Reading to Toddlers and Toddler Skill Building

[Devin]

I *think* that this is the right place for this thread. If not, please go ahead and move it to Skill Building (or whatever it's called) and I'll look for it there if I can't find it here

I have seen many of you talk about reading to toddlers and children. How is this accomplished? I've tried everything I can think of: the book case, the book itself, the toddler/child. Nothing is working and I never get the option. I wonder if this is like how I can't move sims in without marrying them and have only once seen the BFF option in spite of very high relationship levels during teens.

I was also wondering whether or not toddlers can gain skills by watching television.

[Metropolis Man]

Hi Becki. First of all you need the right skill building toddler book. Scroll down to close to the bottom of this guide page which names the skill building toddler books.

[Woopdecker]

To read to a toddler you need to buy some kids books. Head to the book store and chose the Child Development tab ( I think that's the right one) there are some books there for pregnancy and then some fiction one and some counting ones for toddlers. Stick them in your bookcase or inventory and select the option "Read With" and then chose your toddler

As for the moving in thing, now that you mention it, I haven't seen that option recently either...

Hope this helps,

Maz

[Devin]

Are the toddler books different from the children's books? I tried with children's books and got nothing. My author had written them herself. Does that make a difference?

[Schipperke]

Hi Becki,

Yes, the children's books are different and can't be read to toddlers.  As for your question about whether toddlers can gain skills from watching television, unfortunately they can't.  For a sim to gain skill from television, the sim has to have at least one point in the relevant skill; they can't just learn from scratch with television.  Since toddlers have no skills, they can't gain skill points from the television.

If you put the toddler books in your adult sim's inventory and have the sim take the toddler to the library, then just click on the book and select "read with (toddler's name)".  The reading goes very quickly at the library.

[Metropolis Man]

Are the toddler books different from the children's books? I tried with children's books and got nothing. My author had written them herself. Does that make a difference?

Indeed. Go to the bookstore and look for the ones in the link I provided.

[Devin]

Sorry Metro. I was in a hurry and managed to overlook your entire post. I know I've read that guide more than once so I can't believe that I missed it.

What's really crazy is that I posted this and then promptly got the option to move River McIrish in. I guess that the conversation needs to be geared in a certain direction though, because as soon as she thought my sim was funny, he could no longer invite her to move in. This has been one of those major frustrations for me, along with BFF.

It's funny, because I thought there was so little that you could do with children...

Oh. Wait a minute. If you can read children's books to children, I'm not getting that option either. I've tried it and then stopped thinking about it. I don't see this answered in any of the guides, but I'm probably either doing something wrong or there's a glitch in my game. It has been glitch-riddled lately

[wildredchild]

From the time your toddlers turn into children, the option to read to them goes away because they can read to themselves.  Children to elders can read the children's books, but not toddler books.  Make much sense to you?

[sydney511]

You know, toddlers can read to themselves. My toddler would read his 10 page book all day (which reminds me - all the pages are the same...) instead of playing with his pegs, block, and xylophone. You just need to place the book on the floor and they will get the option to read to the themselves.