I just received a gift today, a pet supplement that seems to be some kind of practical joke that I have not taken well! I thought it might be a random promotion gone wrong, but Amazon told me it was sent by a person and not a company. They would not give any more details. The only option left that I can see is to deactivate my Amazon account and return any future Amazon deliveries to me unopened, with 'not known at this address' on them, because I will know that they are not something I have ordered. I asked the Amazon chat help person to send this comment to the sender so they don't bother sending me anything else via Amazon. I also asked them to share it with Amazon management but they didn't say anything about that. There is no option to block gifts, i.e. to only received deliveries from Amazon that you have ordered. They need this option in case someone is being harassed, which, in this case, I believe I am. It should be relatively easy to block orders not from your own account, but they said they can't do this.

The weirdest thing that has happened to me, and this has been going on for years, is that I am constantly getting calls for Jennifer who has a daughter Brittany who obviously has a litany of health and learning disabilities. I get calls from schools, doctor's offices and social workers. I tried calling a few to tell them that they have the wrong number, but it was not much help. I'm not sure if she is giving out a false number of it my number is just similar to hers . . . but these are real places. It only happens a couple times a year so I haven't tried harder to figure out how to stop it. It's just sad and weird. I've been included on some weird group messages before, but have usually been able to track down the source and opt out. Again, doesn't happen often enough for me to sweat it.

How old is your dd, Lyfia? I am assuming 10-11ish? If so...I think you are spot on with what you are currently doing. Do be prepared...in the next couple of years, more and more of her friends will be getting phones. Eventually it will get to the point where, even though you are making a wise parenting choice...your child will actually become somewhat socially isolated. It seems ridiculous, and if someone had told me that when my oldest was 10, I would have been like, “So? My family, my rules.” But it’s not just the kids you don’t want them hanging around that get phones...the “nice” kids get them too. You child will inadvertently get left out of things...and might become resentful. I have a friend who is a wonderful parent, and she really wanted to hold off on the phone until High School. It was getting stupid...her kid’s friends would have to send her separate texts to inform her son about plans. She’d have to relay the info to him...things would get missed, it was very awkward. I know a lot of folks on this forum have adult children and think the answer is “no phone, period!” but in our technological world...that is not a realistic option. It is literally how teens AND adults communicate. It is a tool that needs to be managed and it sounds like you are on the right path.

Thanks to the responses, I checked my settings on my phone and have it set to save 'forever.' Thank goodness! That never occurred to me. Elma, I am not melodramatic. I find your comments a bit uncomfortable. I have good reason for wanting to keep these text messages or I would not have sought help. Actually, you were the first response and your answer was, 'yes.' It seems that answer was incorrect, deleting sent texts cannot be deleted by the person who sent them. Without getting into the details of why I want to protect those texts, I will just say that this individual threatened both me and my husband. These texts were disturbing and scary. I'm sure he was angry, however I want to protect my family in case he pulls something. Enough said. I truly appreciate the opinions and ideas I received here. It appears that texts sent to me cannot be deleted by the person who sent them. That was my biggest concern. Jane