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[ampillion]

So I haven't read through every bit of the forums just yet, so I'm unaware if this has been suggested or not, but I can imagine it has.

A 'Mentoring' job that would allow dwarves with professions or skills to be able to teach children those skills. In other words, to tailor them for a specific role once they hit full on dwarfdom. This way, you could perhaps take one mason out of the loop of general crafting and instead have him develop a group of five new masons in the later years of your fortress. Their skill in tutoring would go up as they taught, and the amount of skill they could teach to students would depend on the combination of those two skills, divided by the number of students they work with. I just think it'd be a good way to 'manage' thirty or so wandering children in the fort who can only do simple jobs, by steering them into a future role. Maybe you need a lot of soldiers, a champion can toughen kids up and ready them for their life in the military.

Once grown, they become not just another peasant, but automatically take on the title of whatever role you've set out for them. Recruits, Carpenters, what have you.

Along that same vein, a nursery or day care would also be good, so that instead of dwarves wandering all over the site with their kids in tow (I love getting the constant 'Cancels sparring, looking for child' messages.) they instead can leave them to do certain dangerous tasks. Perhaps it even provides a happy thought for getting those clingy little bundles off of their backs for awhile.

[Neonivek]

I just thought of another solution.

Perhaps soldiers that become mothers should quit their job and refuse military service if they have no one (family wise) to take care of them... Hmmm... Though I think that would be controvercial.

[tsen]

Would also be a nice balance if apprenticeships were implemented. Crafters who are tutoring work more slowly, but once the youngster has a certain level of skill, they actually start to help.

[Neonivek]

Crafters who are tutoring work more slowly, but once the youngster has a certain level of skill, they actually start to help

Well they did take them on to work and I think they were paid as well.

Though I am not sure why they would work slower... Is the youngster harassing the crafter?

[ampillion]

I just thought of another solution.

Perhaps soldiers that become mothers should quit their job and refuse military service if they have no one (family wise) to take care of them... Hmmm... Though I think that would be controvercial.

Nah, that'd just leave people to simply not draft dwarf women into their military, just because of the hassle it'd cause. Some already do, just because of the fact they carry their child around with them everywhere.

"Sweet, just got my legendary champion decked out in some high quality gear!"
(Woman McLadydwarf, Champion has given birth to a child!)
(Woman McLadydwarf, Champion cancels sparring, seeking infant.)
(Woman McLadydwarf is now a Peasant.)
"...D'oh."

I'm thinking more a solution to keep them out of danger, give a random hauler peasant something more important to do, and perhaps give mothers a happy thought over someone else taking care of that little white bundle for a day or two.

[Neonivek]

that'd just leave people to simply not draft dwarf women into their military, just because of the hassle it'd cause

Equal opportunity. If a Man has no one to take care of his children he should also leave the military and refuse to rejoin!

In essence it matters not if it is a man or a woman it only matters who dies first (and family... Such as grandparents, brothers, and sisters)

[ampillion]

that'd just leave people to simply not draft dwarf women into their military, just because of the hassle it'd cause

Equal opportunity. If a Man has no one to take care of his children he should also leave the military and refuse to rejoin!

In essence it matters not if it is a man or a woman it only matters who dies first (and family... Such as grandparents, brothers, and sisters)

While I understand the idea, it just seems like it'd create more 'Damnits!' out of people than challenges. I don't mind losing a champion to a siege if he went out in a blaze of glory, but having a fully trained and geared soldier suddenly leave your ranks because their husband was a moron and tried to grab a goblin corpse in the middle of a siege... well, that'd just make things worse. =/

[Aspgren]

I hate this idea. You're thinking too HUMAN!

Also I don't want to change my sig.

[JohnLukeG]

Child care could be part of a new profession tree along with medical care.  Like... a domestic worker labor section.

[tsen]

Though I am not sure why they would work slower... Is the youngster harassing the crafter?

Even if the dwarven kids are ultra hivemind disciplined and don't do anything at all disruptive (which is wildly implausible) when trained people do things they tend to do them smoothly and quickly because of practice. You *need* to slow down to be able to demonstrate step-by-step so people can learn.

[ampillion]

Although it would make it harder to decide who would go into the military with less pesants around..

Well I wouldn't limit it to simply crafting jobs, perhaps you could have a trader train an apprentice (Backup in case of booze explosions), or a champion could toughen up a few children, and ready them to go directly into the military upon adulthood.

Child care could be part of a new profession tree along with medical care.  Like... a domestic worker labor section.

Yeah. I'm picturing tutors/child sitters having their own screen a la the military screen now, which would let you set a 'squad' of your teacher (crafter/military guy) and have the children you want to learn that skill below him. Same with the sitter, except limit them to a certain number of babies. Though you wouldn't really need to set up the 'military screen' style for those designations, unless you wanted to include a happy/sad thought at either how well/poor the sitter is doing watching their child.

[Silverionmox]

Child care could be part of a new profession tree along with medical care.  Like... a domestic worker labor section.

That's anachronistic. Children were taken care of by the family, lacking that they were taken in by the extended family, lacking that the wolves or a charity institution took care of them, more often than not religiously inspired. Children were a personal responsibility, not an outsourcable job or profession.

Given the importance of the crafts in dwarven society, apprenticeship is the way to go. Children would be carried around by a parent until they could walk, after that they would be more autonomous, gradually spending more time playing with other kids (gaining social skills) and hanging around craftsmen that fascinate them. They would pick up some skill by watching them, just enough to show their interests (or that could be put in the profile. "Urist wants to grow up to be a miner."). When they are (the dwarven equivalent of the human) 12 years old, they would be able to engage in a formal apprenticeship (I'd prefer them to do that automatically, according to their preferences, parent's wealth and supply/demand, though possibly overridden by the player's order). That would, in practice, consist of doing hauling jobs for the master and hanging around in his workshop. The dwarf would then gain skill (faster with a master with better social skills), and when he is somewhere around the equivalent of unspecified or proficient, the apprenticeship would end.

[CynicalRyan]

Crafters who are tutoring work more slowly, but once the youngster has a certain level of skill, they actually start to help

Well they did take them on to work and I think they were paid as well.

Though I am not sure why they would work slower... Is the youngster harassing the crafter?

The apprentice would require teaching in the craft he's an apprentice to, and that takes time away from teh actual work.

The benefit would be that the apprentice learns a new craft faster (until he's "unmodified craft skill" good (i.e. "Mason", instead of "Novice Mason"), at the expense of the tutor/mentor being slower (which should be at least "professional" in what he does to effectively teach).

[jaked122]

I know what to do, whenever a child gets better a message could be displayed like,
"junior mcstudent has gotten a A+ on a mining test!"

[ampillion]

Child care could be part of a new profession tree along with medical care.  Like... a domestic worker labor section.

That's anachronistic. Children were taken care of by the family, lacking that they were taken in by the extended family, lacking that the wolves or a charity institution took care of them, more often than not religiously inspired. Children were a personal responsibility, not an outsourcable job or profession.

Given the importance of the crafts in dwarven society, apprenticeship is the way to go. Children would be carried around by a parent until they could walk, after that they would be more autonomous, gradually spending more time playing with other kids (gaining social skills) and hanging around craftsmen that fascinate them. They would pick up some skill by watching them, just enough to show their interests (or that could be put in the profile. "Urist wants to grow up to be a miner."). When they are (the dwarven equivalent of the human) 12 years old, they would be able to engage in a formal apprenticeship (I'd prefer them to do that automatically, according to their preferences, parent's wealth and supply/demand, though possibly overridden by the player's order). That would, in practice, consist of doing hauling jobs for the master and hanging around in his workshop. The dwarf would then gain skill (faster with a master with better social skills), and when he is somewhere around the equivalent of unspecified or proficient, the apprenticeship would end.

The childcare is more just a 'fix' to avoid the hassles of moods brought about by the loss of a child on the battlefield, though it would make 'snatchers' rather pointless, as it'd be way too easy to simply put all your fort's babies into daycare near a heavily trafficked area, and never deal with those guys ever again. I made the suggestion just so I'd stop seeing the 'cancels sparring: seeking infant' message again. 

The apprenticeship/tutoring angle though seems like it could actually add something to the game overall. Being able to tailor your future dwarves towards your fortresses needs, or projected needs. Perhaps you could rely more on them growing up and becoming useful dwarves as opposed to changing the four cheesemakers who just arrived in your last immigration wave into something else.

 It just seems rather silly that once they reach the child age, they just wander off and do whatever the heck they want... when I imagine children in that sort of setting would actually be utilized rather early in helping out with their family's line of work, or if needed, the needs of the clan/social unit/village. Sure, give them a grace period of a year to fool around and do whatever, but after that, they are merely tiny dwarves. (Which means they only get Dwarven Ale Lite.)

Perhaps the children would most likely have a calling towards one of the chosen crafts/careers that their parents have, except in the case of a more wealthy family/nobility, they have the option of doing whatever they want to. (Perhaps they are inspired by a particularly well crafted high boot that their noble father seems to have some kind of freaky fetish for, since he leaves them sitting about everywhere... so they go into armorcrafting.) Heck, maybe some of them become nobles and go back to the Mountainhome as diplomats for your populace, or off to other civilizations to broker trade deals or create new trading partners. Who knows!

All I know is that my current fort has at least 60 children, and it seems silly that the rest of my dwarves should trip over this errant wave of adolescents all the time.