Toddlers are soooooo annoying

I don't play them very often, but the few times I have they didn't seem too bad. I almost kind of wish the other lifestages were as obnoxious, it could be fun

The messes. Good sweet SimGod the messes toddlers make. When I was playing last night it feels like I spent half of my time just Xing out the "make a mess" pop up. I wish there was a way to turn them off besides turning off free will totally.

Toddlers are serial sim killers. They make sims playful moodlet frequently, leads to hysteria to die.

This thread is hilarious. I’m in the throws of toddlerhood and many of the frustrations of toddlers in the Sims is very simlilar to real life. (Although that might be an issue for a simulated life game)

You definitely made things difficult for yourself there, but not insurmountable. They can certainly be frustrating, but of all the iterations of toddlers in this franchise, the toddlers in S4 are my favorite. In real life I never want children, but pixelated ones I find endearing. Lol.

Also, the pause button is your best friend when playing with toddlers. I spend a lot of time on pause, but I don't think of it negatively. It helps me figure out schedules and plan. Life would be so much easier if I could pause time to think.

I guess it depends on what mood I'm in. If I'm just playing for fun and not really worried about "family" play, then yeah, I'll find myself aging them up early. If I'm playing for "real", I'll focus on playing and taking good care of them. I think they're actually fun when I'm focusing on raising them and playing with them. I think having multiple toddlers at once would be a bit more challenging and less "fun", though, so I cant' say I'd want twins or triplets.

I've learned to settle for toddler skills up to level 3 rather than aiming for 5. I always feed them by putting out a plate of leftovers. When I have twins I have them eat at the same time and play with toys close together because if they talk to each other they raise the communication skill. I always have a tablet for each toddler so they can keep out of trouble and keep gaining skills when the parents are busy. I always have the blocks set and when a parent has time I'll have them teach them blocks or play dolls with them. Sometimes I have the parents teach them to talk once or twice. Making the toddlers walk to their own food and then to a place to sit usually raises the movement skill pretty fast too, especially in houses with stairs (have to feed them every time they get halfway to empty though, otherwise their walking speed can put them in danger of being taken away for hunger failure). The parents always read them to sleep unless something's gone wrong and the parent's needs are too low, then I just have the toddler put themselves to bed. I play on normal lifespan and usually this gets them to 4 in every skill by their birthday without killing the parents.

My primary sim raised four sets of twins in a row so I developed a system. The household always revolves around the toddlers and no one else can have a social or love life because I'm too busy to deal with them, but usually I can keep everyone content at least. I'll have to keep some of @ChelleJo 's tips in mind going forward though, and see if I can eventually get one with maxed out skills.

Oh, but did you know if you hire a nanny you can play the toddlers at home while the parents go to work? They don't learn as fast by themselves but they can keep learning while the parents are gone so they don't have to use all the vacation days.

My toddlers mostly always seem to gain their skills to level five without barely any parental effort. I play with life span set to long though so I think that maybe helps as they have much more time to learn.

"Beardedgeek;c-17038488" wrote:

"Dreamie209;c-17038479" wrote:
Ever since TS2 I’ve had a nack for managing time, so it’s never really been to much trouble to me.

I don't know if I am bad at managing time, but even without kids in the family my Sims barely have time to socialize except when I cue up stuff to make them happy. I tend to spend all the time either have them grinding to make money, grinding to learn a skill to get promoted or sleeping. I virtually never let them do what they want, when they finally have a day off I schedule a date or something just to get some social in, and then spend the rest of the day fulfilling the need to get the next promotion.

Maybe I am just easily stressed or something? I feel I constantly have to pause and cue up actions or I lose time that could mean a day shorter wait for the next promotion.

Hmm..I think I'm starting to see what's going on a bit. How about breaking up 'grind' times just a little? Like another person said, at times I plan ahead of what I'm going to do too. Like instead of spending the whole day, why not level grind for an hour or two each day? Before you start your grind, be sure to make the appropriate meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) between those times. Sims regardless of their age are going to get hungry, sleepy and crave social interactions. Because of this, I always found the best way to do this is sort of 'syncing' (well I call it syncing lol) of their major needs. That way you can rotate them and at night they'll be ready for bed (Also if you read a toddler to bed, you level the imagination skill and they actually sleep a little longer).

If you have seasons, planning social/dinner parties and other things on the holiday calendar are just perfect for get-togethers are totally perfect for more social interactions for the whole house. Even group 'playdates' could benifit both parent and toddler. If the parent has a friend/co-worker with a child, taking them all to the park with toddler/child items would help the toddler's skills (walking, talking, imagination) while mom reads her skill books and socializes with her friends. That's sort of how I kinda benefit from multitasking. Every little bit counts.


Also If your sims are full time working parents in rabbit hole jobs, I'd suggest scheduling a nanny before they go to work. This way you could focus on the toddlers for a couple of hours while they are gone. Nannies always make food the second they enter the house, so there's a window of helping them gain skills until their parents return. The skill to really focus on is potty, but technically once they reach level 2, you can rotate to them and cue them to go potty.

I don't find it wrong at all to pause between times. In fact, I'd say it definitely helps if you want to plan through household rotations. All in all, always take a deep breath and maybe plan it piece by piece. That way it might not seem like a lot.

"Sharonia;c-17038923" wrote:
My toddlers mostly always seem to gain their skills to level five without barely any parental effort. I play with life span set to long though so I think that maybe helps as they have much more time to learn.

This is the secret to toddler success right here. Just buy them the relevant toys and they usually max the skills on their own. All the parents have to do is potty train.