notanan2
I'm not saying these children need to be "toughened up". Rather, I think parents should be teaching their children that it's not appropriate to tease someone just because their clothes or things aren't as nice as yours. I have a problem with the teasing as well as with the regulation.
If I found out my child was behaving that way, she would be restricted to a wardrobe of the most basic clothes, and she would be spending a few hours each week at a soup kitchen or food bank so that she could learn gratitude.
It's possible that I am a bit biased because of my upbringing. My dad worked for the federal government, so we had everything we needed, but we lived in a blue-collar community. When I was 12 we lived in Brazil for 10 months. We lived on an acreage, and the gardener's family (him, his wife, and 5 children) lived in a 3-room house. I also volunteered at the local soup kitchen and with our local charitable organizations as a teen (by choice, not requirement). Consequently, I think we had greater respect for people who didn't have much. My parents had also been brought up without a lot of extras - Dad's parents farmed, and Mom's dad was a student until she was 7 - he was taking his Bachelor of Commerce and articling for his CA.