Finding a Daily Babysitter

[viola.illyria]

Hi There,

My married couple recently had a baby. Now that the mom is going back to work after maternity leave (as she's only one level away from being a Star News Anchor, I don't want her to quit!), is it perfectly allowable to use the Babysitter on a daily basis until the child is old enough for school? I tried this once and some young surly, dangerous looking kid showed up, so I fired him on the spot.  Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

Viola

[Metropolis Man]

...is it perfectly allowable to use the Babysitter on a daily basis until the child is old enough for school? I tried this once and some young surly, dangerous looking kid showed up, so I fired him on the spot.  Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

Don't judge a book by its cover. Yeah, some of the babysitters' appearance doesn't exactly inspire confidence, but they will take care of your kids.

[Swede1992]

Maybe it would be too cruel for the game developers to allow one to fire a person just because they look horrible.

[Pam]

The babysitters will take care of the children's primary needs, but they won't do much extra.  If the baby is hungry, the babysitter will feet him/her.  Same with hygiene, energy, and social.  I think your kids will be fine with a babysitter.

[jmz95]

When this happened to me on my legacy, I had the toddler play with the xylophone and the babysitter went and sat across the child and played with her, like the parents can do with the kid. By the time the toddler was a child, she had two best friends (that were the two main babysitters) with the relationship status being nearly full! So that was a plus to the eight hours of xylophone playing, two friends without even trying!

[viola.illyria]

Thanks much to everyone!

[Simbacat]

The babysitters in TS3 are really great (unlike the useless nannies in TS2). I use them all the time for my larger families and they pay a lot of attention to the kids. Thanks EA,they are one addition I really like.

[kat]

The babysitters in TS3 are really great(unlike the useless nannies in TS2)I use them all the time for my larger families and they pay a lot of attention to the kids.Thanks EA,they are one addition I really like.

I agree! And yeah those nannies in TS2 were totally useless! They just sat around eating food all day and totally ignoring the kids!

[annieb]

I agree that they are definitely better than the nannies in Sims 2. However, I still occasionally get a babysitter that does nothing. Once I had the parents out around town and the baby was at home, I ended up having to send one of the parents home to take care of the baby because so many of his needs were in orange and the babysitter wouldn't take care of him!

I don't know if the social worker will come when a babysitter is there, but I didn't really want to find out!

[Swede1992]

They just sat around eating food all day and totally ignoring the kids!

Ha! If they beat that, then they are better than my regular parent-sim!

[TheLostGirls]

I agree that they are definitely better than the nannies in Sims 2. However, I still occasionally get a babysitter that does nothing. Once I had the parents out around town and the baby was at home, I ended up having to send one of the parents home to take care of the baby because so many of his needs were in orange and the babysitter wouldn't take care of him!

I don't know if the social worker will come when a babysitter is there, but I didn't really want to find out!

Onr babysitter just swam in the pool while my toddler was wailing.

[catlover]

Hi There,

My married couple recently had a baby. Now that the mom is going back to work after maternity leave (as she's only one level away from being a Star News Anchor, I don't want her to quit!), is it perfectly allowable to use the Babysitter on a daily basis until the child is old enough for school? I tried this once and some young surly, dangerous looking kid showed up, so I fired him on the spot.  Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

Viola

I've had to fire several babysitters before I finally found one that seems to do a pretty good job taking care of my little ones until one of the parents return home. It's a good idea to have the parents chat with the babysitter so that the babysitters traits can be revealed, and then you can decide if you want to stick with that sitter or not. I prefer not to keep sitters around that are klepto's or have other negative traits that would possibly keep them from caring for my little ones. At one point I had 5 babies at one time and they all started crying at the same time and the babysitter stood in the middle of the room and put his hands over his ears, screamed and looked scared to death...lol....poor guy didn't know which kid to take care of first. That was funny to watch. Once the parents returned home he didn't stick around to help the parents take care of screaming babies...lol.  Good Luck!

[wonderboy2007]

You all put a lot of thought into your fake child's social development. The only one I ever fired was the one that a minute after she arrived in the morning I got a message saying she had to leave. I was late for work as I tried hiring a replacement. As long as they feed the kids, I'm happy.

[Pam]

In that situation, wonderboy, it's talking about school for the babysitter.  However, they don't actually leave your house when school starts.  I've gotten that same message many times and I just ignore it and the babysitter stays all day.

[wonderboy2007]

Ah that makes sense, and it's good to know! Thanks!