Someone, help the baby!

Just place the platter of food on the counter and call everyone to eat. Kids and older will sit at the table but toddlers can't use dining room chairs that need to be pulled out. I place a dining room chair close to the table and the toddler will use it to sit then take the plate of food out of their inventory. They can then take part in the conversations while everyone is eating and aren't left out. Just be sure to check their inventory for dirty plates and they don't always leave the empty plates where they can be easily found. I had one toddler who would stash her empty plate on the highest shelves in the house, usually behind decor items. Sometimes I wouldn't find a plate until the green cloud appeared. I hope the teams have fixed the issues we have had with the highchair now that the infants will need to use one while being spoon fed. I use three mods that forces family members to sit at the dining room table, keep the family seated after finishing their meal, take longer to eat their meals, and gives the family more time to bond as a group. Those mods also help to keep the family seated while dining in a restaurant without wandering off to chat with other Sims on the other side of the lot. There are other mods that end that constant hassle caused by the parents not leaving the toddler alone long enough to complete a task. I know some players don't want to use mods, but sometimes mods are the only way to stop the insanity whenever certain interactions disrupt the flow of the game. Tuning mods, like the ones I use, are package files and don't rely on a script file to work. The only drawback is that some mods must be updated when a new patch or update is released. I am currently using 73 tuning mods and I'll never go back to playing an unmodded game. Almost all of the mods I use were created by one mod creator. Which helps to keep mod conflicts from occurring. And makes the mod updating go faster.