Influencer Couple Addresses Allegations Of Leaving Toddlers Alone On Cruise

An influencer couple denied allegations that they left their two toddlers unattended in their cruise cabin while having a romantic dinner.

Matt and Abby Howard shared a video in a joint Instagram post explaining that they had someone watching their their children, Griffin , 2, and August , 1, when they left them to have a romantic dinner over the weekend during a seven-day cruise that was also attended by "Abby's extended family."

“We take our role as parents extremely seriously, and we love our children more than anything in the entire world. We’re very protective of our kids,” Matt said. “People started to speculate and believe that we had left our children alone in their staterooms — and that is just completely untrue.”

Abby previously shared a post on her Instagram story revealing that she and her husband had to FaceTime their children because the baby monitors didn't "work on board" the cruise ship.

The post, which has since been deleted, was met with backlash from followers concerned about the toddlers' wellbeing, with many comparing the couple to the parents of Madeline McCann , a child from the United Kingdom who disappeared from her family's vacation apartment in Portugal after her parents left her alone to go out for dinner.

“I can see where my story did lead to misunderstanding,” Abby said. “Which is why I ended up deleting it several hours after posting it because I could see that it was causing concern and misunderstanding.”

Abby then thanked her followers for being "concerned about the safety and well-being" of her children.

“To know that other people share those same concerns for our precious boys, it really means a lot,” Abby said.

“But I do want to clarify that we have not, would not, will not ever leave our children unattended. We would never ever want to put them in harm’s way in any way.”

Abby then clarified the "baby monitor situation," revealing that her children sleep in a "blackout tent" that includes a place for a monitor.

“We always turn their monitor on so we can watch and see what’s happening inside the tent — make sure they’re OK, see if they’ve fallen asleep or if they’ve woken up,” she said. “We just love to have eyes on them, we’re always concerned about them.”

Abby added that she and Matt would "take turns" watching the FaceTime during their dinner date.

“We’re so thankful for them, you guys. We spent a lot of time on this boat in our staterooms manning baby monitors,” Matt added. “If it wasn’t for Abby’s extended family, we really would have not gotten a chance to really get out of the room.”

Abby and Matt were high school sweethearts who were married in July 2019 and had their sons in July 2022 and August 2023, gaining social media notoriety as young parents with more than 7 million YouTube subscribers, 5 million TikTok followers and their Unplanned Podcast .