“We switched our dinner time to AFTER their bedtime” — TikTokers Matt and Abby respond to backlash over leaving kids in cruise room

TikTok influencers Matt and Abby Howard broke their silence after being criticized for allegedly leaving their kids alone in a stateroom to get dinner while on a cruise. However, in a video posted to TikTok on Monday, September 16, the couple claimed that they always had someone watching over their two toddlers, Griffin (2) and August (1), and that they were never left alone.

The controversy spurred from a recent since-expired Instagram story from Abby Howard, who shared that their kids did not enjoy their parents taking them up for five nights on the cruise. She also said that baby monitors didn't work on board a cruise and further explained their solution, which raised a lot of eyebrows. Abby wrote on her Instagram story:

"We switched our dinner time to AFTER their bedtime and FaceTimed the monitors while we ate."

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"We had someone with our children at all times on this boat"— Matt and Abby reveal that their kids were not left alone

In a recent since-deleted Instagram story, Abby Howard, one-half of TikTok's beloved influencer couple Matt and Abby, explained a peculiar situation the couple were confronted with while on a family cruise with their kids, Griffin, 2, and August, 1. She wrote on her Instagram story:

"So we ended up taking them (the kids) for 5 nights and it became apparent that they weren't enjoying it and therefore we weren't either."

As mentioned earlier, Matt and Abby's solution to this conundrum was to switch their dinner time to after their bedtime and monitor them using Facetime as the kids slept. According to Abby, this solution worked out "muchhhh better for everyone." The influencer also noted:

"Baby monitors don't work on board unless you're only like 10 feet away."

Abby's story triggered a lot of backlash from concerned social media users who thought that the kids were being left alone in a cruise ship stateroom without any supervision, while their parents went and got some dinner. Following the immense backlash, Abby took down her IG story.

This Monday, Matt and Abby released a video on Instagram and TikTok clarifying Abby's story. Matt began by saying that the couple usually never made videos like this, but recently they'd noticed that false information about them was circulating through social media. He said:

"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 revealed that they just got back from a seven-night cruise with Abby's extended family and recalled how Abby's aforementioned story led people to believe that the couple left their kids alone to grab dinner. Matt Howard explained:

"That is just completely untrue. We had someone with our children at all times on this boat. Period."

Abby chimed in by revealing that she realized how her Instagram story might have led to some misunderstanding, which is why she ended up deleting it. The mother of two conveyed her gratitude towards the people who expressed concern for the safety of her kids and further clarified that they "have not, would not, will not" ever leave their kids unattended.

Abby later claimed that her kids always slept in blackout tents equipped with baby monitor slots while at home and while traveling. Matt and Abby turned on their baby monitors even if they were sleeping in the same room as the kids or even when they would tag-team and take turns watching them during family dinner. Toward the end of the video, Matt thanked Abby's family. He said:

"We spent a lot of our time on this boat in our staterooms manning the baby monitors. and if it wasn't for Abby's extended family, we really would have not gotten a chance to really get out of the room."

Amidst the backlash, a few people even likened the Matt and Abby situation to the infamous case of Madeleine McCann, a child from the UK who went missing back in 2007. McCann went missing from a holiday apartment at Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, where her parents were vacationing. McCann's parents were dining at the time of her disappearance.