Alabama Moms Meet After Facebook Apology for Kids' Behavior Goes Viral

Thanks to the "power of social media," the two women had a chance to meet.

ByABC News
March 31, 2015, 1:01 PM

— -- Thanks to the "power of social media," two Alabama moms met on Monday, just days after one of the women posted on Facebook apologizing for her daughters' "rude and obnoxious" behavior at the movies.

It all started when Birmingham mom Kyesha Smith Wood sent her son, daughter and step-daughter to see Cinderella at the local movie theater.

"There were two girls behind us, they were giggling, kind of talking ... kicking my seat," Rebecca Boyd, of Adger, Alabama, recalled to ABC News.

"I turned around and I said, 'You know girls, we paid for this movie just like you did. Could you guys keep it down?' They just laughed," Boyd said. "After I spoke to them, they seemed to not care. They just laughed in my face."

Wood said her son told her what happened.

"That broke my heart," Wood told ABC News. "It really made me feel a lot of shame and I felt embarrassed for the girls' behavior."

Wood posted the story on her Facebook page, asking the moviegoer to contact her.

"The woman I'm looking for addressed them and asked them to be quiet and they were disrespectful," Wood wrote on Facebook. "After the movie she approached my girls and told them that her husband had been laid off and this was the last movie she would be able to take her daughter to for a while and my girls ruined that for her."

Wood's post continued, "This rude, disrespectful, and awful behavior is unacceptable and they owe you an apology."

PHOTO: Kyesha Smith Wood wrote this Facebook post, March 28, 2015.
Kyesha Smith Wood wrote this Facebook post, March 28, 2015.

The local Jefferson County Sheriff's Office then shared Wood's post on Facebook. The story went viral, generating over 250,000 likes.

"I live in that community," Sgt. Jack Self told ABC News. "I just felt like if I could put it for a bigger audience, maybe she could find the lady she was looking for."

Boyd's identity was revealed when she left a comment on the sheriff's office post, and on Monday, the moms finally came together in person.

"I was shocked that the mother supported me," Boyd told ABC News.

Wood's daughters wrote an apology letter to Boyd and also contributed some of their allowance towards the Boyd family's next trip to the movies.

"I believe they’re good girls," Boyd said. "They just made some mistakes.”

"Rebecca is really the hero in this," Wood said. "Initially none of this would have happened if Rebecca had not said something to the girls."

"I think more parents have to do that," Wood added.

Wood said, "the intention was never to embarrass or humiliate the girls, but at the same time, I think they kind of understand the power of social media and how quickly the things you do wrong can spread."