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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tips | Cheats | Athletic | Charisma | Collecting | Cooking | Fishing |
| Gardening | Guitar | Handiness | Inventing | Logic | Martial Arts |
| Nectar Making | Painting | Parenting | Photography | Sculpting | Writing |
The Sims 3 Guide to Raising Kids
Raising Children - Getting Great Grades and Teaching the Child a Good Life
Done a Good Job Raising Them?
If you've followed the parenting guide thus far, and used many of our tips to raising kids, your Sim's child should have been able to choose a trait. In addition, when your child first learns a skill, they will jump up a level immediately if they had training in that skill as a toddler. As such, they can view the skill journal. For example, after playing with the peg toybox for a couple skill levels in the toddler stage, learning the logic skill will immediately start them at level 3 logic once they've grown to a child. This gives your child a head start in school. An odd thing occured the first time my Sim's child slept. She learned the writing skill in her sleep and jumped to level 2.
The Childhood Life Stage
The Sims 3's children are much more like adult Sims than Toddlers. They now have free will, and can learn to cook (but not actually perpare) meals, chat on the computer, learn almost any other skill, go to school, and make friends. You'll also be happy to notice that they can stay home alone. If they spend a bit more time studying, and have a little less fun than other Sim kids, they can shoot straight up any job's career path so long as they maintain this momentum into the teenage years. Here I'll help you with raising a child Sim that tries to excel in life.
Child Skills
Since children cannot cook or fix things, they can play with the little baker oven or genesis building blocks to raise the handiness and cooking skills interactively, while having fun. The skill journal tabs for those skills will appear when they're a teenager. They can learn all other Sims 3 skills the regular ways, aside from Charisma, Guitar, and Gardening. Teens can begin learning those skills. Children can work out with the stereo, television and pool, but an Athletic skill bar will not appear. This may however help them with future development once they age up to teenagers.
Choosing a Child's Lifetime Wish
Watch for lifetime wishes to appear in the wish panel occasionally. They don't pop up often. If you already have a general idea what you want your child's lifetime wish to be, start trying to develop an interest in that trade. For example, if your Sim wants to be a sports star, try to do some athletics (via Pool, Radio, or Television, a hidden skill until Teenager) to increase the odds that the lifetime wish will come up. Likewise for cooking, logic, fishing,and so on.
Attending School
All children must attend school. Elementary school hours are from 9AM(8 bus) to 3PM. It's just like a career, except the performance meter tops out once your child has an 'A'. There really isn't much to that is different from playing an adult Sim. They will occasionally get school opportunities, such as doing a research project. Their wishes will also sometimes go toward getting on the honor roll for multiple weeks (just have an 'A' grade 3 days in a row).
Making Kids Get Good Grades in School
Be sure to make your Sim's child do their homework daily. If they grow up on a day where school is the next morning, get a jump start by having an adult Sim help them with their homework for their first day. Many kids playing this will think, "Lame! Homework before the first day of school!"
Doing Homework
If two kids are going to school at the same time, they may want to copy homework off of one another. Drag the homework to a table or other location, and the little cheater can copy the answers straight to their paper. The kid can get detention if caught, however.
Two Children can work together to get the homework done faster, and this doesn't count as cheating. Adults, especially logical Sims, can also help by tutoring the child. This can help to raise their grade letters. Parents can help kids with homework without fear of detention, as well. It sure beats getting caught cheating!
Raising them Well
Keep the kid's mood up, do homework, and have the occasional friend over and your child will do fine in life. I'll add that it's definitely worth it to buy toys like the dollhouse when it comes up, to earn the lifetime happiness points. In fact, childhood is a great time to rack up lifetime happiness and be able to purchase rewards very very early in life.
Give the Kid a Good Birthday!
Make your Child's last birthday as a kid a special one. They're about to grow up into teenagers with more responsibilities and a wide open world.
| The Sims 3 Skills | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tips | Cheats | Athletic | Charisma | Collecting | Cooking | Fishing |
| Gardening | Guitar | Handiness | Inventing | Logic | Martial Arts |
| Nectar Making | Painting | Parenting | Photography | Sculpting | Writing |
