I would never bring a tripod or a slider to make a family film, but there are times when I might improvise those items as I go along.

Tripod
Have you got those little bean bag cushions from your newborn work? Or any cushion I guess? They can work really well for placing the camera for extra stability.

Reasons why I sometimes prefer these to a real tripod:

:: They can very quickly be placed on anything, no setting up and folding legs out.

:: If you need to be low to the ground most tripods are too tall.

:: I’m not logging  a heavy tripod around.

:: Less like for anyone to trip over a cushion compared to a tripod.

Situation where I might use this
:: Commercial shoots where I want to record both video and still at the same time. I can set one camera up on the “tripod” (real one or made up) to record video while I’m shooting stills with the other camera.

I use this mostly for commercial work where I feel I need less shake.
On location it can help balance a big lens if I let the beanbag take the weight maybe on a  wall or other structure.

Slider
Again I wouldn’t use a slider at a family film session, but at commercial sessions there are times when this is a nice view to record, but I’d really rather not bring the big slider.
You can use this both sliding across but you could also to towards and away from an item.
I think this is best for adding movement to a still item, not so useful for wild moving kids.

What do you think, totally crazy ideas or there might be a situation where this will help you?

If you are interested in learning more about starting with family film making do check out my online training courses here.
If you prefer to learn in persons I also offer 1-2-1 on both recording and video editing.