Why are the babysitters so useless?

[itsamariokart]

I have a couple who are both employed and have a child and toddler. I have a babysitter to take care of their toddler for when they're in work and their child's in school. She's useless :/ all she does is play computer games, flips the baby up in the air now and then and plays on the swing.

Does anyone else find the babysitters useless?

[Sorelligirls]

For the most part, the babysitters are useless. I had one toddler sit in a smelly diaper for at least 3 sim hours while the sitter cooed and paid attention to ONLY the baby. I will only use them when I need someone on the lot so social services aren't called - they are definitely not to be used as someone to teach the toddlers any skills or help children with their homework!

[Kathwynn]

unless you are using a mod of some sort.. which I do not.. A babysitter is the most useless of all the NPC.. I would rather trust a baby to Agnes Crumplebottom than to any baby sitter. I think that Maxis creators must be basing the babysitter on some little twit that a programer had hired. But seriously all babysitters being so useless. maybe in of the future EP or SP a return of the nanny might happen.. Not holding my breath though..

[RoseCity]

In my first Sunset Valley game, there was a babysitter who took very good care of the kids and even played with them. But it's been downhill ever since - sometimes they sit and read the whole time or turn on the music and dance. Sometimes they stand frozen in one place until the parents get home. Do you have to kill them to get new ones?

[lewisb40]

Either call them out early the next day for services, or invite them to the house after leaving for the day. Then fire them. When calling for babysitting services the next day, a new sitter comes out. Most times the second one may be a good babysitter, but I have had to find a third one before being satisfied. I don't know if EA intended for us to go through the lazy sitters until finding the gems, but this method has worked for me.

[AngelicScot]

I'm firmly of the belief that none of the programmers on the Sims Team at EA have children. Perhaps the babysitters are the type of babysitters the programmers used to be. For all we hated the nannies in Sims 2, they were far better (in most cases) than the babysitters in Sims 3 are. I'm hoping that the Daycare profession isn't JUST a profession that a player can do, I'm hoping that there's a daycare that active play sims can utilize.

[itsamariokart]

Sims 2 nannies were a million times better than the one I have at the moment >____< I'm going to have to fire her.

[fway]

Sims 2 nannies were a million times better than the one I have at the moment >____< I'm going to have to fire burn her.

Fixed that for you. The good ol' Sims 2 nannies. They actually did that to themselves while cooking a microwave meal for the toddlers who couldn't eat them.

I can't say that I have had babysitters come to my house now because of mods, but when I first got the game and played without mods, the babysitters didn't seem to love to do anything that benefited the children.

[emilyhwithlove]

So I hired this babysitter today when my Selfsim was going to the hospital to have a baby.

When my sim gets to the hospital, I check back on the toddler at the house. It's doing fine playing with some toys.. but I don't see the babysitter anywhere. I'm looking around the house for the stupid babysitter when I see this...

http://i54.tinypic.com/smetzq.jpg

..how ya likin' those bushes, babysitter?

[wickedblue]

I bet none of us ever thought we'd miss TS2 nannies. I thought they were the worst until I had to hire a babysitter in TS3.

I watched a babysitter stand outside the apartment building where my sims live for the entire time they were at work, with baby on the 4th floor screaming about being hungry and having a dirty diaper and then he was so very lonely. I had to send home the baby's aunt from what I had her doing just to take care of the baby. So I forgot to fire the useless 'sitter and then when the father came home from work, that is when the babysitter decided it was time to come upstairs and into the apartment. :rolleyes: :wtf:

[RoseCity]

Either call them out early the next day for services, or invite them to the house after leaving for the day. Then fire them. When calling for babysitting services the next day, a new sitter comes out. Most times the second one may be a good babysitter, but I have had to find a third one before being satisfied. I don't know if EA intended for us to go through the lazy sitters until finding the gems, but this method has worked for me.
I'll try that - they always leave the second the parents set foot on the property. And then I forget to deal with it until the next incident.

[el_flel]

I find them completely and utterly useless. IME all they do is fulfill the game's demands for a teen+ to be present on the property to avoid the child being taken away by social services. They only seem to actually pay attention to babies/toddlers when they are starving hungry. They ignore diaper changes and low social.

They are even worse than TS2 nannies!

[Celebriton]

The Sims always have problems with the AI and the gameplay overall. And once it was made, EA never try to fix, improve and perfecting it.

I wonder if there are any people in EA playing The Sims 3 after it made? Even Will Wright probably isn't intererting with The Sims anymore.

Thanks goodness, there are modding community.

[karrie85]

Ugh I hate my babysitters. Every single time I leave me kids alone with one of those stupid teenagers, they wait until my kids are down in the red in nearly all things before they do anything. This is why I try to have a older sibling or relative living with my families.

[annoellyn]

I don't mind the babysitters. They always take care of the kids when i hire them; feed them, change them, etc.

Annie

[Dreamer32910]

lol I had a babysitter once that just stood there and stared at my kid when he cried then the sitter would walk out of the room and completely ignore my baby... I think the only decent baby sitter on there is Davey.

[itsamariokart]

Fixed that for you. The good ol' Sims 2 nannies. They actually did that to themselves while cooking a microwave meal for the toddlers who couldn't eat them.

I can't say that I have had babysitters come to my house now because of mods, but when I first got the game and played without mods, the babysitters didn't seem to love to do anything that benefited the children.
aha, maybe burning her would be better.

[Klldarkness]

It actually says in one of the loading screens: "Watch out for the service sims! Not all of them work hard for their money!"

So, basically, if their not doing heir job, fire them, and then hire another. One will work out well. :)

[varpunen]

It actually says in one of the loading screens: "Watch out for the service sims! Not all of them work hard for their money!"

I can't understand why they put that in the game. I'm sure they thought it would be funny but they surely didn't think what it would be like in the long run. :wtf: The first few times my sim lady had to deal with a lazy service sim it was fun but a month after month of the same thing... good God, it's driving me nuts. I miss the service NPC from the sims 2. At least they did what they were supposed to do.

[fway]

It actually says in one of the loading screens: "Watch out for the service sims! Not all of them work hard for their money!"



If I didn't keep getting "Water is Wet" type tips (the VERY obvious ones) I would have known about this. Hearing about babysitters just standing there (not watching TV or other slackerish things) while babysitting seems more like a bug. I would actually like it if there were some slacker babysitter sims who mooch off food and all that, because my sim would be able to fire them for a more realistic reason then.

[Stina1701-D]

The maid brushes her teeth every day she comes to work. Don't mind much because she does her work--even pitches a fit now and again when she can't enter the teen's room because she keeps it locked to everyone but herself. She even called in an extra maid when my Sim dumped trash (actually that was me) he had collected from rummaging in his neighbours trash, into his yard.

[simsamu]

I can't understand why they put that in the game. I'm sure they thought it would be funny but they surely didn't think what it would be like in the long run. :wtf: The first few times my sim lady had to deal with a lazy service sim it was fun but a month after month of the same thing... good God, it's driving me nuts. I miss the service NPC from the sims 2. At least they did what they were supposed to do.

As infuriating as it can be sometimes, I love this little feature it makes it seem so lifelike, I mean everyone of you has hired or worked with a "professional slacker" at some point (obviously except the lucky ones who are too young to do so). Plus I enjoy firing their little pixel butts.
AS for the babysitters I must be quite lucky all of my babysitters have been ok, it was the same with sims 2 I seemed to land lucky with the nannies most of the time.

[aurica]

For the most part, the babysitters are useless. I had one toddler sit in a smelly diaper for at least 3 sim hours while the sitter cooed and paid attention to ONLY the baby. I will only use them when I need someone on the lot so social services aren't called - they are definitely not to be used as someone to teach the toddlers any skills or help children with their homework!

LOL that sums up my game experience with baby sitters. The only reason why they are there is just so that social services don't come knocking on door. Though ocassionally they still do some work, but I find playing with toddlers quite intensive on the adult sims time. So I normally hire them anyway if I two little ones that needs special attention.

I think I remember reading about NPC service sims being mentioned on the loading screens. It says not everyone you hire works for their money, and even suggest to players that you can sack them and hire new ones if they are performing to your expectation. Which is fair enough, just like real life. :D

[BartholomewMaximillion]

Every service sim is useless to me, really. Remember that tip from EA when they said: 'Keep an eye out for service sims, not all of them do what they're paid to do!' or something like that? They actually meant 'Keep an eye out for service sims because they don't work it you don't!'. Oh well.

[emilyhwithlove]

I actually got a babysitter that DID something for once! His name was Leslie [insertlastnamehere]. He taught my toddler to walk while parents were at work... I was sitting there with my mouth hanging open :)

[harlequinzombie]

Every time I hire a babysitter they almost always just stand out on my sims porch talking on their phone until my sim comes back home. Then they take their money for all their "hard work" and leave. That, or they play video games while my baby or toddler is doing that weird shaking thing on the floor because they need to go to sleep or are hungry. Occasionally they plop the kid in a crib or give it a bottle, but that's rare.

[itsamariokart]

oooh, I found a decent babysitter. His name's Justin :D

[jennydb91]

Peyton Suzuki in Bridgeport is pretty good! I got annoyed once, she kept talking to the maid while the kid wanted to get out of the toddler chair, but apart from that, she's amazing. She doesn't just feed them and change diapers and all that, she plays with them, tickle them, throw them in the air, all that stuff. My toddler became friends with her. She's not too bad, I hope I get her if I get anyother baby soon.