[Callers] Keepin family dancers to the measures

Here is a question I've mulled over and I'm curious to know what others practice. Do you always try to keep family dancers in time with the music? Most of the family dances I've called have had a mix of young children 4 and up and their parents; so it is this type of crowd that I'm thinking of when I ask this question. Rather than split longways sets into 6-8 couples, I've let them run longer. The dancers need more time to complete the figures due to the length of the sets and I get them going with the next figure at the start of the next A or B. The plus is that we don't have to worry about rushing, but I find that this requires me to call the entire time as the dancers don't have the music as the cue. I've played a bit with tempo. Slowing it way down does allow even young dancers to complete the moves in sync, but I have found a corresponding loss of energy from the slow tempo. Thoughts? Nancy Turner Waitsfield VT