It's definitely not easy being EA in this regard, I agree. I do play families, only my focus is not on the nurturing aspect, but on the fun stuff families can do together, like camping trips. That's why part of GrT is very enticing for me (teach to bike, mementos, tree houses), while I view the whole infant gameplay as annoying and would rather avoid adding it to my game. So it's not just the struggle between balancing releases between the wishes of family players and YA players (or occult versus realism, or contemporary versus retro settings), but also taking into account the hybrid players.
I really like the idea with the socks @"熊猫酱奈" mentioned.