Blending families can be a delicate balancing act, especially when everyone has different interests.

One teenage step-daughter made the task especially difficult, as she had a habit for criticizing anything and everything.

So finally, one fed-up step-mom decides to leave the critical teen out of their vacation plans, which ended up causing even more conflict.

Read on for the full scoop.

AITA for planning a Disney trip without my stepdaughter and leaving her with her father

I (41F) and my husband (41M) have four children.

I have one child from a previous relationship, he has two, and we have one together.

The couple has done a pretty good job so far making everything equitable.

We have always treated the children as equally as possible, though with extended family, they don’t always go on the same trips if we don’t go.

For example, his parents take his children on vacations, and my child doesn’t want to go without me. This has never been an issue.

But when we plan trips, we always take everyone.

But their teen daughter tends to make things difficult.

The problem is that my step-daughter (16F) doesn’t really like anything that anyone else does.

Or she will like it until someone else does.

For example, she really wanted to go on a winter trip to Colorado for skiing. None of the other children were that excited, but seeing as it’s hard to find things she likes, we went.

She was excited until the other kids started enjoying it too, then she wanted to leave.

This has been a common theme for some time now.

This is pretty much what happens when we go on trips to the zoo, museums, or anything else.

If other people are already happy about it, she immediately hates the idea.

We thought maybe she just wanted time with each parent alone.

So we did that with both her mom and dad.

She still complained the whole time.

They reached out for professional help, but her critical attitude still persists.

Her counselor said maybe she wants activities with both parents to show they get along.

They did that, but if they show any enjoyment at all, she hates whatever they are doing.

We’ve done girl days with her mom and me, and she hates it.

The parents can’t quite understand why she behaves this way.

We have found the less enthusiastic we are, the more she wants to do it.

This applies to meals too.

If someone else likes something, she finds ways to criticize it.

It’s like she can’t let anyone else enjoy anything.

She also likes things more if no one else wants to do them.

This also happens when she goes with her aunt and cousins.

They’ve tried just about everything at this point.

Her sister is not like this at all.

We’ve asked her if she has any insight (their mother has too), and she comes up with nothing other than, “She’s just a *****,” and shrugs.

We let her choose other day trips and told her she can bring her friend, but it’s the same.

If she sees someone like something she chose, she complains and says it was her idea, like no one else can enjoy it.

So when it came to planning a special trip, the stepmom was put in an uncomfortable position.

So this year, we had been talking about Disney for a while.

My nephew has cancer and has always wanted to go with us because he has no siblings and not many friends because he’s missed a lot of school.

SD said it was stupid as soon as everyone else wanted to go.

Her husband didn’t want to go, so she figured her stepdaughter could stay with him.

Her father said he would have a lot of work to catch up on when he got back.

He does seasonal work and has to take the work while he can.

The kids agreed that they wanted to go, and he wanted us to, so I made the plans, and we decided to go back another year with all of us.

I made the reservations for myself, my sister, my nephew, and three of our children, deciding SD can stay back with Dad since she didn’t want to go anyway.

But her husband criticizes her for this, saying it’s selfish of her.

My husband says I’m TA for not planning for her to come too, but I don’t want her ruining the trip with complaints with my nephew there.

AITA?

Some people just aren’t “joiners”.

What did Reddit think?

This commenter warns the parents that the teen’s behavior could be a sign of deeper issues.

The teen years are often filled with conundrums like this one.

The stepmother did the best she could, all things considered.

This redditor indicates they would have made the same decision if they were in the stepmom’s shoes.

Family vacations should be about making special memories, not forcing participation.

Sometimes you just have to prioritize peace.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.