Need a Real World Nanny

[iggyb]

AKA -- Butler's Suck

I'm playing my first family after creating my first Sim. Love the game, but the alternative childcare items in the game suck, and from some brief Googling, it seems this is a long-term issue for EA, and it is one you would think they would fix.

This is a sim - so, they should strive to be somewhat more realistic.

The fact you can only hire a butler is a sign.

My sim got rich early. Married an ambitious sim. Retired early to have 3 children back to back.

I hire a butler and call for a babysitter regularly. My sim increases wealth by writing - so he stays at home and helps take care of the children --- but it's a bloody mess...

I dismiss butler after butler after butler...

EA should offer a nanny as well as butler.

If not, the butler's priority should be on childcare...

I'm tired of my butler walking past 2 screaming toddlers starving to death on the verge of collapse with poop-filled diapers!!

Lazy baby sitters might be somewhat realistic...

But, it should not be so hard for a rich sim with a big house to hire dedicated live-in staff.

I'm tired of butlers who bypass crying children - don't clean out poddy trainers - relax on my own bed - and just occasionally pick up dirty dishes...

If you are middle class and have three small children in a row, you should expect your days (and nights) to be taken up with diaper and bottle duty.

That is realistic.

It isn't if you are rich and have a high-end house....

[LoonehWannabe]

I would like a nanny, also. You could make a Sim, put him/her in the house, give them good traits (Good, Family Oriented, Neat, etc.) and pretend that they are a nanny.

[CamiiMania]

They had nannies in TS2, who were possibly worse then the butlers and babysitters in TS3.
I guess EA just doesn't know how to write good childcare. I would do as recommended above and get a live-in nanny to take care of the kids until they are older. It wouldn't even be that unrealistic, I'm lower-middle class and I grew up with a lovely live-in.

[tonlynski]

I don't think a nanny would be that helpful, honestly. All of the service Sims in my game have been utterly worthless, so I don't see any reason a game-controlled nanny would do what they're supposed to.

I would like a nanny, also. You could make a Sim, put him/her in the house, give them good traits (Good, Family Oriented, Neat, etc.) and pretend that they are a nanny.

That is what I did, but I gave her the Childish trait instead of Family-Oriented since that would only make her want a family of her own. Her traits are Childish, Neat, Green Thumb, Natural Cook, and Unflirty (I didn't want her to get too interested in romance).

I started playing her before I played the family I wanted her to move in with so I could get her gardening, cooking, fishing and handiness skills maxed out. I also bought her a ton of lifetime rewards to keep her needs from decaying. It's worked out pretty well since she doesn't have that many needs to attend to and she can do almost anything a service Sim can do. Of course, it took a lot of work to do all of that, but it's better than having miserable, neglected babies!