In what might be a positive sign for the economy, parents in a national survey say they plan to spend more this year on back-to-school clothing and supplies.

Another sign of the times: They plan to shop for bargains through Facebook and Twitter rather than cutting coupons.

The survey, conducted by researchers for Deloitte, a New York-based consulting and financial advisory firm, found that three out of every 10 parents surveyed (or 28 percent) said they would spend more money on back-to-school stuff this year than last year. That's good news for America's retailers.

Back-to-school ranks second only to Christmas as the most lucrative shopping season of the year. In recent years, retailers have been hit hard by the recession.

Fewer kids are dying, but more of them are living in poverty.

That's part of the good news and bad news coming out of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, as it released its annual KIDS COUNT Data Book July 27.

First, the bad news: Researchers for the foundation found 18 percent of America's children lived in poverty in 2008. That's at least a million more than in the year 2000, and the number is probably actually higher. In a press statement, foundation officials say upcoming census figures will probably hike the number up to 20 percent.

"We won't be able to assess the full impact of the economic downturn on children and families for a number of years," Laura Beavers, national KIDS COUNT coordinator at the foundation, says in the statement. "The economic data that the Census Bureau will release later this year will give a better picture of family economic well-being in the recession. However, even data from 2008 that was collected before the recession took hold shows economic conditions were worsening for kids."

Big Day Chains puts a new spin on an old tradition with its 30-day countdown chains for birthdays, weddings and baby's arrival.

The Days 'til Birthday kit is a great way to help little ones manage the seemingly endless wait until their big day, and definitely provides more fun than crossing off days on the kitchen calendar. Each kit comes with 30 perforated paper links that feature colorful printed designs on one side, and outlined birthday shapes to color in on the other. It also includes non-toxic glue dots for easy, mess-free assembly.

Rebels that we are, we love the idea of letting the kids count up, not down, coloring and adding a link to the chain each day so it can be used as a birthday decoration when it's done.

Available at Big Day Chains for $14.95.

Related: Summer Birthday Parties: 5 Fun Ideas

Not getting along with your parents lately? Blame the American health care system.

So says a new study by LiveScience, which found parents in the United States are more likely than their European counterparts to have conflict with their adult kids. The study cites the fact that American children are often responsible for caring for their elderly, infirm parents due to the state of health insurance in this country.

In fact, infirmity appears to be a key factor when it comes to the health of relationships between parents and their adult kids.

"Parents in poorer functional health tended more to have detached and disharmonious relationships with their children, and those who received help from children tended more to have ambivalent relationships with them," Merril Silverstein, study researcher and professor of gerontology and sociology at the University of Southern California, tells LiveScience. "Together, the finding suggests that frailty and dependence on children introduce elements of friction and strain into intergenerational relationships."

Leaving the nest can be traumatic for any baby bird -- even one who's 18 years old. Yet, in just a few short weeks, millions of teens will be heading off to college for the very first time, trying their wings to see if they can fly solo.

But fear not, because we've got a secret weapon that can help you turn overwhelmed into overjoyed: the ultimate what-to-take-to-college checklist, put together with a little help from the experts at Bed Bath & Beyond and The Container Store.

MIDDELBURG, Netherlands (AP) - The new cushions, sunshade, and bright red sail are in place. And now 14-year-old Laura Dekker has the go-ahead she needs.

A Dutch court ruled Tuesday the girl who was born on a yacht in the South Pacific is ready to embark on her dream of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world - meaning she could set sail in two weeks in a ketch named Guppy.

"I was so happy I almost jumped into the water," the teen gushed, after hearing the court's decision.

What you need: You need a standard red kickball.

How to play: One player is chosen to be "it." "It" has the ball and counts to 10 as the other players scatter around the playing area. Once "it" gets to 10, all players must freeze in place.

The rules: "It" will take four steps towards the closest person and throws the ball at that person, trying to hit him. If "it" hits the person, that player gets an "S." If "it" misses, he gets an "S" and the person he was trying to hit becomes "it." Once players get the letter "S", they can get a "P," a "U," and a "D" if they get hit or miss someone. Once a player has "SPUD," she is out of the game.

A 17-month-old boy wasn't so lucky when he fell off his family's porch on July 17. He landed on a pressure washer, which embedded a metal hook in his brain, just shy of the brain's main blood vessel.

But after surviving the accident "in perfect shape," little Jessiah Jackson is being called a "miracle baby," "Good Morning America" reports.

It helped that Jackson was surrounded by so many adults trained to deal with medical emergencies. After he fell on the pressure washer, neighbor Lavern Nobels, a former volunteer firefighter, ran over to help and sawed through the metal pipe. Also, Jackson's aunt and uncle are both EMTs, so they were able to care for him before emergency workers arrived.

Polite society has driven the most overt and ugly expressions of hatred and bigotry underground -- or at least to anonymous posts on the Internet.

Which means some kids might grow up thinking the evil behind the swastika and burning cross are things of the past.

Wendy Holland isn't one of them.

She tells the Washington Post the sickness that lingers in men's hearts struck home for her when Stephen Tyrone Johns, a 39-year-old security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, was gunned down last June by a white supremacist.

Johns was a graduate of the same Temple Hills, Md., high school that Holland attends.

Is Miley Cyrus too sexy too soon? Not if you ask Tiffany.

The Cyrus of her day, Tiffany -- the stage name of Tiffany Renee Darwish -- spent the better part of the '80s cutting records and touring shopping malls.

It was an age of modesty, purity and, of course, Madonna.

But even while the Material Girl was writhing around in her suggestive lacy wedding dress, most teenage girls and pop idols were fully clothed on stage. Tiffany bopped about in jeans, sneakers and long-sleeved shirts with only the usual amount of makeup.

Really, compared with some of the looks Cyrus has been sporting lately, even Madonna's '80s styles seem downright demure.

But it's just business, Tiffany tells UsMagazine.com.