In case anyone didn't know, Joy-Anna Duggar seems to have had a lot of fun filming Counting On through the years, but like with all good things, there are still many downsides to living life in the spotlight — and that means that she's constantly criticized for the way she parents her children, Gideon and Evelyn Mae. Considering the fact that Joy is so active on social media, and shares so much of her life and her children on Instagram, that means a lot of that criticism comes in the way of comments on even the most adorable posts about her and her kids — leaving Joy and husband Austin Forsyth to fight back.
Most times, Joy does ignore the rude and negative comments, but a lot of the time, she chooses to respond and defend herself, something she seems to be doing more and more lately. While it certainly has to be stressful for Joy to receive this kind of feedback on her parenting — especially since she's only been a mom for a few years — lately, she's been showing that she's not afraid to stand up for herself, which has been awesome to see.
Read on for all the times Joy decided to defend her own parenting. Some people might think she makes the wrong choices, but it definitely seems like Joy is becoming more and more confident in her mom skills.
Posing With a Chain Saw
Some Duggar fans were upset when Joy let Gideon play near heavy machinery — and that just so happened to include him holding a chain saw. Seeing him around this kind of stuff that has such a high potential for something bad to happen was alarming to many fans, who called Joy out in the comments of the photo she shared.
Joy Shared How Safe the Situation Was
In response to all the critical comments, Joy responded, "It wasn't running. I just wanted to get a picture of Gideon with Austin!" (She even adding a smiley face emoji to her comment.) Joy wasn't letting the haters get her down, and it sounds like she did make sure that everything Gideon was near was safe and wouldn't pose a risk to him.
Fans Thought Joy Would Drop Evelyn
It's had only been a matter of weeks since Joy welcomed baby Evy Mae into the world, but fans were already questioning the way she behaves around her newborn. When she shared this photo of her family before church, people commented in concern that Joy was about to drop Evelyn from the way she was holding her in the picture.
Handle on Things
In response to those comments, Joy defended herself and let everyone know that Evelyn was in no danger of falling. "Thank you for your concern!" she wrote. "I was holding Evy and then Gideon was trying to hold my hand! I wasn't about to drop her tho!" Totally understandable! That's life with a new baby and a toddler.
Austin Hugging Gideon
It seems a little crazy that a guy would get criticized for loving on his kids, but that's exactly what happened in this situation. When Joy posted this sweet father-son moment last December, fans wrote that Austin seemed "so serious and strange", and it seemed to color the way they viewed him cuddling up with his little boy.
Defending Her Husband
Of course, Joy took the opportunity to stand up for her husband, letting her followers know that there's a lot more to Austin than what they've seen on Counting On. (Imagine that!) "He can be a little more serious, but he actually has a pretty outgoing personality once you get to know him!" she wrote.
Dressed Inappropriately for Weather
In September, Joy posted what she probably thought was a sweet photo of this brother and sister together, but in the end, she got a whole lot of backlash. Since Gideon was wearing a jacket and jeans — and Evelyn was wearing shorts, a short-sleeved top, and no shoes — people wanted to know why they were dressed for different weather.
Having a Handle on It
As can be said for many photos, this one didn't tell the whole story — and Joy made sure to explain herself in a response to the comments about the kids being dressed for two different seasons.
"I took her out of her blanket for a second to snap a pic!" Joy wrote. Makes sense. She just wanted a cute photo of both of her kids together.
Crying Over Spilled Milk
In May 2020, Joy shared this glimpse into what it's really like to be the mom of an active toddler. (Spoiler alert: It involves a lot of messes!) Here, Gideon is pouring a gallon of milk directly on the kitchen counter, and people in the comments wanted to know why Joy would just watch this happen while taking a photo instead of stopping him.
Embracing the Chaos
Responding to a comment asking Joy why she'd take a photo of this, she replied, "He had already poured out most of the jug so why not?" For some of us, the urge to clean this up would be too real to stop for a photo, but Joy — who's been around rambunctious toddlers her entire life — instead decided to capture the ridiculousness of it all.
Buckling Gideon In
After Joy shared this photo of her and Gideon in the car, she got a bit of hate for the way he was strapped into his car seat. People took to the comments to write what they'd thought she'd done wrong, and even though it seemed like their concern was coming from a good place, there's no doubt all those comments were overwhelming for Joy.
The Best Response Is No Response
Instead of directly replying to the people who had been criticizing her, Joy simply turned on the function that allowed her to limit the comments that were able to be made on the post. This way, she had a little bit of control over what people were saying about Gideon and his safety. Can't blame her for that.
Throwing Gideon in the Air
While sharing photos from a recent family photo shoot, Joy and Austin got a lot of flak for being "reckless" with their son, Gideon. People flocked to the comments to call out Austin (and their photographer) for taking the photo where Gideon was catching some serious air as his dad threw him above his head.
… and they were all concerned about Gid's safety.
Cutting Off the Critics
Much like Joy-Anna Duggar has done in the past, Austin chose to defend his parenting by putting a cap on how many negative comments he could receive on the post. He limited his comments on this one, and we can totally understand why he would want to do that — especially if he knew his son was safe, which isn't always easy to tell from just a photo.
Being Married to Austin
On the first photo that Joy ever shared of her and Austin with baby Gideon when he was born, the haters came out in full force — even during such a happy occasion. One commented saying that Austin seemed "miserable and unfriendly" towards Joy, and even said that they were being forced to have a baby together.
Defending Their Love
Since they still shared an account at the time, Austin responded to this one, writing, "Really!? I was not forced to marry her, I did it because there's no way I could live my life without her, and because I love her with all my heart! I'm pretty sure I've never met you so it's hard for me to believe you know all this to be a fact."
