It’s always interesting to me when I come across government Web sites “for kids,” like:

• this one from the Environmental Protection Agency
• this one from the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory
• this one from the Patent and Trademark Office
• this one from the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration
• this one from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, or
• this one from the FBI.

It’s good to have information available to kids, and I can see a White House for Kids page or a Basic Readings in Democracy (Department of State), but I wonder if a kids’ page at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is a leisure that the American taxpayer might just as well forgo.

This page from the National Institutes of Health seems designed to turn all kids into worrywarts. It features a cat named “Toxie” that shows you all the dangerous chemicals and substances that can be found in people’s residences. Have a nice day, kids!

So, are “for kids” sites across the government something you think there ought to be? You’re paying for it!