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5 tips from Harvard researchers on how to make your child more caring
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New parents worry that they struggle to teach their children how to be caring individuals in a society marred by negative moral values, Quartz reported.

But researchers at Harvard may have some answers on what new parents can do to make sure their children care about other people.

In a recent report published by the Making Caring Common Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard researchers offered five tips to parents who want to raise their children to be caring, moral and empathic individuals.

“While caring and fairness are subordinated to achievement and happiness, they are still important to youth, their parents, and their teachers,” the report said.

Here are five tips based on Harvard’s research.

Children need activities to practice caring.

The researchers reported that children need to learn about caring every day of their lives and they need repetition.

“Learning to be caring and to lead an ethical life is like learning to play an instrument or hone a craft,” according to the report. “Daily repetition — whether it’s helping a friend with homework, pitching in around the house, having a classroom job, or working on a project on homelessness — and increasing challenge make caring second nature and develop and hone youth’s caregiving capacities.”

Children need to consider the small and big pictures.

Children should learn to “zoom in” — listen closely to people in their immediate circles — and “zoom out” — learn about bigger concepts — to help them become a more caring individual, according to Harvard. Understanding both the little and big pictures well help youngsters “expand their circle of concern and become able to consider the justice of their communities and society,” the report said.

Children need moral role models.

Role models can help children understand how to care about others, the research found. Children will follow the role models’ examples to help them.

“Being a role model doesn’t mean that we need to be perfect or have all the answers,” according to the report. “It means grappling with our flaws, acknowledging our mistakes, listening to our children and students, and connecting our values to their ways of understanding the world.”

Children have to know how to control emotion.

Sometimes people act out in anger, frustration or shame when people try to help them, according to the report. Children can avoid this issue by learning how to deal with their own emotions from an early age.

“We need to teach children that all feelings are OK, but some ways of dealing with them are not helpful. Children need our help learning to cope with these feelings in productive ways,” the report said.

Adults need to take responsibility.

Parents also need to understand it’s their responsibility to teach their children good values, according to the report, and not just wait for children to pick up on good values.

“To begin, we’ll have to stop passing the buck,” the report said. “While Americans worry a great deal about children’s moral state, no one seems to think that they’re part of the problem. As adults we all need to take a hard look at the messages we send to children and youth daily."

Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.