"Mom, where's my...???"

I'm guardedly impressed that my friends who are parents can more often than not answer that question when their children bellow it at them. I'm also a little envious. When I reached whatever age it was that I was supposed to be responsible for my own things, it became something of a banned question in my house. Mom only had to explain a couple of times that she wasn't the last one who was using the mood ring/yellow high-heeled right Barbie shoe/etc., was she? In addition to responsibility, she was teaching me logic when she softened her response by adding that whatever I was looking for was probably in the exact same place that I'd left it. Of course, if I remembered that, I wouldn't have to ask. But I knew from her tone that I shouldn't push it by saying so.

If I had a child, I probably would also get annoyed if I had to assume the mommy role of Keeper of Everything. Honestly, I probably wouldn't remember that my kid even had a heart-shaped pencil box/Aston-Martin DB9 Hot Wheel/etc. I have enough trouble managing my own objects. If asked about the current location of a toy, it would be hard for me not to answer, "How the hell should I know? Tell you what, you help me find that red USB drive without a top that contains every paper I ever wrote, I'll help you find the arm that came off your GI Joe."

I do realize, of course, that having a kid would probably be the ultimate lesson in responsibility and would decrease my flakiness. I'd want to be more pendiente de the location of everyone's stuff, if only to ensure that, when it came to organization, the child wouldn't end up like her/his mom, but more like mine.