I think kids should be in school at least part of the day. I don't think they should automatically hunt collectables/mushrooms, this is where WE should come in. This is a game and we need to keep all the actual interaction we can get. As a matter of fact it would be nice to have MORE random actions we control like this.
Breeding should be controllable. I'll often find one of my most important tribe members with the greatest skill levels nursing when I need them most. I go to bed and wake up to 6 new kids to be fed. It reminds me too much of the real world when tribe continue to breed when they can even feed the kids they have!
Famlies should be identifiable more easily. I may not be doing this right but every time one of my tribe members have a kid while I'm away I have a hard time telling whose child it is - then later in the game as they have grown I don't know if syblings are mating (shiver). Could this be the reason for some of these poor kids being so ugly? If we could at least know who parented the child we could give them last names to keep track. Family members (Mom, Dad, Brothers and sisters) should connect and socialize.
And Last (for now) I think a "Happy Meter" should be there too. All work and no play makes for an unhappy villager. Ranking higher is good but for an extra challange we should be forced to make sure they get some down time too (in order to be a good "hand god").
Many of these options may already be available in VV2 that I don't know about. I'm still a newbie in VV1 by most standards and I refuse to jump forward into VV2 without finishing all the puzzles in the first one. So if I'm way off here please someone let me know. I'll take no offense and be gratefull for the info.
Blessed Be!
Moon