Playing different Sims at different locations (?)

I'm a Sims 4 player and have a question. Ok, with Sims 3, I loved that I could set up one of my Sims, in a big family, to do something and then take the other Sims out to do something else on the town. In Sims 4, though; lets sat I have a family of 4 and it's bed time for the kids but the grown ups want to go out to a bar. I take my grown ups out and now the kids all are out of bed just standing there doing nothing. It makes playing very difficult and they all wind up pretty much just staying home all the time. I bought the go to work pack and cant even go to work with my Sims, as a cop, because then the rest of the family just stands there, doing nothing, while I'm away. I've tried that autonomy options, thinking maybe that had something to do with it, but it didnt make any difference. So... am I just missing something really obvious, or is this really the way Sims 4 works?