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Tips for 7 Toddler Challenge?
Sunfisher0
Posts: 211 Member
Hey everyone 
I'm usually more of a lurker, but I have a burning question. How do you guys do the 7 toddler challenge?
It's been 1 Sim day and all my toddlers are starving, tired, stinky, and very low on attention. They won't sleep for long because they all have nightmares at the same time. My 1 adult Sim keeps passing out out of exhaustion. Help!
I'm usually more of a lurker, but I have a burning question. How do you guys do the 7 toddler challenge?It's been 1 Sim day and all my toddlers are starving, tired, stinky, and very low on attention. They won't sleep for long because they all have nightmares at the same time. My 1 adult Sim keeps passing out out of exhaustion. Help!
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Don't use highchairs, just make a meal and then leave it on the counter the Toddlers are able to pick up a serving and feed themselves.
Get Potty skill trained up to level 2 asap. They can use the potty on their own then. Get it to level 3 if possible, they will almost always use the potty then and that will significantly lower the rate they get stinky and therefore need baths much less often.
I found if they interact with each other as well the Attention need seemed to go up, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
I also did sort of a bad thing and locked the front door for everyone but the adult, and then I put a tent outside for him. It was the only way he could get some sleep haha.
Sorry I'm late, just wanted to add my input! I'm having trouble too!
Make food then choose call to dinner. It brings them all running to eat.
Potty train them immediately
Don't use the highchair in fact don't even have one on the lot.
Bake breadsticks and other slow to perish foods to leave out on the counters or coffee table between cooking real meals.
Keep a tablet on the caregiver...they will always set it in the world...but drag it back on them.. they can use it while on the loo.
Always choose the bubble bath option as opposed to regular baths...this satisfies fun attention and hygene all at once.
Read to them as a group as often as you can.
Use the "Nano can no hands dispenser" and the hand of God on dirty dishes. This not only helps with the caregiver's mood, it generates income for the Nanny, and saves a ton of cleanup time.
This lot is available on the Gallery if you need a better layout than the one you're using.
ID Uzone27 Uzone's 7 Tot Lot
Edit:This was uploaded before I ultimately deleted the highchairr.
Yeah I've actually tried that, but when I played it today my adult was so exhausted and had to keep taking care of the kids so she barely had time lol! My nanny sometimes made food too so they ate that on their own. And I kinda messed it up so they're all hungry at different times. And my computer overheated so I lost a lot of progress!
My Showcase Thread
My Gallery: SimmerLilly87
-- Potty training should be an immediate focal point. Getting them up to 2 in potty training is nice but unless you're controlling the toddlers too (and that's not much of a challenge), then they will still use their diapers most of the time. It isn't until the 3 in potty training that they will mostly use the potty themselves. Once you get them up to 3, helps a ton with hygiene as they don't need to be bathed as often.
-- For potty training, you don't need to stand there the whole time....once they get on the potty, click off that directive on your caregiver. The toddler will still use the potty and still get the boost to that skill and frees up your caregiver to take care of other things. (Same goes with blocks...you can get them started on it and then leave and they will keep playing with the blocks)
-- Lock your caregiver's bedroom door so that only he/she can enter....that will prevent toddlers from coming in to wake up the caregiver.
-- I wouldn't count on the lullaby radio station to save the day on nightmares....it can't hurt but it's debatable how much that actually helps. I've had toddlers with maxed skills and mild temperaments who still occasionally have nightmares even if they were read to sleep and have the lullaby station playing. Most important here is to get those Thinking skills up because that skill has a stated effect of helping them sleep better through the night. Reading them to sleep is great to help them sleep sounder, for sure, but that's time-consuming and you probably won't have that much free time early on. You definitely want to put them to bed though...otherwise they will just nap and wake up again before long. Early on, when the thinking skill is lower for everyone and you don't have time to read them all to bed, someone will wake up and start crying and wake up the others...when you're scrambling in those first few days just to keep the caregiver from passing out, I wouldn't bother trying to get them all back to bed...the tired ones will go back to bed on their own and sleep is too valuable at that point.
-- Use nannies and maids as you can afford to help keep things afloat, especially for the first week. Once you get those potty training skills up (thereby reducing bath time too), you'll turn the corner and won't need as much help from them.
-- I would agree that primarily you want to just cook group meals and call to meal or let them grab plates themselves....added bonus, if they go sit somewhere, they usually don't throw the food like they do early on with high chairs (they can sit on any couches, living room chairs or even their beds to eat...just not dining room chairs). You don't have to let food sit out either...if you're sending the caregiver to sleep or if the toddlers are sleeping and/or not hungry, you can store the food in the fridge and you can drag it out and onto a table or counter while the caregiver sleeps if a toddler gets hungry. That helps keep the food fresh longer. If you have time to cook a meal, I'd try to cook another meal right away that you can store. I would still have at least 1 high chair though because the nanny needs a high chair to feed toddlers...and it's doubtful the nanny will get through cooking meals without interruption from a toddler...once the nanny stops preparing a meal, it typically sits and they never finish it up. Also, if you have 1 really hungry toddler, the high chair is a way to get them a quick meal....takes some practice to work around the bugs with the high chairs though.
-- If you see any angry toddler, either use the "comfort" option to cheer them up or put them to bed. Once they get angry, if you don't deal with it, they will start yelling at and hitting the other toddlers and just bring the mood of the others down too. Usually, this is the biggest problem with the Fussy toddlers...some of the other ones will usually get sad instead of angry if their needs get low.
-- Do what you can to gain reward points if you see any whims you can handle relatively easily....save the reward points for the sleep potion... that thing is a lifesaver if you can get a few of those. You won't be able to get far into aspirations so if you've knocked out the easy ones on the list, switch up the caregiver aspiration to something else which has an easy task or two you can do.
-- Keep an eye on the toddler skills....if you see Potty Training or Thinking close to the next level, then spend a little effort to get it boosted to the next rank....each new rank on those skills is a big help in this challenge.
I put toddlers on the potty while still well in the green, until they were potted trained till level 2. then there was no accidents. and if they were sleeping I'd wake them up to potty in the yellow. even if it meant dad was getting up to.
after day one I hired a nanny in the evening so dad could get some sleep, by this time they all needed a bath. so I had them ask the nanny for a bubble bath. which he did. I had five pottys to start with but ended with seven. NO Highchairs.
four lots of blocks and two wabbit tablets. dolls house and stuffed bear. they got the communication from talking with each other and the nanny. Dad did play with each child each day. third day dad was well rested and helped with cards.
Also got dad to make a meal every morning and evening. The nanny was great, he would cook when he arrived. one week he stayed four days solid, didn't go home, take a bath or pee. I don't even think he ate. when money was low dad got a job and the nanny came. I got him a high paying job for a few sim days. But he wasn't happy, so he quit and while the toddlers played, he fished. Once the toddlers get some skills it gets easier. I didn't know about the lullabye radio station then, so when they woke up and dad was too tired, I tell them to nap. also got dad to read to the toddlers, its great you can click on a bookcase and choose read to toddler and all their faces come up so you can select all of them at the same time.
Have fun.
"Good For You" on completing the challenge. I considered trying it but lacked the courage. I thought it was impossible. It's good to know that it can be done.
this challenge sounds good, can someone direct me to the Rules please ?
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/853211/dizzisquirrels-showcase#latest]
or look for me in the Gallery
aka DizziSquirrel
I'm not sure there are any, just one adult and 7 toddlers, I think most started with the basic money, but I saw one simmer had a two story house so I think they added some. each toddler has their own bed.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/909441/seven-toddler-challenge
The rules vary. The basic rules though are:
-- You have to have unique traits for each of the 7 toddlers
-- You can't control the toddlers.
-- Generally, no cheats and no money cheats except the one to let you start off in any house.
-- Caregiver can only have at-home jobs (if you have any time for that) or do things to earn money from home.....butlers, nannies, maids can be used if affordable....caregiver can't leave lot, put kids in daycare, etc.
On the traits, I always leave out Angelic or Independent because they are the easiest for this challenge. I've also always done this one without money cheats.....frankly, if you're swimming in money, that makes it a lot easier. Also, there's really no challenge if toddler actions are controlled. For example, potty training to level 2 means they can use the potty on their own....however, they still rarely use it on their own until level 3. Toddlers who need to use the bathroom or eat will wake up mad and start crying and wake up the other toddlers or the caregiver. Obviously, if you wake up the toddler yourself and direct them to the bathroom or to get some food left out, etc., then that makes it a lot easier. It's hard to find time to get the Thinking skill up as there's little free time to teach them blocks or flashcards but obviously if you direct the toddlers to the blocks over and over, Thinking would level up a lot easier. So if you really want a challenge, then no control over the toddlers.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/853211/dizzisquirrels-showcase#latest]
or look for me in the Gallery
aka DizziSquirrel
I'm not sticking to rules, either this time, except I'm not playing as the tots... only as caregiver. And no money cheats or cheaply priced CC. A lot of tears have been shed. It's not pretty, but I have the tots locked in a windowless bunker, which is where they belong for their safety.
My ducks are almost in a row!
> If you level up the Thinking skill to level 3 the nightmares stop.
>
> Don't use highchairs, just make a meal and then leave it on the counter the Toddlers are able to pick up a serving and feed themselves.
>
> Get Potty skill trained up to level 2 asap. They can use the potty on their own then. Get it to level 3 if possible, they will almost always use the potty then and that will significantly lower the rate they get stinky and therefore need baths much less often.
>
> I found if they interact with each other as well the Attention need seemed to go up, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
WHAT I THINK: That is very helpful, thank you for showing this (I didn't know that the thinking one was a thing!) ;) :)