for what reasons do you let your tween miss a family activity?

[Anonymous]

OP:
Thanks for all your comments. The story kept changing from my SIL / Brother as to what the issue was.
SIL said "mandatory practice". Brother said they scheduled a "lesson". I think my SIL tried to make it sound like others were influencing the schedule as opposed to them just double booking. The sport is horse back riding which I did not grow up with so I really don't get it.

In the end, they came late without my niece, my kids stayed up late and we had a nice evening.
Note to the person commenting on not giving her a gift - I seriously thought about it but let it go.

[Anonymous]

Our team cancelled its practice the week b/t xmas and new year, but right before Thanksgiving there was a clinic that had long been scheduled several hours away. Our team did not get invited until a week or so before the clinic and we opted not to go because our child is young and a new member of the team so we did not disrupt our holiday plans for the opportunity. We probably would have if she were older and had been participating as long as some of the girls on the team (years and years).

[Anonymous]

As tweens we didn't let our kids opt out of family activities but as teens we do. Much of it is due to sports and schoolwork. Some is their own social lives. When it's social activities we try to strike a balance between our priorities and theirs. It seems to work pretty well.

Sports can be very time consuming at this age including over holidays. One kid had a soccer game last night (New Years Day).