Miss Manners: Etiquette Dilemmas on Thank-You Notes and Gift Giving.

A reader asks Miss Manners if she should write thank-you notes for unsolicited gifts her mother's friends give to her children. Miss Manners suggests that the gifts are meant for the grandmother to give to the grandchild, and if the reader wants the presents to stop, she should stop writing thank-you notes. However, if the reader wants to continue receiving gifts, she should write thank-you notes. Miss Manners also notes that the children will be old enough to write the letters themselves in a couple of years.