How do you decide when enough is enough?

Honestly, I don't really "decide"...it just happens how it happens.

My main control is I don't like to have new children once sims are at an age where they will be dead before the kid becomes a young adult....but even then, it can still happen (I use MCCC risky woohoo settings and don't always remember to have my sims drink the Q-36).

For me, 1-3 kids are the ideal, and I try to space them out a bit (I wait to have Baby #2 till Kid #1 is a child because s/he can help entertain the toddler, then Baby #3 when #2 is a child and #1 is a teen because the teen can help with both the younger siblings (can cook meals, potty train and teach the toddler, etc.).

I used to be a hard core 5-8 kids kind of player back in TS3 days for some reason. Looking back on it that was insane, because now with TS4 I'll usually only have 2-3. Then again, toddlers and children seem more fleshed out in the TS4 so they're a lot more work too.

I mostly plan children according to the parents. Family oriented couples who have uninvolved careers, or a parent who can stay in the home without it impacting quality or life, tend to have more kids for example. Couples who have very active careers and/or traits like loner or hot headed, have fewer children or perhaps no children, and tend to have children in the adult live stage instead of while being in their mid to late young adult stage.

I guess you could say I use an RPG approach to family planning. Would those two people, or that person, with those personality traits and lifestyle have children? Would they want a lot of kids, or be a one kid home? Would they disagree about children? Is one parent more actively involved than the other? Those sorts of questions typically lead me to my decision.

Genetics can also impact children for me. I like to leave born in game sims as untouched as possible. Some couples have really poor genetics for whatever reason, so I will usually make sure they have fewer kids and therefore fewer opportunities for that genetic combination to continue within the save. And couples that have really great genetics for whatever reason, their household will end up full to capacity, because I wants those genetics to carry on to the next generation of the save.

I like to let my Sims decide when and how many kids they have, so that's usually between one four.

My sims only has kids when most of them are already dead or old or if it already too long since the last time he has a kid. but I really prefer to only have single kid so that the relationship between my sim and his son/daughter really close, having too many kids in one time make my sim too lazy to raise their kid and teach them childhood skills. currently my sim has 11 kids 3 of whom already died of old age, 5 of which including my avatar are turned vampires usually by my sim, 1 is born vampire, the rest still alive elder or close to elder. I think 1 or 2 kid is more than enough raising a toddler is a nightmare let alone two or more.

My sims don’t have too many.

"Mindsimscreate;c-16932875" wrote:
@izecson 1 kid at a time? Wow, I have to say I probably couldn't play that game style. My sims have 3 children right now and are pregnant with a 4th. I don't plan on them stopping anytime soon and want them to have at least one more pregnancy after this, probably 2.

It's overwhelming to have more than 2 kids and I tend to get attached in only one of the kids and I dont really want my sim who supposed to be a good father only tending one kid and help them learn skills while I let the other one play and learn by themselves

In my game there is a long going DNA routine. My sims are so and so fertile, and I use a dice to decide whether they shall try for baby or not. At some point they will never try again. If fertility is low, they might stopp earlier.

In other words - I will always know when enough is enough :)

I've always left it up to my sims. Though I do use mods that allow them to practice birth control, accidents happen, and other times my sims will get the want to have either their first child, or another one. My largest family was the Picaso's from Sims 2 and I recreated them in the sims 3, they had 7 kids and they were expecting baby number 8 when my game got messed up. Right now in my Sims 4 game, currently my largest family is at 5 kids. And I'm hoping they are done. Because every time her hubby looks at her she's pregnant again. lol