When one mom, Elizabeth Boyce, recently posted a photo on her personal Facebook page showing the co-sleeping bed she designed for her family, she never imagined all of the harsh criticism and shame she would get.
Why was the photo the cause of so much outrage? It was a photo of the bed she made from various IKEA parts, showing where her five children slept, alongside Boyce and her husband. And apparently, co-sleeping with your kids warrants a whole lot of backlash.
According to Boyce, many of the comments were abusive; she stated for TODAY just how hurtful they were:
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“[People were saying] that we are abusive, that we are the ‘exact problem with the world today,’ that we are raising an entire generation of entitled brats, that our kids would never move out. There were even nastier things that I won’t even give words to. We stayed strong and worked hard to ignore (the comments,) but it was still heartbreaking to hear people talk about your sweet children or your hard parenting choices when they didn’t know a thing about our life.”
What Boyce’s criticizers didn’t know from the pictures was the fact that her husband is disabled and has been ill for the past year, causing her to work more hours to support her family. As a result, Boyce, who works as a photographer, decided to move the entire family into one room to help her children feel more supported and loved.
Boyce posted a video to her online trolls and shamers on her blog, where she tearfully discusses how it felt to be judged so publicly, and how the anonymity of the internet often makes people forget their manners:
READ: This Dad Hacked IKEA To Make the Coolest (And Most Affordable!) Kids’ Bed Ever
“Where do we get off judging other people’s choices in any aspect of their lives? Beyond the basics of just taking care of your kids and trying to do the darn well best you can–it’s just sad to me that we can’t love each other.
And, if what you are saying isn’t helpful or nice, it should not be said. We tell our kids this every day—the Internet should learn from them.”
Don’t forget to watch this Texas mom take down her internet bullies below:
