Mumming: A Year of Trying (and Failing) to Be a Better Parent

by Victoria Vanstone

A hilarious and painfully relatable memoir about a mum who sets out to revolutionise herself and her parenting – one failed experiment at a time. Victoria Vanstone thought she’d be the kind of mum who would spend her days ironing names onto school shirts and who knew the best chocolate-chip cookie recipe off by heart. But as the years have ticked by, she’s got the feeling that woman isn’t going to show up. Instead, she’s the kind of mum who shouts a lot and throws plastic cups at walls. So Victoria decides to become the mum she’s always wanted to be. She embarks on a year of parental development – enrolling in a parenting course, implementing an exercise regime, awkwardly trying to make friends as an adult, and a holiday away from her family – to reset the dials. What follows is a year of trying, failing and trying again. But as Victoria stumbles from one misadventure to the next, she begins to realise that getting things wrong is actually where the fun begins. Come for the laughs, stay for the  Mumming is a heartwarming celebration of the messy, wonderful, imperfect reality of raising kids – and yourself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

320 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 29, 2025

About the author

Victoria Vanstone is the host of Sober Awkward, a popular
comedy podcast that tracks two former party animals as they
navigate life without booze. Victoria started writing on the
day she gave up alcohol and became a renowned over-sharer
on her blog drunkmummysobermummy.com. The reformed
‘party girl’ is now on a mission to help others stuck in a
pattern of normalised social binge drinking. Originally from
Reading in the UK, Victoria now lives on the Sunshine Coast
in Queensland with her brood of uncontrollable children, a
rather confused dog, and a very patient husband.
Thousand

Reviews

[Kelly Hillman]

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and she’s so funny, easy to read and relatable! I love her style of writing. This book is a memoir but it mostly focuses on her parenting and how she is striving to be better every day, something I strive for too! Highly recommend

[Grace Walker]

Fun, easy to read and relatable. I enjoyed reading this book as it descrives the journey of parenthood- warts and all. It focused on the "frustrating" parts that we all experience, but makes it relatable and humourous when looking at it from the outside. This novel has a mother who is trying to be a better parent, after noting she was always stressing and yelling. Although it doesn't have specific lessons, it looks at her journey of embracing the chaos of motherhood and finding ways to be present in all the moments of parenthood. Makes the harder moments feel just like passing moments and part of the entire journey and too sometimes not get to caught up on little things.

[Bianca M]

I stumbled across this book during a visit to my local library on the weekend. After a particularly challenging parenting week I was in search of some parenting how to's and threw this one in. While those books remain untouched on the bedside, I didn't want to put this one down.

I laughed and cried my way through this book (glad to know I'm not the only tired mum shoveling down chips in the Aldi car park)

Thank you for such a funny, heartwarming and beautifully written book. It's been such a joy to read.

[Holly West]

I am a long-term fan of Victoria Vanstone, having listened to her podcast Sober Awkward for years. She has a knack of tackling difficult topics with humour, humility, honesty and kindness. It is wonderful to see her delve into the topic of mumming with the same no holds barred approach. A cracking read! Once again, thanks for being brave and sincere.

[Fleury]

I happily picked this book up.
It did have potential and three were several funny moments.
But it did drag on and on and on.
I liked it, certainly didn't love it.
I would recommend it to readers who have toddlers or/and teenagers.
I could kind of relate to trying to be the best parent possible.
I will try another book by Victoria Vanstone, because I do think she is a good writer

[Amber]

4/5
If there’s one book all the mums need to get around, it’s this one, I couldn’t out it down.
Reads like a comedy, but full of heart and warmth.
Scores a 100% on the relatability scale, from one mum to another, trying to do more than survive, but actually thrive at this whole parenting thing.

[Kira B]

An honest and often funny tale of mothering and wanting to be a better mum. Lots of relevant experiences for those with tweens and young children and a hopeful tone to counteract the more difficult elements of Vanstone’s parenting journey.

[Kristin Nelson]

Thanks to libro.fm for the ALC. I listened to this because it was free. It was entertaining enough. I would have preferred cleaner language. Being a mom is certainly not easy and Vic took us right to the frontlines in her writing/narration.

[Noelle Kelly]

I've been a fan of Victoria’s writing since reading her first book, A Thousand Wasted Sundays.
Victoria shares her attempts to be the "perfect" parent with humour, honesty and heart.

[Shirley]

I wouldn’t say I found this super interesting, it was enjoyable, but didn’t really keep me interested enough to read for extended periods of time.

[Sarah Wigmore]

What a great, funny read. It’s good to get an honest book about being a mum. So relatable and honest.

[Clare Vanstone]

Fabulous, funny book. Wish I had read it before I had my three daughters. Makes you realise that we are all parents doing are best, but its jolly hard work, but so worth it. .Well done Victoria.

[Geraldine]

A recommended read from my friend Ros.
I recommend this one to Mothers who think they are not doing OK or think that someone they know is not doing OK with their mothering. It keeps mothers more humble and real about parenting and the challenges of life, relationships and the role of mothering.
It read like a heart warming and vulnerable chat with a good friend.
Well done to the author for the honesty and vulnerability she shared.

[Tanya Rixon]

3.5 ⭐️