kids

On-air at night and "chaotic" mornings: A day in the life of sports presenter Tara Rushton.

Tara Rushton has her hands pretty full right now. 

Despite being in lockdown in Sydney, the Fox Sports presenter and Jaguar Australia ambassador has just moved house, is still working, and has two children under four - three-year-old Lenny and seven-month-old Harley - that keep her preoccupied from the moment she wakes up. 

Need a laugh? Here are things you never say in 2021. Post continues below.


Video via Mamamia.

Tara's typical morning begins early. When we spoke to her, she had been up on and off the night before.

"Harley, being a little bear, he still wakes up through the night. You know, both of my boys, I won't say they're big party animals, but they do a kind of mid-range party," Tara told Mamamia.

She and her husband, ex-NRL player Cooper Cronk, take turns looking after their seven-month-old during the night.

"My husband and I definitely tag-team," she said. 

"So, Harley was up at about 12.30am and my husband got up then came back to bed. At about 5am, I got up and came back to bed, so that when Harley woke up at 6.30am, my husband got up. 

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"Then Lenny woke me up by driving a fire truck over my head at about 7am."

Once everyone's awake, it's time for breakfast.

"At 6.30am, Harley gets fed and gets ready for the day. After he's had his bottle, he's having some floor time or in the bouncer and then Lenny is up," Tara said. 

"I call him a 'threenager' because it's either a fantastic morning or there can be a little bit of the moody blues. So, we get him up - and for him, he's a big fan of Vegemite on toast.

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"He's busy eating and he'll be playing, then I give Harley his porridge and fruit in his highchair. 

"[Then] if it's one parent alone, it might be an episode of Bluey or he's really into Frozen at the moment - just so that we can get things done," she said.

"I know it sounds a little bit chaotic but every morning in our household is really really different."

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After a bottle and breakfast, Harley heads back to bed for his morning nap. When he wakes up, it's time to get the boys out of the house and to the park.

"I'll jump in the Jag, it fits everything - we've got numerous hats, colouring-in, snacks, water bottles, the works - then we pop off to one of the parks to get outside," she said.

"I'll try to get Harley to sleep in the stroller and then we'll try to do some exercise and let Lenny run around. And that'll be a little bit of time together."

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Then it's time for lunch and the boys' afternoon nap. This is when Tara will get some work in.

While the sports presenter isn't working as much right now (she's on-air twice a week), Tara has found this period at home to be really beneficial. 

"It's less contact hours in the studio, which is more prep at home. And you know, travel has also been taken out of the equation," she said.

"For me personally, it used to be a plane every weekend, travelling interstate, hotels, etc, and now, it's about being home. In a way, that's really benefited me and my work-life balance because I've gotten to spend more time at home. 

"I went back to work when Lenny was three months old and when Harley was four months old. So, it's actually enabled me to really ease back in," she said.

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By 4pm, the boys have both woken up from their nap and it's time to prepare for the evening wind-down.

Harley starts dinner around 4pm, while Lenny eats closer to 5.30pm, followed by playtime, baths and bed. 

"You finish one task and then you've got another task to do with the next child," Tara said.

Once the kids are in bed, Tara and Cooper sit down to catch up, watch some TV and prepare for work, if needed.

"The series that were both watching - SAS Australia - we're quite into that," she shared.

"That's a bit of an hour where we can just watch it, debrief during the ads, and have a bit of us time, because you do get really caught up in the kids."

After that, the couple head to bed around 9.30pm before they do it again the next day. But other evenings, when Tara is working, are completely different.

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"I'm on-air [twice a week] in the evenings," she said. 

"And it varies - sometimes I'll get home at midnight, sometimes I'll get home at 8.30pm.

"The nights get a bit hairier when I walk in the door at midnight and Harley wakes up."

Read more day in the life articles here:

Feature image: Instagram/@tararushtonfox

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