No autonomous check toddler/watch?

Every time I try to get the parents of any family with toddlers to do anything autonomously, like, say, have a conversation not carefully guided by me, they stop after a few minutes and go stare at the toddler, either to "check toddler" or to "watch". Absolutely nothing is getting done unless I micromanage everyone, and it's driving me up a wall! Is there a mod to fix this? Maybe make those interactions non-autonomous? (If not, can someone please, please make one?)