I know I'm a little late coming in to this. But, I just got Generations, and I seem to be having some difficulty with the Imaginary Friend staying a doll.
Two of my Sims gave birth to a little girl. And the next day, she received her doll in the mail. I put it in her crib with her. Since it kept teleporting around the house, I eventually moved it to her Inventory. Fast forward a few days later, and my child Sim, whose name is Sunny, became a toddler. This is how she spent her days:
Woke up, sang too/played with doll
Ate, sang too/played with doll
Learned to walk, sang too/played with doll
Learned to talk, sang too/played with doll
Potty trained, sang too/played with doll
Short intervals where she played with blocks, musical instrument for babies, played with pegs, and read several books, all while playing with the doll in between. Once she learned to walk, talk, and was potty trained, combined with her reading knowledge and musical/peg/block playing knowledge, Sunny played with and sang to her doll none stop. She only stopped long enough to eat. And then I fixed that with the Make All Happy choice. So basically, she NEVER put that doll down. She never got a message about how "special" the doll was to her.
Fast forward several days later, and Sunny is now a child on the honor roll, going to elementary school. Her routine was as followed: Played with doll, sang to doll, hosted tea party, went to school, came home, played/sang/tea party, homework.
Repeat.
Every. Single. Day.
And still, nothing. I see the plus relationship sign over Sunny and her doll whenever she interacts with it. And when she sets it down onto the floor to go prepare juice for the tea party, a faint little musical jingle briefly plays. Kinda windchimey sounding. Instead of sitting down, the doll stands up on its own. And does nothing more than that. He just stands there.
Nothing I do makes him imaginary. I've kept him in her Inventory, and I've kept him out of her Inventory. While she's at school, or ballet practice, her doll, whom I named Haku, sits in her room, free to teleport around the house like a Gnome, should he choose too.
He does not.
Am I missing something? Did I do something wrong? Why is Haku still a doll? If I make Sunny a baby again, and have her play with Haku nonstop, will he become "special" to her?
-edit- Sunny also took brief intervals to discover potions on her chemistry set, in order to make her IF real, should Haku become anything more than a doll.
-edit- I even had her drink the Melancholy Serum, to lower her Social and Fun bar, just to see if that would somehow make a difference. None doin'.