I was in a popular coffee shop in Norwich a few weeks ago, enjoying a latte with some (childless) friends and my two darling offspring.

The children got bored after five minutes and decided the best way to have some fun was to run up and down the corridor screaming at the top of their voices and waving their arms around.

Truly, it was hilarious to watch. They were literally having the time of their lives.

I didn't attempt to stop them, because well, why would I? They were being careful in case anyone walked past, no one had complained about the noise, and they were providing entertainment for the rest of the customers (I'm absolutely 100 per cent certain that they definitely weren't annoying everyone, honest).

Then a mother and her two children (similar age to mine) came upstairs and sat near us.

Her children sat next to her.

And they sat, and they drank their drinks and ate their cake. Silently.

My four-year-old clocked them after a few minutes. Eye contact was made, and she put her head on the side in the way that an inquisitive spaniel might do when he spies a cat.

'Mummy, can I ask those children if they want to play?'

'Um, no darling, I think they look like they want to stay with their mummy.'

Translation – 'No because their mother is giving me stares which are so evil that I may actually cross into the seventh circle of Hell.'

Personally, I allow my children the freedom to run around and be annoying, because quite frankly, they were having the time of their lives and laughing their heads off.

When I walk down a busy high street with the children, we sometimes have a break from walking and start skipping. I find that it makes life a little bit more fun.

Maybe some children are born sensible? Mine certainly weren't; but is it nature or nurture? Have I created two crazy, over-excitable human-poltergeists with ridiculous imaginations and an inability to sit still for more than five seconds, or were they genetically programmed to be that way?

Whilst my children are as different in personality as it is possible to be, they do have one thing firmly in common.

They are both very, very silly.

If proof is required, you will find it below, in video form.

But I must point out, that I have absolutely no idea where they get it from…