Oh, that's sad! When I just need a few collectibles, if my village doesn't have any kids, I'll spend my time in other villagers (until a kid is weaned) just so that I'm not tormented by seeing a needed collectible.

BTW, here's an easy trick to find kids (or even to see if you have any kids):

Assuming that you keep your details screen sorted on "age", if you double click a totem (any totem), and then hit "d" or the Details button, the youngest villager in your village will be displayed. Return to the village screen and his/her action item will give you a hint as to where he/she is hiding.

If you don't yet have totems, this works almost as well: use the details screen to scroll through your village (up or down) until you see a kid. (If you don't have totems, then there are often less villagers to scroll through.)

I'm working on a guide for all of the kid actions. To use as an index to know which area of the village to find them.