The one way to know if you're cut out to be a parent.

When most people daydream about the day they’ll become a parent, it goes something like this…

You’ll be wearing a lovely sundress at your goal weight and a beautiful little girl running towards you, laughing. There might be some daisy-chain-making involved. Perhaps a newborn baby lying peacefully in your arms while you gaze into their little faces and wonder what all the fuss was about. Or you imagine a son, who worships you and tells you he loves you often. He might stop and give you hugs across the course of the day…

Isn’t it just lovely?

Well, daydreams are for suckers. I know. I’m a mother-of-three. I love my children more than coffee and chocolate but motherhood is about survival. It’s hard work. It’s thankless.

It can also be a total blast.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Nissan. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

What I’m trying to say is that your daydreams aren’t reality. Here’s how to know if you’re ready to be a parent. Take the girl, the baby and the boy from the aforementioned daydreams, put them in a car and go on a road trip.

You’ll know by the end of the trip if you’re ready to be a parent.

Taking a driving holiday with children is the only way to find out what you’re really made of. By the end of it you will know the answers to the following questions:

1. Am I calm in a crisis, like, say, when a child vomits and it hits me on the back of the neck?

2. Can I multi-task, doing eight things at once, holding three different conversations while driving safely?

3. Can the police see that I am trying to remove the annoying plastic seal from a bottle of water and do they know I am then planning on trying to hand it to my daughter who is seated directly behind me?

4. Are driving holidays a good idea when you have kids?

I know the answer to all of these questions and they are yes, yes, no and YES. However a driving holiday is only a good idea if you have the right car.

At the moment I drive a smallish 4WD with inadequate air conditioning, hardly any boot space and totally devoid of leg space. The most high-tech thing about it is the cigarette lighter which charges my iPhone, until it stopped working.

When I was asked to test drive the all-new Nissan Pathfinder, I almost said no. I just knew it was going to be amazing. How would I ever go back to my crappy little car after experiencing the luxury of a family car that was actually designed with a modern family in mind?

Well, I did it, and let me tell you, it’s HARD to drive my car at the moment and I keep leaving Nissan brochures lying around the house for my husband to see.

Taking a driving holiday in an all-new Nissan Pathfinder is like driving with an extra parent. It holds their drinks for them, entertains them, keeps them cool with the most effective air conditioning system I have ever experienced, keeps them safe through revolutionary design, takes care of them as they grow by allowing me to adjust the leg space and having a boot so big you can fit bikes, scooters, luggage and anything else you care to bring.

Did I mention the entertainment system?

Watching movies while driving actually prevents car sickness. And I don’t have to listen to their movies. I can listen to the radio in the front while they watch movies in the back.

I just have to have one. I have to.

And do you know the best part of taking a driving holiday with kids in a car that is so spacious and luxurious? You can seat the kids far enough away from each other that fighting can only ever be verbal. They have individual screens and are so spaced out that even if they tried to hit and kick each other they’d never reach.

But boy is it funny to see them try. Flail around little one. This car is one step ahead of you.

Sometimes while driving my current vehicle I like to imagine it is an all-new Nissan Pathfinder. I’m normally jolted out of my daydream by the portable DVD player falling off the arm rest where it is precariously balanced and the kids fighting over food, toys and drink bottles.

How do you keep your kids happy during driving holidays?

All-new 7-seat Nissan Pathfinder – Built for the whole family.

• 7 adult size seats – for the kids, their friends or those rare nights out.
• Easy third row access due to the EZ Flex seating system and the Latch and Glide system.
• 5 star ANCAP rating.
• Modern family luxury, comfort and style.

And for those that want to invest in less hair pulling and wet willy’s the all-new Pathfinder Ti offers tri-zone entertainment and tri-zone climate control.

For more information or to see it from a kids point of view, click here.