the "two meet rule" before any play... sensible or way overcautious

we've been seeing this advice everywhere lately - have TWO meets before any play, like properly, drinks one night, then play night a separate night. and ive been resistant cos it feels overcautious and frankly inefficient with how hard it is to coordinate kids and schedules. but the wife is starting to come around to it after our last bad experience. is everyone actually doing this now or is it one of those things people say they do but dont? i feel like 90% of the meets weve actually had have been same night and most went fine. wondering if im missing something or if the rule is more of a guideline for newbies