Babysitters (Anecdotes Thread)

In my Hidden Springs save the elder premade sim Granny Shue abandoned her house full of adopted orphaned children to live with her young adult boyfriend.

The best part is that she left the kids under the guardianship of a teenager. :D

Often for a baby-sitter, I conjure a Mummy from the sarcophagus with the canopic jars. They never tire and are available 24 hrs/day. Their bladder is all dried up so it never needs emptying. Because of the child interactions, their social is always maxed and fun is usually okay. I use NRass MC to change their lifetime wish to something like 'The Tinkerer' (max logic and handiness) and they can read the books during their spare time. I keep 'Shower In A Can' and all that dried food I've collected in their inventory because it takes them so long to get the the shower and the dinner table. I've noticed though, that toddlers tend to poop their pants when the Mummy comes to get them for potty training:)

Only time I left a baby with a babysitter was when my first guy gave birth.

The game wasn't prepared to end his pregnancy, I didn't figure out until a few minutes later how to manually terminate it, and so he went to the hospital, after already having given birth, to 'have the babies again'. He was in eternal labour until I figured out how to fix it, and I had his husband call a babysitter for the 2 babies he already had.

The baby sitter immediately started playing with the babies. He was a good sitter.

I don't remember that well, but I believe they were hungry too and he fed them.

I do remember clearly, though, that he did not leave the babies alone at all whatsoever until the parents returned. Thankfully, not towing any more babies.

Part of me does worry when babysitters do touch the babies though...I worry that glitch will happen where the babysitter kidnaps the baby when the parents get home and then next thing you know, you'll be focusing on the middle of the ocean.

Thank goodness I haven't needed one in forever, now the house is loaded with aunts and uncles. :)

I used a babysitter for the first time in a long time today, and she wasn't the worst! She played with my toddler in the swing a lot, then let him out. She did heckle him while he was playing with the peg box, though. And she pranked every object in the bathroom, and broke the computer.

But all of my toddlers needs were green!

I rarely get babysitters but when I do I always check their traits and if they are bad I change them with MC. When I do use them it's usually only for a few hours so I make sure my toddlers' needs have been met before my sims leave and the babysitters are happy to play basketball, relax in the hot tub and make themselves quick drinks until my sims get home. I have had a couple that have played with my toddlers on the peg box or xylophone and, very rarely, a sim who will pick up and play with my toddler.

Edit to add: As with all NPCs that my sims encounter, all memory of having met them is removed with MC when their job is done.

My sim-parents don't get a chance to go OUT at all when the kids are infants-toddlers. They only start going out when the kids are in school...child-age. The Watcher is mean like that. Get a "wants to go out" wish, get a lightning bolt in the head.

It is still fairly early in this game. Of the 8 adult sims I started with the third couple is now getting hitched. The house is only partly built (all they can afford so far). It now has a nursery (with 2 babies) and a full kitchen and I'm working on the dining room (only 2 chairs so far - chairs are good for fulfilling the wish to buy something). the beds are in the yard and there is no bathroom (next on the list). On Sunday (a day off) everybody got up, ate breakfast at home (instead of the diner) for a change, then headed to the community centre for toilets and showers. I made sure the kids were fully cared for first, knowing the babysitter probably wouldn't do much. NRass sent a message about an unroutable sim, one of mine that was supposed to be heading to the wedding park. She was reset at home, negating the babysitter who charged me $75 for a half hours work. I sent her directly to the wedding park. The third couple got married, cut the cake, danced with a live band (my family are musicians). The babies progressed from green, to yellow, to orange, to red. I keep looking at the home lot. Often the babysitter will do something when you are watching. I can't find the babysitter. There is only one floor so far since I can't afford the second yet. The basement is an empty space with no stairs yet. I checked anyway, just in case. They aren't hiding in the trees playing with the sprinkler like they often do. There is no babysitter.:( I don't know why not.

It is now after midnight and one of the babies was supposed to age up yesterday evening. The babysitters at least do this. But not this time.

Edit: I found the babysitter. When my first sim returned home, I got the message "Looks like I'm done here. That'll be $75." I clicked on her picture to locate her. She's at the wedding.

"igazor;c-16468726" wrote:
Sometimes I think some of my more intelligent toddlers should be paid to look after the babysitters so they don't get into too much trouble while supposedly left in charge. >:)

Maybe you could make a mod that would add toddler interactions to baby-sitters, such as "Ask For Food", "Feed Baby", "Change Me", "Change Baby".

"MadDoctor61;c-16477239" wrote:

"igazor;c-16468726" wrote:
Sometimes I think some of my more intelligent toddlers should be paid to look after the babysitters so they don't get into too much trouble while supposedly left in charge. >:)

Maybe you could make a mod that would add toddler interactions to baby-sitters, such as "Ask For Food", "Feed Baby", "Change Me", "Change Baby".

Sure, I'll get right on that. Although someone who is actually a script mod developer might have a better chance of the result actually doing anything helpful. Or if you meant "you folks" as in the team at NRaas, I'm afraid our plates are kind of full right now. But I could see our developer wanting to take a look at something like this later in the year maybe, after the move to our new site. :)

It's not a bad idea actually, for someone who would know how. But I think many of us would be just as happy if the babysitting service sims would actually react to the kids' conditions they way we think they were meant to.

The baby monitor from the store has those interactions.