I noticed whenever I switch families through "make active" I lose all the small wants for my sims when I switch back? Is there a setting i could change to keep those wants when using "make active" or perhaps a mod you know of that could help?

Thanks in advance!

A handful of NRaas mods have a Dream Catcher / Retain Dreams and Opportunities option, depending on which one you're using to make the switch.

The last question of the Dreamer FAQ covers all of your options and how it works. Note that the Dreamer mod isn't actually needed/related to this, that's just where that topic is covered.

Using MC in particular though, on City Hall or an in-game computer, NRaas > MC > Settings > Retain Dreams and Opportunities > True.

Also note the warning about "too many" (however that's defined) dream managers running at the same time on the page linked to by CardinalSims.