Good Parenting

I'm quite sure that when you're a teen, or even a pre-teen, family gatherings with ooooold people (you know, people over thirty) are about as appealing as getting your hand stuck in a beehive. As a parent of such kids you have to be aware of that.

One way of keeping the kids under control is to give them a protable DVD player or a Nintendo DS. However if they keep staring/playing with these things during the gathering itself, aren't they losing out on a great opportunity to train a modicum of respect?

It's difficult though. On the one hand I don't want my kids to be disrespectful and rude; on the other hand I don't want them to act up if there's a viable means to keep them at ease.