Does anyone else think that their teenage daughter could be from another planet?

On Sunday, morning my husband Steve, came up with an ingenious idea.

"Lets take the kids on a really long walk and get some fresh air into their lungs"
"Sounds great", I lied. "If you can get them out of bed and in the car, then I'm right behind you"

Knowing that his mission was really impossible, I lay back on my pillow, sipped my morning coffee and smiled - smugly.

Steve initially received no response at all to his enthusiastic call of "Come on kids, we're going to climb a hill, everyone out of bed".

After a few more louder requests, I heard my teenage daughter shout "Shut the door on your way out dad"

My teenage son simply grunted something unintelligible and my youngest, who is nine, pretended to be dead. (she's actually quite talented at this now)

Although, thoroughly entertained by my real life soap opera, I started to feel a little sorry for my husband, who admitted that things weren't going to plan.

"OK, leave this one to me", I said, feeling confident. Positioning myself half way up the stairs, I shrieked, "If you all don't get out of bed in 30 seconds, I'm taking the X box controls, makeup and ginger ted out of your rooms. This is probably against all the rules of perfect parenting, but in less than ten seconds, there was movement.

Since moving to Northumberland, (I'm originally from here, but my husband and kids were born and raised in the South), my kids have been under dressing for the tempremental climate.

Steve and I packed ruck sacks full of goodies and bribes and we both dressed in "layers".
I wore about ten layers, my husband two. "Are you joining Scot in the Antarctic", he mused.
"Oh, you are going to be jealous, when I'm lovely and warm and you are close to hypothermia, I won't give you any of my layers" Steve shook his head, whilst smiling with that "We'll see" look on his face. He continued shaking his head when my teenage daughter appeared in a little white T shirt, cropped trousers and flip flops.

"I'm ready", she declared whilst positioning her sunglasses on her head and checking herself out in the mirror. You can imagine the conversation that followed, but needless to say, she put on more clothes. We went up the Ingram Valley, which was stunning - what a great day out. My husband pointed out various birds, but when tested, my teenage daughter identified a grouse as a bat - she failed the test.

Almost as soon as we got out of the car, she declared that she was tired and would be ringing Childline to tell them of the torture we were putting her through. She even threw herself on the grass, declaring that she couldn't walk any further. (this was about 500 yards from the car)

I could see that Steve was starting to regret bringing the kids, so I took my daughter to one side and whispered "There's no Metro Centre for you next week, young lady, unless you pretend to be enjoying yourself" (again, not in the child development books, but a handy tip in any case) My daughter skipped along with the energy of an Olympic athlete, until the walk was over. She even carried some of my layers, as I was overheating. ( I hate it when he's right!)

That evening, Steve helped her with her science homework. She was learning about the planets. Steve asked her which planet she was from. She replied in all seriousness " Mars" .......I knew it!