A TikTok-famous couple has broken their silence after being criticized for letting their two toddlers sleep alone in the cruise ship cabin while they dined at the ship’s restaurants.
Abby and Matt Howard sparked backlash after revealing they went to dinner while their sons, Griffin, two, and August, one, were sleeping during their seven-night cruise.
“We ended up taking them for five nights and it became apparent that they weren’t enjoying it and therefore, neither were we,” Abby said in a now-expired Instagram Story.
“So, we moved dinner time to after bedtime and FaceTimed the counselors while we ate. And that worked out a lot better for everyone.”
The couple was forced to set the record straight with a TikTok video on Monday night in which they claimed that a family member was always with the children.
“We take our role as parents very seriously and we love our children more than anything in the world, and we are very protective of our children,” Matt began.
TikTok-famous couple Abby and Matt Howard have broken their silence after facing extreme backlash online for admitting to leaving their twins alone in a cruise ship cabin while they enjoyed dinner.
The couple has been together since high school and has more than seven million subscribers on YouTube.
“There was someone on the boat with our kids at all times. Period,” Matt said, adding that speculation surrounding them is “totally false.”
His wife then chimed in, saying, “I can see that my story created misunderstandings, so I ended up deleting it several hours after posting it because I could see that it was causing concern and misunderstandings.”
Abby then thanked everyone online for being “concerned about the safety and well-being” of her children.
‘As parents, that is our first and foremost concern… So, thank you.
“But I want to make it clear that we have never, never will and never will leave our children unsupervised. We would never, ever want to put them in danger in any way,” she added.
They said they take their role as parents “very seriously” and that speculation about them is “extremely false.”
TikToks have since surfaced showing the now-deadlined story with what Abby had said, seen here
The mother said her family would “work as a team” to help the couple care for their children and added how “grateful” they are to them for doing so.
Viewers quickly began speculating on her statement as one said: “I hope this is the truth.”
“Thanks for the clarification as it seemed like the boys were alone – context is everything,” wrote another.
In Abby’s original post, she said the baby monitors the couple had brought with them weren’t working on board, so they used FaceTime to watch the couple sleep.
Social media users who follow the couple were quick to criticise them for the move, referencing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, who vanished from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.
One Reddit user posted: ‘It’s literally common sense not to leave a baby alone unsupervised.
‘If it were socially and morally acceptable to leave babies without adult supervision, then childcare services would not exist.
“Are you really that stupid? Don’t you watch the news? Haven’t you seen what happened to Madeline McCann?”
“I’m really baffled by how irresponsible these two are. If they feel comfortable enough to leave their babies alone on a cruise, have they done this at home before?”
While another added: “For them to post about it like it’s some genius parenting hack is just insane.”
“They are irresponsible teenagers in adult bodies.”
The couple has been together since high school and has over 5.3 million followers on TikTok and over seven million subscribers on YouTube.
The couple co-hosts ‘The Unplanned Podcast,’ which ‘dives into genuine conversations about relationships and family.’
The couple has been together since high school and has more than seven million followers on YouTube.
In December 2022, Abby told Raising Children in Arizona that the couple wanted the focus of their content to be on their handling of parenting.
She said: ‘We never want to sacrifice our relationship or our family for (social media fame). That was one of my biggest concerns going into this.
‘Through constant conversation and always prioritizing ourselves and our family is how we continue to achieve this.
“We want the focus to be on us and how we handle parenting rather than just on Griffin.”
While Matt added: ‘If you had told me three years ago that this would be our life, I would have laughed.
‘We used to dream of one day working together and now we have achieved it and it is the best thing in the world.’