Letters to the Editor
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Children aren't curious about it and don't want to hear it
Until they get to puberty, by which time they've quit listening to you.
But we've told our kids the truth anyway. They're in the "latency stage", ages 6 to 11, where any mention of sex is met with "ewwwww!!" But when a question comes up that they don't know is sexual (we got hit with the "what's a blow job?" question a few months ago), my wife and I explain in the simplest (but most direct) terms, and go on to finish the explanation even after they've plugged their ears.
Another question, from my daughter, then age 8: "What is rape?" I said, "It's when you force someone to have sex when they don't want to. It's considered a very serious crime." She plugged her ears at mention of the s-word (she prefers the term, "physical touchment"), but I think she heard us all the way through.