It's one of the worst-kept secrets of family life that all parents have a preferred son or daughter and the rules for acknowledging it are the same everywhere: The favored kids recognize their status and keep quiet about it - the better to preserve the good thing they've got going and to keep their siblings off their back.
We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know afraid of what others will think afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie the thing that we fear grows stronger.