Social worker I have a kid that's going to school and the parents are all working. It was now the second day that they were all out of the house and I got, also for the second time, the message that "it's not a good idea to leave <kid's name> home", I believe the message appeared at the moment that the kid came back from school. Don't really remember but not important. Anyway, I thought, why on earth would it not be a good idea, I mean, the parents will come home in a couple of hours, so the kid can keep itself busy with studying, playing, sleeping, plenty of things to do. BUT: then the social worker came and there was nothing I could do, the kid had to come with her even though nothing was actually wrong with it. At the time that the social worker was leaving with the kid the parents arrived home but there was nothing they could do, they could only stand there and watch. I saved my game just before the last parent got into the car to work, will I be able to avoid this social worker? Is the social worker coming randomly, or will she definitely come again if I just retry the same? And is the only alternative to hire a nanny (or keep one of the parents home of course but I don't want to do that)? After reading some messages I'm a bit afraid to get a nanny...
I think you are either going to have to hire a nanny or leave a parent home. You only get so many (I'm not sure of the number) warnings before the social worker shows up. Once she comes, there's nothing you can do except restart your game without saving. There's no reasoning with the heartless B____!:angry: Just like in real life, kids need to be supervised. With your child being older, your Nanny really just needs to be there. I personally have not had any problems with my Nannies. They pick up the house, feed the kids, and then, yes, they watch TV or swim in the pool, but they don't usually neglect the kids.
Bah you can almost control the nanny you know.. just select the toddler and click and on the nanny, there is a lot you can ask her...
Okay, now I'm really annoyed by this game! I didn't save the game when the kid was kidnapped by the social worker and now that I loaded it again it seems to have saved automatically Should I just have reset my PC or what?? I can't believe that they (Maxis) take control of these kind of functions! Does anyone know if it's possible to get the kid back? Is it possible to adopt it into the same family?
Meh, that's only with bad children. When I was young, I was regularly left alone in the house. No strange people in black suits came to get me. Not that this would have been advisable, since I was taught never to open the door for strange people, and to shoot anyone who came through anyway. And the problem with them feeding the kids that the kids aren't actually HUNGRY. So instead, you have a wasted HUGE PLATE OF FOOD which will attract flies, and come to haunt you later when you're ravenous...and the fridge is suddenly empty because of that plate of food. As for "neglect the kids", well, for a kid of child age, that's really quite impossible, since child-sims are independently capable of satisfying their needs. Even hunger can be satisfied, albeit not as efficiently, but a child sim is in no danger of starvation in an adequately equipped house. If you want to avoid the Nanny From Hell, try simply calling over a family friend or a relative: I recall they should satisfy the adult-on-lot requirement, and as standard visitors, they're far less disruptive. They don't ransack your fridge. They don't pee all over the house. They still watch your TV and swim in your pool, but this doesn't really cost you anything, and what's more, your kids actually have reason to interact with them! Plus you don't have to pay them.
That's great news! Not! It is very amazing what sims actually do in the game! There are many other things besides this that sims will actually do, like taking a shower no matter where it is located.:shocked:
I always turn the fridge around when a nanny arrives. Even if there's a baby on the premises (babies only need feeding twice a day and letting a nanny top them up while ma and pa are at work just makes filling ma and pa's wants "to play with baby" more hazardous and time consuming because of the extra baths required). Also most of the nannies I've hired seem to get at least one meal under way before abandonning it to go pick up baby or empty the trash or read the paper or, heck yeah! Pee on the floor
That didn't work in my game. I invited the kid's non-live-in dad over and still got the "seems like you're going to need a babysitter" message when mom tried to step out for a while. The dad had a close relationship with the kid, yada yada. It wasn't like I was leaving her with a stranger. Here's how I avoid the nanny: Have one parent quit their job and stay home full time until oldest child is a teenager. A teenager counts as a responsible adult, and gets home from school earlier than the younger kids, so they work great as a babysitter. Or, if you're lucky and the parental units have work at the exact same time as the kid has school, don't have them earn the skill points they would need to advance until the kid is a teenager. That worked great in my family with two scientists for parents. Their shifts exactly coincided with their daughter's school schedule. They had different jobs, and I was able to use their vacation days and days off when she was a baby. No nanny needed. I've also built my own nannies and moved them in. I don't like the in-game ones because they have been glitchy in the past, but I admit I haven't used a nanny at all in my current game, so maybe things have improved with the patches they've come up with.
