Tutorial:Raising a Child
From Simpedia
It can be difficult to raise a child in the Sims 2, so this tutorial will give some tips on how to make life easier for the child, parent(s), and player.
Contents |
Getting a Baby
It is reasonable to note that, in any case, the game plays a sound reminiscent of a The Sims 2 melody remix immediately following conception.
'Try For Baby'
The first way to get a baby is to have two adult/young adult sims (male and female), who are in love, to use the option 'Try For Baby' on a bed or another WooHoo-able object. The adults will WooHoo and, if they were sucessful, you will hear the tune of 'Rock-a-bye Baby'. If you cannot tell, simply check to see whether the 'Try For Baby' option is still avaliable. For the female sim to become pregnant, they must be a playable character, but not nessisarily be married to the male sim, or live with them. A young adult can become pregnant with an adult (or vice versa) but the baby will not age after pregnancy until their parent(s) graduate.
Adoption
The second way to get a baby is to adopt a child from the social services. Simply select a sim and have them call services...adoption. The social services will check to see if you have enough funds to support a child (about ยง2000) and then allow you to choose a baby, toddler, or kid. Then the social worker will come to your house with the child, whos looks and personality have been randomly picked.
Abduction
The third way to get a baby is to have a male or female sim use the telescope and become abducted. They will be pregnant with an alien baby upon return from the abduction. The alien will only be like their human parent a little, looking and acting differently in most cases (green skin).
Pregnancy
Early Pregancy
The day after becoming pregnant (or about 12 hours later), the sim will usually rush to the toliet and begin puking and wonder if they are pregnant. This does not always happen, especially if there is a toilet. The pregnant sim will also have strange dreams and frequently wake up (presumably due to a bad dream).
Mid-Pregnancy
Once a bulge in their belly appears, (the in-game camera zooms in on it)your sim's needs will start to become irradic. They will need to eat and sleep twice as much, and their bladder is also more sensitive. Often they will be too grumpy to skill or socialize, but other sims may use two new interactions: 'Talk to Baby' and 'Feel Belly'. Pregnant sims will also get a three day maternity leave. After another belly bulge, your pregnant sim will wear maternity clothing until the end of the pregnancy.
Labour
Before you go into labour, make sure your sim family has bought the needed supplies for the baby and has money for extras in case of a multiple birth. After three days, your sim will go into labour and you will be told the gender of the baby and are asked to name it. Your sim will get an optional three days of vacation time now, and if they don't take it, a stay-at-home sim will be needed, or a nanny will have to be hired.
Baby
Multiple Births
Sometimes in the game, your pregnant sim will give birth to twins. This can be caused by luck, a cheat, or the chances can be improved by the eating of cheesecake and spagetti. There is also a glitch that may occur so that there are even more babies born at once, sometimes up to five!(the amount of babies will never bring the number of sims in the house over eight) But this is considerably rare.
Looks and Personality
At first, it is not easy to see resemblance between the baby/babies and the parents other then skin tone or traits that are easily noticable (ex: large nose/eye color). The baby also does not have enough hair to check its color, so you should zoom in and check the color of their eyebrows. Generally the baby will have the combination of its parents' personalites, sometimes have the exact same neat points of one and the same active points of another, etc.
Supplies and Care
You need a crib and (preferably) a diaper-changing station. Babies will cry after being left to sleep on the floor for too long, and diapers will be thrown to the floor without a station to change them.A baby should never be out of it's crib unless someone is holding it. You can play with the baby but should not do so when they have just eaten or are crying, which they will do when they need something. You cannot select a baby sim to check its need panals and it has no wants yet. The few needs of a baby are:
- Hunger-simply have a sim teenager or older get a bottle from the fridge and feed the baby
- Energy-put the baby in its crib so it can sleep
- Bladder-change the diaper of the baby, preferably at the diaper-changing station
- Hygeine-change the diaper of the baby at the diaper-changing station or bathe it in a standing sink
Growing Up
After three days, your baby will grow up automatically, but they will recieve aspiration points if they have a birthday party instead. Just blow out the candles, and voila! A toddler!
Toddler
Looks and Personality
Now you can see more resemblance between parent(s) and child/children. The toddler will likely have hair and will now wear clothes other then just a diaper. You can now select the child and have it go places in the house, beg adults for food or attention, and play with objects. The child will also have wants and the 'Grow Up' aspiration of children. Most of their wants will entail getting them toys and supplies and interacting with their friends and family. You can also check the toddler's personality now and compare it to it's parent(s).
Supplies
A little potty for toilet training is all that is needed but to keep your toddler occupied, you should consider buying it the many toys avaliable. They build skill points as well, which is why born-in-game sims have an advantage on the job market. Another object worth buying is the high-chair, which will allow your sim to feed the toddler more filling food then a bottle.
Care
Toddlers now have more need meters then when they were younger so they are harder to please most of the time. These new needs are:
- Social-the best way to fill this is to have the parent interact with the baby, preferably play with or snuggle with it; note that toddlers cannot interact with each other
- Fun-this will be filled by playing with adults, toys, or other objects such as the toilet
Also, toddlers have three key wants that must be furfilled before their birthday, or they risk missing a bunch of aspiration points, which lowers their life span. These wants are to learn to use the potty, talk, and walk, and all three require a parent's help. The easiest way to do this is to feed the baby, and then teach it to walk repeatedly until the skill is mastered or the needs of the parent/child are too low. Fill these needs, except if it is the toddler's bladder, in which case, just go on to the next step and have the parent select the training potty and potty-train the toddler (clean up afterwords). Keep repeating this (eventually replacing 'Teach to Walk' with 'Teach to Talk') and your toddler will be set to grow up in no time.
Growing Up
After three days, your baby will grow up automatically, but they will recieve aspiration points if they have a birthday party instead. This is also important because inviting kids to the birthday party will give your toddler a chance to make friends after they blow out the candles and grow up.
Coming Soon
- Child
- Teenager
- Nannies
- Social Services
- Tips
