One mom of 16 was tired of the nasty assumptions made when she went grocery shopping, so she came up with a creative way to put a stop to the madness. Jeni Bonell from Queensland, Australia, just wants to be able to shop for her family like she normally does, but because of the global health crisis, she's been hit with people assuming she's selfishly hoarding. The sign she made for her grocery cart to get people to back off has gone viral as she begs people to "be kind."
The mom shared a photo of her shopping cart April 20.
The picture shows Bonell's full shopping cart, and clipped to the front is the homemade sign that she made: “Not hoarding, just feeding 16 kids. Be kind or go away please," it read.
Because she has such a large brood, the mom often has to buy in bulk.
On a typical grocery shop, the mom has to buy 24 rolls of toilet paper and nine gallons of milk, the Sun reported. But that seems more than necessary for her 16 kids, whose ages range from 29 to 4.
Bonell said the sign started as a joke.
She told the newspaper that she was hoping that people would see the sign and "just leave me in peace to do my regular shop."
"After all, we need to keep a sense of humor during these times," she added. "There's enough stress as it is."
Even though the sign has caused a few chuckles as the mom shops, she admits that haters still abound.
Bonell said that she believes the "mean people will always be mean so you can't stop them."
"Mainly we just get the judgy looks and the mumbling under their breath as they walk past," she explained.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time that the mom has had to go on the offensive.
In fact, back in March, the mom even penned a blog post where she clapped back at a stranger who accused her of "hoarding" toilet paper when all she was doing was her normal grocery shop.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!!!!!" she wrote. "No lady, you don't get to stand behind me in the checkout line in the grocery store. With your voice dripping sarcasm and your crinkled brow.
"I will not apologize for buying toilet paper for my family which is undoubtedly bigger than yours," she continued.
Speaking with CafeMom back in March, the mom told us that "We all have the right to go into a grocery store and buy what we need without people giving you filthy looks and making snide comments."
After sharing her story online, the mom told us she even got attacked for having so many kids.
And of course, that's just not right.
"There’s been lots of support of the post, but a lot of criticism toward our family too just over how many children we have," she told CafeMom at the time. "But children are blessings and we are very abundantly blessed."
Bonell's story is again another example of why we need to have patience with each other.
And this is not a time to let our fears cloud our judgment.
"Folks need to stay calm, be reasonably prepared, but also think of others and what they might need," Bonell continued.
And maybe just have a sense of humor — it's better than panicking.
