You don't know what  you're talking about.  If you need the standard deduction, you don't have enough deductible expenses to itemize.  You can't use both, only one of them.  
Earned-Income and child credits don't do much for senior citizens.  Simple math for a simpleton.   Standard deduction of $24,000  means your tax on first $24,000 of income is zero, then the. next dollar of taxable income is taxed at 12% , then you take your credits. A couple filing jointly making $60,000 would pay (60k-24k=36kx12%)  $4300 tax less entitled credits or and effective rate of 8.6%. You would pay almost as much in Hawaii state taxes due to low standard deduction, low personal exemptions and the rapidly rising tax rates.