TikTokers Matt and Abby Howard have broken their silence after fans criticized them for leaving their two sons alone while on board a cruise.
The family bloggers, who have over 5 million followers on TikTok, sparked controversy after Abby shared an Instagram story claiming she and Matt had gone to dinner without their sons, two-year-old Griffin, and one-year-old August.
In the post, she’d claimed that they had monitored their kids using FaceTime rather than a baby monitor as they wouldn’t work across that distance on the ship.
She wrote at the time: “So we ended up taking them for 5 nights and it became apparent that they weren't enjoying it and therefore we weren't either. So THEN we switched our dinner time to AFTER their bedtime and FaceTimed the monitors while we ate."
She added: “And that worked out muchhhh better for everyone.”
Of course, the couple’s followers were pretty concerned at the notion that their kids were left on their own in their room, and took to social media to slam the couple for leaving them seemingly unattended.
One fan tweeted: “Matt and Abby leaving their two children (2 and 1 yo) in SEPARATE rooms ALONE on a cruise to get dinner seriously irritates me. No matter what their perspective is on this matter I just don’t understand how you be so negligent to your kids!!”
Another commented: “Wait, so Matt and Abby left their kids in a room on cruise so they could go to dinner? To then post about how they left them online? Those parents have some growing up to do. Like I’m still in shock they did that, and if they did that just for views that is also messed up.”
Some even compared it to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old who was abducted after being left in her holiday accommodation unattended while her parents went out for dinner, as one wrote: “Do these 2 NOT remember Madeleine McCann???? Who leaves their sleeping babies ALONE in a room so you can go enjoy dinner???”
Now, the couple has spoken out to clear things up after facing overwhelming backlash for the post.
Matt confirmed in a new post on TikTok answering questions about their cruise that the two babies were never left on their own in the room.
He claimed that many of the rumors were “completely untrue”, adding: “We take our role as parents extremely seriously, and we love our children more than anything in the entire world, and we're very protective of our kids.”
Matt also revealed that they had actually been on the seven-night cruise with Abby’s extended family, who were looking after the boys while they went for dinner.
He acknowledged that Abby had posted about monitoring the babies via FaceTime, but clarified: “And people started to speculate, and believe, that we had left our children alone in their staterooms.
“And that is just completely untrue. We had someone with our children at all times on this boat. Period.”
Abby added: “I can see where my story did lead to misunderstanding, which is why I ended up deleting it several hours after posting it."
She thanked fans who had expressed concern for her children, adding that she wanted “to clarify that we have not, would not, will not ever leave our children unattended.”
