The circumstances and requirements for the second child are the same for the first. Your first child must be grown before your spouse will ask for another. Both children will stay in the same bedroom.

Unlike other Harvest Moon games, the player can have two children of same gender if they want. Instead of the Pregnancy, the due date is set to two weeks after the child request. The dialogue and circumstances for a second child will change slightly.

Child's Birthday
On the day each child's birthday falls on the calendar, walking into your house after 6pm will trigger the birthday event.

Your spouse will be waiting with your child and ask what day it is. You will be given three options of your spouse' birthday, child's birthday, or wedding anniversary. Seletcing the negative answer will lose hearts with child and spouse.

After answering correctly, your spouse and child will both be relieved that you remembered, with the player being prompted to give the latter a gift. Not doing so will lose hearts with your spouse and child. event finishes with a birthday dinner.

Missing Child
This event only occurs once with your first child only when they have 4 hearts. It takes place the entire day and will last until 8pm.

In the morning, your spouse is afraid that their child is missing. The latter was gone when they woke up in the morning and did not tell anybody where they were going. At night, your child still hasn't returned, making their parents worried. As your spouse is about to go out looking for the child, they suddenly return much to their parents' worry.

Missing Child (Part 2)
The second part of "Missing Child" will trigger after viewing the first part with your child having 8 hearts. The same situation will happen, except your spouse will scold them and asks why they went so late. A baby fox got separated from its mother, so your child was only trying to help reunite them. They neither realize how late it was nor mean to make you worried. The player and their spouse will be relieved that their child returned home safe.

Child Nurse
This event will last the entire day and triggers when your first child has 6 hearts.

Rather than the usual gameplay that normally starts, the player will remain in the bed feeling unwell. Their child is worried and asks how they are feeling. The player's spouse will reassure their first child, saying that they will take care of their sick parent and not to worry. However, their child will insist that they can care for their sick parent. The player will finally wake up at 8pm, where they hopefully begin the gameplay that they missed during daytime.

Child Arguments
If you wake up in the morning when your second child has 4 Hearts, as long as there is at least one rival child that is fully-grown, you will awake to find your child crying inside the house. When you ask what's wrong, the child will explain that they got into an argument with a rival child. Your spouse will tell them that arguing is never a good idea, so the two children need to make up.

The second part, which is considered the ending, triggers when the second child has 6 hearts. You will wake up to find the rival child wanting to make up with your child. The former will ask if they want to go play, to which your child agrees with both of them jumping happily.

Trivia

 * Animal Parade has the shortest time span of child system of all Harvest Moon game. From the time your spouse asks you for a child, it takes only 14 in-game days.