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 ...
Sometimes I have autonomy on in some saves, and without toddlers it's nice not to care too much about them, only a few times I need to step in. However mostly autonomy is turned off, although my Sims do whatever they want to do anyways and I say hello to the surprise pregnancy.