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Mayans and many other indigenous cultures have a lot to teach western parents. Like how to raise kids that WANT to do chores – without even asking.

Turns out, it starts as toddlers who are invited over and over again to doing chores together. The research has turned up some interesting facts.

1. Don’t reward your toddlers for doing chores. Rewarding them after they finished produced LESS helpful kids later. It is unknown why.

2. Let your toddler help – even if they make bigger messes or it takes longer. Many modern parents tell the kid to go do something else, indigenous parents keep inviting them to help – even if it takes longer or the parent has to do it twice. “How else will they learn?” was one response.

3. Expose kids to chores as much as possible. Let them be part of any chore you’re doing. Especially during the early years, children watch adults and want to be a part of it. Instead of lecturing or explaining, simply give them a part of it to do with you. It shows they are part of the social activity of the family – that they belong and are being integrated – not excluded.

4. Give them tasks appropriate to their skill level. Hold measuring cups while you cook, moving a chair, etc. But it has to be a key part. Parents that give toddlers ‘fake’ projects (like re-sweeping a floor that’s already clean) quickly figure out they aren’t invited to really contribute.

5. Always work together. Motivation is lost if you divide up chores and everyone works solo. If doing laundry, make sure everyone is folding everyone’s clothes – not just their own. Make them part of a common goal together.

6. Don’t force it. Don’t force kids to help, offer them opportunities to be part of the activity and invite them to a task instead. It’s a subtle difference, but a huge one. Forcing or demanding creates resistance.

7. Westerners see children as wanting to just play, indigenous parents see toddlers coming over as an indication they want to help. Be creative and find ways to include them.

Read up about this fascinating difference here.

Japan is cracking down hard on AirBnB. It just passed a new law to address minpaku (home shares) and 80% of Japan’s listed AirBnB’s have disappeared. As of next week, Japanese hosts have to register for permission to share their home with the federal government under the hotel and ryokan laws that promote fire and emergency safety. Hosts also won’t be able to rent out their homes for more than 180 days a year.

Japan now joins a growing trend from big cities limiting AirBnB as Parisian courts are also about to rule on the legality of more than 40,000 listings later this month.

I think this is a wonderful idea – and I hope it catches on here in the states. The sharing economy is a race to the bottom for workers and AirBnB contributes to already difficult and tight housing situations in major cities.

Andrey Avgust came up with a series of futuristic and beautiful designs for United States’ dollar bills. He came up with designs that utilize multiple layers of plastic, with serial numbers, QR codes and other details that are readable under UV light.

Pretty amazing – give the video a watch.