Recently, a reader asked how to explain to her young daughter what the word “rape” meant. Her daughter heard someone say the word and clearly, it bothered her, as well it should. Some ears are simply too young to hear tough words.

So what’s a parent to do? What do we say and how do we say it?

I experienced a similar situation when my son was in the fourth grade. When he was eleven, my son was asked by his teacher to do a report on a common infection. She gave the students a list of infections and he chose AIDs. I think he did this because he heard the word on the news. He began researching the topic on the school computer and came across some concepts that puzzled him.

He was upset by the fact that some people were so sick with this infection. When I picked him up from school, he was clearly upset. I needed to make a quick stop at the grocery store and as I pulled into the parking lot he blurted out, “Mom, how do men have sex with other men?”

I found a parking spot and we never made it into the…