I need help with my single mother , please!

[Delgar]

I would save up and buy a Food Replicator, or Collection helper.

You can give the Collection Helper to your teen and they can use it to find collectables.

You could also try to save up 75k LTH to get the teleporter. But only if you think you'll earn another 27k LTH points before your elder passes on.

[Pam]

Unless the parents have an accident, they will live long enough to raise the kids.  Especially the mother.  Christopher might not make it because he's quite a bit older than your original Sim, if I understand it right.  Children take only 14 Sim days to grow into a teenager if you're on normal lifespan.  Teenagers take 21 days to age up.  All of the adult stages take more than that.  So, even if the mother ages to elderly right after giving birth, she'll still have plenty of time to raise the child if she dies of old age.

I spoke in error here.  On normal lifespan, children take 7 Sim days to age up and teenagers take 14 days.  Sorry for any confusion, jerseygirl.

Also, I moved this thread to the Miscellaneous Help board, which is more appropriate for the subject. 

[jersygirl15]

OK thanks everyone and Thanks Pam for moving the topic  

I've been playing on the normal lifespan but now I want the parents to have enough time to master their skills before dying ( hoping to fulfill their lifetime wishes) , I also want the first son to have time to make some money before trying to get married and start a a family , so can i change the lifespan now?? will this really help ??

another thing I'm thinking about , is to have the 2 sons live in the same house , like building another level in the house (2nd story) , and each one of the 2 sons start a family in one of the 2 floors (i think the parents would be dead before the 2nd son turns into a YA because he is still a baby now and both parents are already ELDERS )  , so is this possible ?

[Metropolis Man]

I've been playing on the normal lifespan but now I want the parents to have enough time to master their skills before dying ( hoping to fulfill their lifetime wishes) , I also want the first son to have time to make some money before trying to get married and start a a family , so can i change the lifespan now?? will this really help ??

Yes, you can change lifespan length via Options at any time. And it will tack on days, so it most certainly will help you achieve your goals.

another thing I'm thinking about , is to have the 2 sons live in the same house , like building another level in the house (2nd story) , and each one of the 2 sons start a family in one of the 2 floors (i think the parents would be dead before the 2nd son turns into a YA because he is still a baby now and both parents are already ELDERS )  , so is this possible ?

Definitely. When the sons each find their future mates, you'd just have the wives move in after the wedding ceremony (a screen will automatically come up). Adding a 2nd floor to an existing one-floor home is a snap and is accomplished in build mode.

[Pam]

Another option is to simply turn aging off.  There's a checkbox on the Options screen for "Enable Aging" that you just need to uncheck.  They won't age at all this way.  You can age the kids up yourself by using birthday cake.  When you're ready for them to age normally, go back and recheck the aging box.

[jersygirl15]

I like both ideas, thanks.  
Which is better? Or should I just try any?
For the first son, I need a job that fits a YA with "handy" and "athletic" traits (good salary required too).

[Metropolis Man]

For the first son, jerseygirl, I would definitely go Military career with those traits. It's a perfect match.

[jersygirl15]

Great, I'll do it .... Thanks.  

[jersygirl15]

so i unchecked the aging box , then bought a B-DAY cake and made the 2 sons blow the candles , the 1st turned into a BALD YA   , and the 2nd turned into a toddler. But does this mean that every sim in the game won't age up? Including the friends and neighbours? Or just the people I control in my household?

The 1st son, Yaze, has many girlfriends, but the one he was attracted to the most was the babysitter of his younger brother. They hang out a lot and he knew 3 traits about her in a few minutes. She was a teen, so I made her blow the candles and turn into a YA, too. But now I'm wondering if she will age up and become older than Yaze.

[Pam]

As long as you have aging disabled, nobody in the whole town will age.

If you don't like Yaze's hair, you can click on a mirror and change it. Same with the toddler.

[jersygirl15]

But I can buy birthday cakes and make anyone age up, right? I don't want that if Yaze made a baby, the baby remains a baby forever!!  

[Pam]

That's correct.  You can age anyone up with a birthday cake any time.

[jersygirl15]

but today I bought a cake and tried to age the younger son to a child , but when I try to click on "blow candles" it says "no one in the lot is ready to age up now "  ...... what's wrong ?

[Pam]

I don't think I've ever had that happen.  Try again with another cake.  There's also another way to age up.  Open the cheat console with Ctrl+Alt+C, then type "testingcheatsenabled true" without the quote marks and press enter.  Now you can Shift-Click your Sim and choose Trigger Age Transition.  When finished, open cheats window again and type "testingcheatsenabled false" and enter.

[jersygirl15]

What does SHIFT-CLICK YOUR SIM mean?