Why most of us find little children just about as sweet as candy floss from Brighton pier is at once obvious and obscure. The reasons, some individual and others surely biological, are many and varied. But one of them, it seems to me, must be the simple truthfulness of children’s expression.

For creatures without words, it is remarkable how honest little children are in their opinions, and how effectively they communicate the strength of their desires. I will give you an example. This morning I tried to change my son’s t-shirt, because the one he was already wearing looked a bit too small. He was outraged at the prospect of pulling on a new stripy green t-shirt instead of the old red one. He lashed his arms wildly, screeched with all his might and he pulled and pulled at the neck until I, worried he might hurt himself, thought this battle was not worth it and put the red one back on for him again. Satisfaction beamed from his face.

A less conflict riven example. My daughter is obsessed with bananas. She has been for months. It was one of her first words, and if the bananas are in sight at any mealtime, no matter what other delicacies may happen to be gracing her highchair tray – cheese or raisins or even yoghurt – she will imploringly stretch out her arms in the direction of the said fruit and chant the word until I concede. Her absolute ecstasy at being given a banana is so transparent. She squeals with delight, smiles at anyone looking and proffers it proudly before her whilst peeling it carefully. The joy is very charming, but a banana every mealtime is just not on – I have taken to hiding the bananas alongside the plates in the cupboard.

To come back to my point – there is no manipulation here, or shyness about expressing happiness. These children laugh without restraint, scream with rage when dissatisfied and peer with full, unabashed curiosity into every single cranny that interests them. Adults and older children, bound by social convention, do not behave like this. We spend hours, months even, discussing a slight regret with nuanced language tempered by a fear of offending, when a simple honestly turned down lower lip may have done the job just as effectively in a few seconds.

Perhaps it is because we become creatures with words – this acquired linguistic ability – that what we express is sometimes so far away from what we really feel. Who knows. But somewhere along the well-trodden road from babyhood to adulthood we lose this innate capacity for truthfulness and learn how to lie. I suppose by watching my children’s development I will see when they start telling fibs, and thereby discover that there is not a universal age for this passage from truth-telling to obfuscation.