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Tammin Sursok on keeping the spark alive after kids: 'Keep falling in love'

By Tammin Sursok|

I recently was perusing Instagram when I stumbled on a friend who was getting married. She had been planning a wedding for two years and was obsessed with the idea of being someone's wife, obsessed with their future life together.

The first thing I thought was "wait until you have kids". I caught myself. How horrible was that thought? Like throwing kids in the mix could nudge your footing off a stable axis? Then I let that sentiment land and I stood by it.

Love is pretty easy, especially in the beginning. Two people allowed to be selfish together, slightly compromising to each other's needs and bending, somewhat to the other person. Two people that stand like two trees, solid, touching, but still independent, still bathed in freedom and spontaneity and energy.

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Tammin Sursok and husband Sean McEwen work to keep the spark alive in their marriage. (Supplied)

Marriage shouldn't be monumentally tough. If you've had a pretty solid relationship, the transition to being a spouse should be quite fluid. Then you throw kids in the mix, and it shakes you to your core. (If you are a parent, you know what I'm talking about.)

There is a reason why people say, "no divorce before age two". What happens when you bring children into the mix is you have to rearrange yourself. You have to rearrange your relationship, how you visualise the world, how you visualise yourself.

Make sure you are making a point to think of each other daily

Your new lenses become more vibrant, more childlike but you also become a hell of a lot more susceptible for hairline fractures on your relationship. Having children becomes a fertile environment for any issue that has not been resolved in your marriage before you had kids.

Coupled with lack of sleep, the unbending consistency and the new emotions that accompany being a first time parent, the first thing to suffer, if not taken care of, is your marriage. I see it all the time.

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Tammin Sursok and husband Sean McEwen on their wedding day. (Supplied)

Two people, one pregnant talking about the illusionary tale of how their lives and their relationship will stay the same.? Sorry guys. The train is-a-comin' and your world as you know it will be forever changed.

So how do we support this? How do we evolve our relationship to another level of strength, bonding, and compassion? Well, we need to constantly and daily put work and time and energy in to the two of you. Just the two of you. My husband and I have date nights every Friday. Every Friday without fail. Sometimes it's just Thai takeout in the car, in silence, holding hands, but bonded in something so much greater.

Have sex. When you first get together you do the horizontal tango too many times to count. After you have children, more times than not, the unbending exhaustion will trump sex almost every time. But make it a priority. Sex bonds you together in ways that nothing else can. The attraction is still there, it's just clouded right now.

Tammin Sursok says becoming parents can rock a relationship. (Life with Lou Photographgy)

Keep falling in love. I heard a quote the other day that was so prescient to me, "to make a marriage work you have to keep falling in love". This is especially true when you have kids. The little things matter. Make sure you are making a point to think of each other daily.

Work on your communication. It seems a hell of a lot easier, born from frustration to, in the moment, attack each other. In the long run you are causing cracks in your foundation. Always talk from your perspective. Ask "how does this make you feel". You'll develop a stronger relationship by working together, which in turn, will make you better parents.

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