So, I finally had my Sim couple with maxed skills (yes, all 13 each!) have kids. I wanted a girl and a boy staggered in 2 pregnancies, but it ended up being a girl and twin boys. Ack! I had to do some home expansion in a hurry.
Strange thing is the girl looks like mom and one boy looks like dad, but the other boy has black hair while everyone else in the family has chestnut brown hair.
Anyway, all 3 kids read all 9 of the children's books when they were toddlers. I would have them rotate while mom and dad played with or taught the others how to walk, talk, and be potty trained. When they aged up to children, they each got level 3 painting and writing instantly from reading the painting books, and the writing is from reading so many children's books when they were toddlers (it told me when they clicked on their laptops. I assume they also got logic and guitar from playing the xylophone, reading the counting, shapes, etc. books and playing with the peg box. However, even though I got each kid a guitar, they can't play with them yet. Mom and dad can tutor each kid in photography, painting, fishing, and a few other skills I forgot. I haven't decided if I should turn aging off now and keep them as kids (they are so cute) or have them age up into teens.