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Some folks see having and raising children as a pivotal part of their lives, and inThe Sims 4: Parenthoodgame pack, no more guessing whether or not you’re a good parent – your Parenting skills finally have several levels of measurable metrics!
Whether you’re trying to encourage only the best behaviors in Toddler, Child, or Teen Sims, see to it that your new Infant thrives during their earliest days of life, or just want to make sure your kids grow up to have a good life, the Parenting skill helps expand the interactions your Sims can have with their children.
Parenting Skill Overview
Our Sims have always been able to have kids, but The Sims 4: Parenthood pack introduced Parenting as a measurable skill for the first time.
With the pack installed, your Sims will still go about life and have children as normal, but once they’ve become parents, they’ll bedetermined to be effective parentsto their children.
Beginning from the day they bring home their brand new bundle of joy to the day that Sim becomes a Young Adult, the Parenting skill will be active with the Parenthood pack gameplay.
Through this, you’ll be able to routinely experienceTeachable Momentswhen playing as the parent Sim, which sees your child come to you for advice about something.
As you get better at the Parenting skill in The Sims 4: Parenthood, your options for these Teachable Moments expand - you’ll have additional choices available and will eventually be able to preview the full impact of each choice before you make it.
Between the time your Child Sim is born to the time they become a Young Adult, you’ll have a bevy of interactions with them that help your Sim build their Parenting skill.
TheParenting interactionsfrom the social menu when clicking on a child Sim when playing as their parent are a guaranteed way to build your Sim’s Parenting skill.
Though you’ll definitely want to foster a good relationship with your children, your Sim doesn’t seem to build the Parenting skill from regular interactions with their kids.
Parent-and-child interactions that build the Parenting skill for your Sim are:
Your Sim can also work on building their Parenting skill in their (limited) downtime when the kids are busy byreading Parenting booksor byReading Parenting Forumson any computer.
Teachable Moments
As your little Sims grow up, you’ll be able to begin giving them advice during Teachable Momentsbeginning when they age into Child Sims. This option carries through the Teen years as well.
Acting muchlike chance cardsyou’d experience in careers, thesepop-up notificationsfeature your child (or the administration at their school, if the pop-up is during school hours) asking for advice on something.
This can be anything from losing a favorite toy with Child Sims to existential dread questions with Teens, and it’s up to your parent Sim to make heads or tails of things for their child.
Each possible answer for every Teachable Moment willraiseone Character Valuewhile lowering another, so it’s up to you to strike a delicate balance to ensure your Child Sim grows up as well as possible.
Helpful Traits To Give Parent Sims
It goes without saying that theFamily-Orientedtraitis an incredibly helpful one for your parent Sim to have, since you’ll be spending quite a lot of time around your nuclear family.
This traitnot only means they’ll enjoy their family time more, but they’ll be able tosoothe Toddlers in bad moodsby expressing their love or trying to talk them down.
Just be mindful that Family-Oriented Sims gain Sad moodlets after a while away from family, so plan accordingly if you need them to take time away from the household for any reason.
Since children tend to respond best to positivity, theCheerful, Goofball, Good, and Outgoingtraitsare all safe bets for interacting with them.
Additionally, theChildish traitcan come in handy when parenting your children, as it helps your Sim to feel either Playful or Happy when playing with their kids.
You’d do well toavoid the Erratic, Gloomy, Hot-Headed, Neat, or Evil traits, as these tend to lead to negative moodlets for your Sim, which their smaller Sims will definitely pick up on.
And finally, unless you’re directly seeking a challenge,don’t make a Sim with theHates Children trait have kids.
The Hates Children trait is only available for Young Adults and up, and they’ll gain a plethora of negative moodlets from spending time withInfants, Toddlers, and Children.
Every Level Of The Parenting Skill
Below, you’ll find detailed information on what unlocks at each level of the Parenting skill in The Sims 4: Parenthood.
Your Sim will gain access to new abilities that make them a more effective parent as they build their Parenting skill, which may help build the Parenting skill that much faster.
1
“Ask Not to Do That"interaction with children when they’re misbehaving.
“Yell At to Stop"interaction with children when they’re misbehaving.
“Influence to Clean"interaction with children to convince them to tidy up their belongings.
2
“Firmly Tell Not to Do"interaction with children, which is a gentler way to stop them from misbehaving than yelling.
“Influence to Do Homework"interaction with children.to convince them to finish any incomplete schoolwork.
More choicesavailable during Teachable Moments.
3
“Solve Motive"interaction with children, which convinces them to handle their Bladder, Fun, or Hygiene needs when asked.
4
Time Outinteraction with children to punish them for misbehaving.
Your Sim can nowsee which traits will be positively influencedbefore choosing their answer on Parenting chance cards and Teachable Moments.
5
“Solve Motive"interaction with children now includes Hunger and Sleep.
“Groundinginteraction with children to punish them for misbehaving.
“Discuss Bad Behavior"interaction with children to talk through the reasons behind any recent misbehavior.
“Hug It Out"interaction with children available as a less severe option for handling bad behaviors.
6
Make Other Parents Feel Betterwhen around other Sims that have children.
Able to"Find Out What’s Wrong” with crying Infantsfor quicker problem-solving. *
7
Better success with the “Solve Motive” and “Influence To…” interactions with children, making each more likely to succeed.
8
9
All “Influence To…” interactions are guaranteed to succeed.
Your Sim can now also see which values will benegatively impacted during Teachable Momentsprior to selecting an answer.
10 (Max)
“Super Efficient Baby Care"interaction unlocked with Infants to immediately resolve all of their needs.
“Full Parent Mode"is available when performing several Parenting actions in a row to slow the decay of your Sim’s needs so they can focus on their children.
- When your Sim uses the"Find Out What’s Wrong"interaction, you’ll be able to tell what the Infant needs by thesymbol that appears in a thought bubbleover its head so you can then manually address the problem.
