I turn to autonomy that is full, and just watch the family. I really only intervene when they step too out of bounds with my idea for this story. Autonomy works fine for me, if I first play while the ...
I've never done this lol. To me, I don't see how can I be playing a game if I'm not...playing it, but watching it. So when I sit down to play, I never consider approaching it this way.
ETA: I play similar to @Rouensims where autonomy is on, but a lot of it gets cancelled by me. Never just fully handing over autonomy to the Sims.