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Child work covers the application of physical or mental contributions towards achieving a goal that does not include exploitative methods for engagement. Activities can range from domestic household chores to participation in family and community endeavors. Inge Bolin notes that children's work can blur the boundaries between learning, play, and work in a form of productive interaction between children and adults. Such activities do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Child Work and Indigenous American Communities
Children's work is a valued means of learning and childrearing in many communities. It is seen as contributing in an eagerly collaborative and flexible environment, aimed at teaching consideration, responsibility, and skills with the guidance and support of adults. Children learn functional life skills through real-time observation of adults and interactive participation of these learned skills within the community. Active contributions to family and community work directly affects children's cognitive maturity by allowing children agency over their own development. In Zinacantec Mayan communities, children learn complex motor skills and techniques for weaving through keen observation of working adults and by executing the skills themselves. In Peru, young Chillihuani boys learn how to build shelters and homes by actively assisting adults during the building process by moving and placing appropriate size stones.

Children's work is also attributed to learning cultural mores in addition to individual personality development. Indigenous children in Peru develop a sense of responsibility by participating in work often motivated by an internal and external drive to be an active participant in the community. Paradise & De Haan (2009) refer to this process as practicing responsibility and reciprocity through role taking as an observing helper or active performer. Through participation in work, children in Indigenous American Communities identify as cooperative members of a community through first-hand exposure to the direct impact of their action or inaction in community responsibilities. A lot of children who engage in this kind of work and receive money use it to pay for schooling, things for themselves, or resources, all while building strong social networks. In Guatemalan Mayan communities children are expected to take part in these practices, and when schools became prevalent, children who were not seen as providing valuable contributions to family and community endeavors were only then sent away to school to make use of their time.

Supporting Child Work for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
Because of different cultural views involving labor, the International Labour Organization (ILO) developed a series of culturally sensitive mandates including Conventions No. 169, 107, 138, and 182 to protect indigenous culture, traditions, and identities. Conventions No. 138 and 182 lead in the fight against child labour, while No. 107 and 169 promote the right of indigenous and tribal peoples and protect their right to define their own developmental priorities. The ILO recognizes these changes are necessary to respect the culture and traditions of other communities while also looking after the welfare of children. In many Indigenous communities, parents believe children learn important life lessons through the act of work and through participation in daily life. Working is seen as a learning process preparing children for the tasks they will have to do as an adult. It is a belief that the family's and child’s well-being and survival is a shared responsibility between members of the whole family. They also see work as an intrinsic part of their child's developmental process. While these attitudes toward child work remain, many children and parents from indigenous communities still highly value education. ILO wants to include these communities in the fight against exploitative child labor while being sensitive to their traditions and values.