Tim Robards opens up about the 'stress and anxiety' of becoming a father of two
By Victoria Owens|
Tim Robards is no stranger to stressful situations.
He's dated 25 determined women on The Bachelor, he's acted alongside Aussie TV royalty on Neighbours, but as he prepares to become a father of two, the 41-year-old admits it could be his most stressful role yet.
"To be honest, it feels a little bit like we're just getting ready for a storm that's about to hit," Robards tells 9honey Parenting.
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The reality-star-turned-actor is expecting another baby girl with wife Anna in six weeks' time, joining their three-year-old daughter Elle.
Robards admits he's feeling a bit of "stress and anxiety" after being given a lot of warning about what's to come.
"Everyone we speak to just says how much harder it is compared to one, so I feel like a whole lot of work is coming."
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He's not wrong, but Robards is no stranger to hard work, running his own businesses alongside Anna's, while also juggling being a dad.
He says his toddler is what keeps him fit these days.
"I know how much energy my daughter needs, she's like a hurricane, [so] I need a lot of energyกญ and now we're going to go with two of them, I'm going to need twice the energy."
Robards says Elle is "really excited" about the prospect of becoming a big sister and is confident she'll take to the new role easily.
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"She's got a good mothering instinct, she takes after her mom a lot, she's such a girl's girl, has got a lot of energy but she's very caring at the same time."
Like many first time parents, Robards admits it's "hard to fathom" how he will soon love his new baby as much as he loves Elle.
"How can you love something so quick and so hard? I've only got one daughter that I love so much จC how could I love anyone else as much? And I'm sure I will, but it's just hard to get your head around that."
But he knows once the baby arrives and the oxytocin kicks in, he'll be fully immersed in a new baby bubble.
However this time he'll have a different job on his hands, as a father of two.
"It's a bit harder being the father, like there's less you can do, especially in the early stages with breastfeeding and stuff like that จCthere's less that I can do," he says.
"So I wanna make sure that Anna is being fully supported and I think it'll be a lot of daddy and Elle time."
With just six weeks before their family of three becomes four, Robards jokes that Elle has already started testing their patience.?
"I got up the other day, she got into Anna's makeup, she got her mascara brush and she rubbed it all through her hair so she looked like Cruella จC had all this black hair with a little bit of blonde and I was so worried, I thought, this is going to need like turps or something."
Luckily Robards managed to wash it all out before Anna had even woken up but says it's just one of many little tricks Elle has been pulling that's keeping them on their toes.
"One of the things she does now is instead of coming in and waking us up, she'll sneak downstairs and get something sneaky out of the cupboard," he explains.
"It's pretty funny, she drags a chair up to the cupboard, so we've had to put everything up higher, [but] she just gets bigger chairs, so sometimes you come down and she's just like sitting there with a thing of honey."
Robards says it's all part of having an energetic daughter with an energetic appetite for snacks.
"She eats so many snacks, she wants snacks all the time, so that is the challenge - having healthy snacks for a kid."
So it's lucky Robards is an ambassador for Australian Bananas and has a bunch of them on hand at all times.
The actor was able to include Elle in filming the latest ad for bananas with him and says it turned into a "super cute" day.
He adds: "Even though I guess [it's] kind of work, she enjoys it and it was a good little fun 'daddy-daughter day'.
"When she watched it back she laughed and now she's such a good little actress - she got to snack on a few bananas that day, so she was a happy girl."
