Lessons From A Default Parent

This book is for all the defaults out there ' bored out of their eyeballs or so overwhelmed they could scream expletives into the wind for a solid hour ' to know their invisible labour is seen and valued.

With heartfelt and hilarious advice, Lou Beckett provides much-needed comfort and community for the one who is depended on the most (and often feels appreciated the least), and maybe ' just maybe ' how we can begin to rebalance the parenting scales and muddle through a little better, together.

Hardback, 240 pages, published by DK Publishing, 2026

About the author

Lou Beckett is a mother of two, ex-secondary school teacher and one of the (mostly) silent partners behind the incredibly successful Parenting Hell podcast.

Having left her teaching job 10 years ago to have kids, she had always imagined going back until her husband (comedian Rob Beckett) got a huge new work opportunity, in turn cementing her own role as - what she coins - ‘the default parent’.

In her debut book, Lou speaks up for the often overlooked issues of default parenting - the invisible labour, mental load and pressure to have it all - in her refreshingly honest ‘warts and all’ take.