Parents of big families know that dinner time can be darn near impossible. When you have upward of 10 mouths to feed, there’s no way that every meal you make is going to be a gourmet feast. But one mom of 11 (soon to be 12) on TikTok is being majorly judged for the recent dinner she made for her big brood, as people online are slamming her for not making a dinner that was more nutritious.
Veronica Merritt, who goes by @thismadmama online, recently shared the dinner she made on a day when she was just plain tired.
We’ve all been there. It’s been a long day, everyone wants something different, or you’re just exhausted and too tired to come up with something elaborate. It happens! But more than 1.3 million people judged Merritt’s most recent video, which centered on “low effort” food.
“Today, I made no effort to cook anything fancy for my 11 kids,” the mom from New York wrote in the video’s caption.
“I know it was all sugar, salt, and junk but I’m tired, pregnant, and cranky,” she added.
The footage showed the mom’s 11 kids eating things such as macaroni and cheese, cereal, ramen, and french fries — you know, not the most healthy or balanced dinner.
“Go ahead and hate on me, I don't care, I'm human, I have off days," she wrote in the video's caption before pointing out, "at least the kids ate!
“Honestly I'm not sure I want to keep sharing what we eat since people will bully me no matter what I make,” the mom of 21-year-old Victoria; Andrew, 17; Adam, 15; Mara, 14; Dash, 12; Darla, 11; Marvelous, 8; Martalya, 6; Amelia, 5; Delilah, 3; and Donovan, 2, added in the caption.
To be clear, Merritt does make her kids more nutritious meals, such as this video of a Mississippi roast with “creamy ranch mashed potatoes” she shared on December 9, or these cheesy lime roll-ups she shared on December 8.
But she was spared no mercy for having an off day.
People online had some strong feelings about the dinner and just had to share them.
“I will never understand why people have so many children when they clearly can’t provide the best for all of them. They are not toys,” wrote one commenter.
“'At least the kids ate' girl that’s the bare necessity,” another person chimed in.
“Don’t have 11 kids then omg,” someone else wrote.
Other people applauded her for getting dinner on the table — no matter what it looked like.
“No mom guilt, you fed them, you cleaned them, and I bet they went to bed happy,” wrote one commenter. “It’s okay some days are harder than others.”
“All these comments. I survived off mac and cheese and ramen all growing up. As long as your babies are loved and cared for that’s what really matters,” another person added.
“I have three kids. We sometimes have those days, it’s okay mamma. If they are fed, that’s all that matters,” a third person wrote.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time that Merritt has been judged online.
In the past, people have accused the mom of having her children with all different fathers, according to The Daily Mail, but in a response video she clarified that 10 of her 12 children (including the child she is pregnant with) are the biological children of her ex-husband Marty, 37.
She told The Sun that she had her eldest daughter, Victoria, when she was 14 years old and hasn't been able to use birth control because she has a kidney disease.
"I graduated high school with honors, I attempted college but got sick both times — I have kidney disease and lost my kidney last year,” she explained to the news outlet.
“Some of the children were planned,” she added. “But I can't take hormonal birth control because my illness means I am prone to blood clots.”
The mom also shared that she’s not done having kids just yet — ”I haven’t ruled out more children. I would like to have six more. I have spent eight-and-a-half years pregnant.”
Because the mom shares her story online, there will always be people who judge her or disagree with how she parents. But it’s clear she’s not letting the hate make her feel like a bad mom.
Or as she puts it in one video’s comments from December 11 — ”I’m not rich but I do make sure my kids have a good life!”
