Popular family vloggers Matt and Abby Howard have responded to the uproar over what appears to be their unattended children, 2-year-old Griffin and 1-year-old August.
The couple recently sailed aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas on a 7-night cruise, and uploaded what became a very controversial video over dinner and babysitting arrangements.
The now-deleted Instagram story appeared to show the parents leaving their young sons unattended in their stateroom while they themselves went to enjoy dinner during the last nights of the sailing, keeping a distant eye on their children via baby monitors.
This naturally caused backlash from cruisers and parents alike with claims of irresponsible parenting, child neglect, entitlement, and more. The couple has responded to these allegations in a new video, however, clarifying the reality of the situation.
“We just wanted to set the record straight, clear the air,” explained Matt. “We take our role as parents extremely seriously. We love our children more than anything in the entire world, and we’re very protective of our kids.”
He explained that the cruise was a vacation with Abby’s extended family, including multiple generations. This is not uncommon for family cruises, which are a great opportunity for many relatives to come together and make memories to last a lifetime.
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A number of those relatives helped out with the young children, and in fact, the use of the baby monitors was just an extra step the couple takes to keep an eye on their sons and ensure they are safe.
“We had someone with our children at all times on this boat, period,” Matt said.
“We have not, would not, will not ever leave our children unattended,” agreed Abby. “We would never, ever want to put them in harm’s way in any way.”
The couple does acknowledge that their initial story could have been misconstrued and seemed misleading, which was why they chose to delete it – rather than spread further untrue speculation.
“I can see where my story did lead to misunderstanding,” admitted Abby. “Which is why I ended up deleting it several hours after posting it, because I could see it was causing concern and misunderstanding.”
The couple goes on to explain that they use “blackout tents” for their boys to sleep every night, even at home, and those tents include a convenient window for baby monitor placement. Even if the couple is sleeping in the same room, they use the monitors to be able to see inside the tent.
“We just love to have eyes on them, we’re always concerned about them,” Abby said.
During the family dinners on the cruise, the couple used that feature with FaceTime to be watching their sons even while another person was tag-teaming with babysitting in the stateroom.
Thanks All Around
Matt and Abby both thanked many people for their concern and help.
“We’re so thankful,” Matt explained. “We spent a lot of our time on this boat in our staterooms manning the baby monitors. If it wasn’t for Abby’s extended family, we really would have not gotten a chance to really get out of the room.”
The couple also thanked the many people who expressed concern about the misunderstanding, finding it comforting that so many people shared their parenting concerns.
“Thank you so much to those of you who were concerned about the safety and well-being of our children,” Abby said. “To know that other people share those same concerns for our precious boys, it really means a lot.”
The misconceptions about the couple’s previous video did get heated, with hundreds of comments about their parenting choices, apparent thoughtlessness, entitlement, and more.
The new video already has more than 6.3 million views, with more than 500,000 “heart” reactions and over 800 comments. Other parents and babysitters have both commented that it isn’t unusual for parents to have monitors on their children even when they are being watched by someone physically nearby.
Have you taken baby monitors on a cruise vacation? Share your tips on the Cruise Hive boards!
