Story of Seasons Child: How to have a child and child growth cycle in Pioneers of Olive Town explained

Child requirements in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

If you want to have a child in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, then there are a number of requirements you need to fulfil.

The first is to obviously get married to any of the 10 marriage candidates found in Olive Town or any of the six additional candidates introduced through the Expansion Pass.

Once you're married, you'll need to raise your spouse's Friendship Level up to 15 by filling in the five additional hearts they gain in the Residential Information section of your Notebook. You can easily go this by giving them their favourite gifts.

Finally, you need to watch four new Heart Scenes with your husband and wife.

Three of these cutscenes - asking about your child's gender, dreaming about having a child and having breakfast with your spouse - will unlock naturally as you progress through married life, continuing to raise your partner's Friendship Level.

The most important Heart Scenes out of these three will be the first, which determines the gender of your child.

During this scene, your partner will ask whether you'd prefer a boy, girl or don't have a preference. Even if the birth of your child is months away, your answer to this question will determine the gender of your child, so make this decision carefully.

The final cutscene involves you having dinner with your partner and, to activate it, you must ensure you return home past 7pm in the evening. Thankfully, this scene will play even if your partner isn't actually in the farmhouse at the time.

If you're having trouble finding this Heart Scene, then continue raising your spouse's Friendship Level until it plays.

How to have a child in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

Once you've fulfilled the requirements for having a child in Pioneers of Olive Town, you simply need to wait for them to arrive.

For us, this event occurred roughly two months and four days after we were married. It's important to note that, by this time, we had maxed out our spouse's Friendship Level by giving them universally liked gifts, like the Jewellery Locket.

When it's time for your family to grow, you'll be awoken in the morning with a cutscene involving the Earth Sprite, who will ask you to follow them. This will eventually lead to you gaining a child, who will be the same gender as the one you chose in the first Heart Scene with your spouse or randomly selected if you chose to have no preference.

This scene will also give you a chance to name your child and, considering you can't change this name later, pick it carefully.

You may encounter a bug during this cutscene where the game gets stuck on the transitional loading screen.

To avoid the bug you need to stay up till your character automatically goes to bed. Once this happens, you'll see your farm's profits for the days and then the cutscene should play normally, with only a short loading scene in-between scenes.

We also recommend saving every morning once you've maxed out your spouse's Friendship Level to ensure you don't lose too much progress if you do encounter this bug. This will also ensure that you can quickly return to the day before this cutscene occurs to implement the work around.

Once the scene has played, you'll find your child lying on a new bed next to yours and there they'll stay until they grow. Their birthday will also be marked on the calendar.

How your child's appearance determined in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

Your child's appearance in Pioneers of Olive Town is determined by the traits both you and your partner share in the terms of hair colour, eye colour and skin colour. Since these traits are chosen randomly, there's no way to know which traits will be carried over from which parent until you see the child.

Our child, for example, had Reina's eye colour, but our burgundy coloured hair.

It's also important to note that if you use the Beauty Salon to change any one of these three traits for your avatar the day before your child is born, then the child's appearance will be based on these new traits, not the old ones.

If you don't like the initial appearance of your child, then you can always close the game before saving after your child's arrival and replay the cutscene again to have these appearance traits reselected.

For more help with Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, check out our marriage and romance candidate guide, how to get divorced or have a child and how to find all the tools.

Child growth cycle in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town explained

As the seasons pass in Pioneers of Olive Town, your child will slowly grow.

There are three main growth stages your child will experience - baby, toddler and young child. They will stop growing once they reach the young child stage and will never be able to help you out on the farm.

During the baby stage, your child will lie on the bed next to yours in the farmhouse and you won't be able to interact with them at all. This stage will last for 30 days since the birth date of your child.

After those 30 days, your child will become a toddler. During this stage, they will crawl around your house, going to bed at 7pm, and you'll be able to talk to them, though they won't have much to say.

Your child will stay a toddler for 96 days and, on day 76 since their birth, you'll have a cutscene of them taking their first steps.

Once you've had your child for 96 days, they will grow into a young child - the final stage of their development.

They will now eat dinner at the table in your farmhouse, go to bed at roughly 8:30pm, wander about Olive Town, visiting the homes of the residents, and the land close to your house.

You'll also be able to talk to them, but you won't be able to give them gifts and they won't appear in the Resident Information section of your notebook.

Finally, there will be a short cutscene for you to watch on your child's birthday.

How to get rid of your child in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

If you no longer want to be a parent in Pioneers of Olive Town, then it is possible to erase them from existence.

It's important to note that this process will also end your current marriage, so, if you want to stay with your current partner, consider whether or not you want to get remarried after your child's deletion.

If you ultimately decide that you do wish to say the ultimate goodbye to your child, then follow through the same process as divorcing your partner. Remember - this will also cause you to skip a day ahead, so make sure you take care of anything important before doing this process.

Have fun with your child - whether you decide to keep them or not!