Tricky Toddler Tips!

I keep some harvestables in their inventory to give them a little boost if they need it - just click on an apple or whatever and tell them to eat it. It's quite helpful when they need potty and food at the same time, and you know that by the time they finish their food, it'll be too late for the potty, or if you choose potty, you'll be gettting warnings that they'll be taken away because the poor thing is Starving.

This is how I get the Top-Notch Toddler trait for each of my toddlers.

• No high chair. Everyone has already said this, but it's true. Delete that chair.
  
• Group meals. Put food out and they will get it. Try to feed them and max the hunger before bed, because it will drop like crazy while they sleep.
  
• To get their skills up quickly, involve adults as much as you can. Always have the toddler ask an adult for help.
  
• Potty. Ideally, right before the need gets to yellow, have a toddler ask an adult for potty training help. This way they don't use the diaper and the hygiene stays good. If your toddler is independent, they can go to the bathroom by themselves from the beginning.
  
• Energy. Have them raise skills until their energy is red - then feed them, potty, and read them to sleep before they collapse. Reading to sleep raises imagination skill.
  
• Toddlers build skills the fastest when they have an adult helping and when they have certain emotions.
  
• Movement skill. Taking clothes off puts toddlers in energized mood, which is best for building this skill, then they can "play" with an adult, dance (preferably ask adult to teach dancing), or run around to build this skill.
  
• Imagination skill. The ideal mood is a playful mood. If you have many toddlers, you can read to all of them and build a bunch of their imagination skills at once. You can also multi-task by having them watch the TV and talk to an adult (building communication) or eat at the same time.
  
• Thinking skill. They should be happy. Use the blocks or flashcards. If the toddler has a high thinking level, they can "Ask why?" which builds thinking skills as well. Spamming this question is an easy way to get the last bit of percentage to level up the skill.
  
• Communication. They should be happy. It's best if an adult works with them on this, but if not they can talk to each other, to animals, to stuffed toys, and to themselves.
  
• Avoid the tablet. It builds skills slowly.
  
• Try to raise the skills evenly. Don't have a 5 in one skill, while you have a 2 in another.
  

Since I nearly always get twins I've been through a hair-pulling learning curve. For a long time I got overwhelmed by their needs and finally got a sort of system now. Though I didn't know about the potty training thing so I'm glad for that tip.

A typical end of day routine for me is to fill up their queue... Eat, potty, sleep, potty, eat. That way they start the day with 3 full needs. I try to have one adult for each to give a talking to, brighten day, teach, play, and teach before their needs hit red. A potty break in the learning time helps a lot too.

One thing that drives me bugnuts about them is that they won't put anything at all down on the floor (like Wabbit Tablets) and will travel halfway through the house to put them on a table. Unless there's a shelf in the vicinity... Any free space on a shelf is their first choice but those are at the tops of the walls, come on! >.< If I asked them to GET it they'd fail because it's out of their reach but putting it up there (where I won't find it for days) is their first move. Augh. My adults have proven that to me. They couldn't reach the smelly plate that they themselves stashed near the ceiling. I love my shelves but man is that aggravating! ?

"PriestessBizarre;c-17596917" wrote:
omg, toddlers. Just. ????. I have picked up some tips here, though. That darn high chair - I thought I *needed* it, my kid didn't seem to eat anything whenever I tried to give food without the high chair. I've only tried babies/toddlers twice and both times, I had two parents in the household, and every time one put the kid in the high chair, the other parent would take the kid out again before I could get any food into the kid.

Argh.

Anyway, I'm here because the child services (or whatever they are called) just took my toddler away. lol, you can see how badly I was doing. But my GOODNESS, I was trying really hard. Really really hard. I did everything I could to try to get this kid's needs met.

So my question (although I'm pretty sure I know the answer) is - can you get your kid back after they've been taken away?

Thank god I never had kids irl, I obviously suck at it hahahaa.

Don't give your tot food... just make a meal and have your tot click on it and help themselves. They can grab plates and go sit down and eat themselves! They can't sit on kitchen chairs but they can sit on sofas, beds, toddler chairs, stools, beds, basically anything that's not a kitchen chair lol.

Unforuntately no, you can't get them back unless you have MCCC mod and have it set to have CPS kids go to another household for adoption. Otherwise CPS is actually written into the code as a death type and they are gone. You could perhaps go back a save though, if you are okay with losing other progress.

"SimAlexandria;c-17596925" wrote:

"PriestessBizarre;c-17596917" wrote:
omg, toddlers. Just. ????. I have picked up some tips here, though. That darn high chair - I thought I *needed* it, my kid didn't seem to eat anything whenever I tried to give food without the high chair. I've only tried babies/toddlers twice and both times, I had two parents in the household, and every time one put the kid in the high chair, the other parent would take the kid out again before I could get any food into the kid.

Argh.

Anyway, I'm here because the child services (or whatever they are called) just took my toddler away. lol, you can see how badly I was doing. But my GOODNESS, I was trying really hard. Really really hard. I did everything I could to try to get this kid's needs met.

So my question (although I'm pretty sure I know the answer) is - can you get your kid back after they've been taken away?

Thank god I never had kids irl, I obviously suck at it hahahaa.

Don't give your tot food... just make a meal and have your tot click on it and help themselves. They can grab plates and go sit down and eat themselves! They can't sit on kitchen chairs but they can sit on sofas, beds, toddler chairs, stools, beds, basically anything that's not a kitchen chair lol.

Actually, they can sit on a dining chair, but only if it isn't slotted to a table. In a previous save I had two chairs against the wall (I pretended that the dining room table had an extension leaf that was just never used) that the toddlers would sometimes sit on to eat.

"DaWaterRat;c-17596987" wrote:

"SimAlexandria;c-17596925" wrote:

"PriestessBizarre;c-17596917" wrote:
omg, toddlers. Just. ????. I have picked up some tips here, though. That darn high chair - I thought I *needed* it, my kid didn't seem to eat anything whenever I tried to give food without the high chair. I've only tried babies/toddlers twice and both times, I had two parents in the household, and every time one put the kid in the high chair, the other parent would take the kid out again before I could get any food into the kid.

Argh.

Anyway, I'm here because the child services (or whatever they are called) just took my toddler away. lol, you can see how badly I was doing. But my GOODNESS, I was trying really hard. Really really hard. I did everything I could to try to get this kid's needs met.

So my question (although I'm pretty sure I know the answer) is - can you get your kid back after they've been taken away?

Thank god I never had kids irl, I obviously suck at it hahahaa.

Don't give your tot food... just make a meal and have your tot click on it and help themselves. They can grab plates and go sit down and eat themselves! They can't sit on kitchen chairs but they can sit on sofas, beds, toddler chairs, stools, beds, basically anything that's not a kitchen chair lol.

Actually, they can sit on a dining chair, but only if it isn't slotted to a table. In a previous save I had two chairs against the wall (I pretended that the dining room table had an extension leaf that was just never used) that the toddlers would sometimes sit on to eat.

haha, makes sense, I've never tried to pllace one not with the table but great idea :)

"PriestessBizarre;c-17597036" wrote:
> @SimAlexandria said:
> (Quote)
>
> Don't give your tot food... just make a meal and have your tot click on it and help themselves. They can grab plates and go sit down and eat themselves! They can't sit on kitchen chairs but they can sit on sofas, beds, toddler chairs, stools, beds, basically anything that's not a kitchen chair lol.
>
> Unforuntately no, you can't get them back unless you have MCCC mod and have it set to have CPS kids go to another household for adoption. Otherwise CPS is actually written into the code as a death type and they are gone. You could perhaps go back a save though, if you are okay with losing other progress.



Okay, so I went back one save and got my kid back. It was a save from last night when he was doing fairly well, too, so I "inherited" him back in a good mood, which was much easier to restart from.

Have got rid of the highchair and stuck a sofa in the dining room (I see the comment above re putting chairs away from the table also). My tot used the sofa to begin with, but then I moved his bed downstairs as it was difficult monitoring him over multi-levels, and since then he likes to take his food and sit on his bed with it and eat there.

And yes, he is taking his own food now and actually eating.

Much progress, once you know the tricks. You're quite the expert SimAlexandria! :)

Haha good thing, because with over 2000 hours spent in sims 4,80% of them are probably playing toddlers hahaha! I give my family 6 or 7 tots at a time on a regular basis cuz I love the little ones! But I am soooo glad it worked out for you! I may know a lot about tots, but I know MUCH less about save files lol!

https://i.imgur.com/n9gS9IA.png

"nerdfashion;c-17225644" wrote:
First of all, make sure you get rid of the cat. Second, try and stick to one toddler at a time, it's so much easier!

I do have one toddler at a time. And uh. The cat is learning not to do stuff FINALLY.

"gretchend417;c-17234068" wrote:

"JC1979;c-17225656" wrote:
Plenty of pre-made meals, family servings in particular. That is what usually helps me get through the terrible toddler stage. No high chairs either, very time consuming and sims don’t always cooperate when it’s in their que.

I learned that the hard way. .....highchairs >:( >:( :D :D

I second this! High chairs make everything hard! Just pre make meals and place them in the floor! Toddlers then help themselves! Also make sure you develop their movement skill! Once that’s hog they get around easy enough. Oh and potty skill! Once they can go by themselves it’s a lot easier.

I would be careful with leaving sweets around. My first toddler's mom owned a bakery and constantly gave in to the toddler wanting sweets. She gained so much weight so fast and eventually couldn't autonomously run on her own.
I concur about premade meals. I do that even when there's only children or for single Sims.