This. I hate this. Sooooo much. That's when I realized that slow aging really isn't for me, because the whole point (for me at least) is to let sims have more time to be autonomous and fun and do what they want. Unfortunately too many toddlers just want to play in the toilet or follow their parents around all day and it drives me crazy. I mean, I love toddlers, but man, does some of the coding get on my nerves. I could maybe stomach the parent stalking but the toilet thing... Hygiene drain and puddles? Too much. Otherwise I liked using slower skills until I was testing an integrated/bacc hood and realized that with all the crazy goals I'd set up for the town, it'd be generation 3 before they earned electricity. I think I used a 6-hour version and had to scale back to 2 or 4 hour skill gain.

And yeah, if I were limiting skills and doing slower aging, I'd limit toddlers to lower than five points, too, perhaps even 2-3 points per skill. If I pick the right items to decorate a lot, it's super easy for sims to earn random points. In my game, it's unusual if a toddler doesn't have five creativity points by the time they grow up; if they don't, it usually means they either have five in another skill or were super absent-minded. But for sure they earn it before turning into a teen, with so many fun creativity-building items. And even the most lazy, unacademic sims will sit themselves down to play chess until they earn two or three points, if they happen to be standing right in front of a chessboard. Then, with playable schools, naturally you'd put in a playground for gym class, right? Easily two points right there.

In my game, 5 skill points in a skill is kinda my first benchmark; I've grown to consider 5 points in every skill to be the average sim standard in my game and usually when I play uni, everyone that graduates needs to have a least five skill points in everything (along with learning parenting). Even sims that don't go to college strive for that, or at minimum, five in cooking, mechanical, and body to achieve basic competency. With those points a sim can cook a nice meal, perhaps for the headmaster, and be trusted to use the stove; repair electronics and stand a chance of not dying (even the dishwasher); and can fight the burglar and have a chance--albeit a tiny one--of kicking butt. Not to mention, in Maxis careers, five points in everything would get you to the middle of almost every track and you'd unlock most career rewards.

So for me, I'd probably keep toddler skills maxed at three otherwise in the long run they'd end up overqualified if they're supposed to be poor. (How long did you say your sims live?) Anyway three points, not because it's half of five if you round, but because that's the minimum points you need to make pancakes. I hate having sims eat cereal and toaster pastries. And, yes, that is literally the foundation of all my views about skills and what sims should learn--whether or not they can make pancakes.

Well it was only the super bright highly motivated toddlers that I gave the allowed 5 points to, but she surprised me.

I have a mod in now which limits the following of the parent, it may also limit the toilet play, I'm not sure. I think it's a BO mod. The whole toilet play-follow parent is broken. Toddlers were only supposed to play down a toilet under certain circumstances, I think it's low aspiration and follow a parent was meant for low social-again broken.

Toddlers have 8 days and she spent most of those skilling in the fall with her brainy high IQ boost. A
Kids have 14 days
Teens 10 days
YA 10 days
Adults 74 days
Elder-I don't know as none have turned elder yet since I changed to this aging.

You gotta watch the ambitious toddlers. They'll happily learn everything if you let them. I think I have BO's mod for following parents, but I don't remember if it affects toilet behavior. (Fun fact, the word toilet is my kryptonite. I always have to retype it. )

My game is Toddlers 6 days, kids 10, teens 15 since I actually liked the length of that stage, adults 37-42, and elders 10-30. I didn't touch YAs. I thought about chopping it down to 16 but there are times when I like having the extra days and it helps if I play more than one sim on the same lot--I can rotate skilling and socializing and story building easier without having to worry about not having enough time.

Then I use BO's aging controller to let aliens, half aliens, and werewolves age three times a week and witches age twice a week, but only adult and elder witches. Plantsims are the ages I am currently experimenting with. I want them to have short lives compared to everyone else (like a flower I guess. There for a season or two then gone). The way I want to play them is that they're a very free society--lots of free will and free love and no worrying about jobs or bills. The problem is that with ACR in a large household I get too many sims running around and they're not even plantsims. It's hard to have free will and teach a group of toddlers all their skills. So I'm thinking the 35 days I gave to plantsim adults originally may be too much and I've cut it down to 25 days and 8-10s for elders. They don't need to skill and don't hold jobs or run businesses but even if they did, they can pass on what they learn. But I haven't tested it yet, so I'll see how it goes. As for the half plantsims, I reduce each life stage by a third.

Just checked the description of that mod (this one, right?), and no, it doesn't affect toddlers playing in the toilet. Thankfully, twojeffs has a mod for that ("Toddler Play with Toilets Fix" on his list of baby/toddler-related mods):


As for college fees... interesting idea, IMO, but yet another thing to remember, and my memory was never the best thing in the world.