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The child’s deceit is a bugbear for families or the structures of childhood whose functions it disrupts. As harmful as it appears, it is nevertheless an element of hope that it allows young people to experience difficulties within the circle of friends. The problem that it poses reveals what they can only “say” by deceiving those that they love. This text examines the meaning and the function of this unrecognized means of communication. It is based on the hypothesis that the way in which it undermines and sometimes sows discord within couples or groups is indicative of distress issuing from their own dysfunction.