As President Obama acknowledged in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, the American people tend to regard much of what goes on in Washington, DC, with a skeptical eye. But there was a moment during Obama's looong (is it over yet?) speech that, as the parent of two kids attending public elementary school, I found myself wanting to stand up and cheer. Actually, come to think of it, there were a few of them.

Here are five things the President said about education that parents of kids of all ages -- K through college -- can celebrate. (If Washington lawmakers can manage to work out a deal to make them happen, that is -- which is, of course, a big if.)

Little kids and old people -- they're a winning combination. They can do so much for each other. Retirees may have the time and patience to read to, listen to, and play with children, to teach them about life, in ways that younger adults like, say, the kids' parents -- so busy rushing around taking care of the concerns of workaday life -- do not. And kids can boost retirees' spirit with a smile and a snuggle.

Unfortunately, so many families, like mine, live hours away from grandparents, depriving both generations -- the elders and the youngsters -- of this quality time spend in each other's company. A few communities have come up with a genius solution to this problem: kindergartens in retirement homes.

Ready to SucceedMy most vivid memory from kindergarten involves me throwing up on my Valentine's Day art project. While that may not be a universal experience, I'm guessing most of you who grew up in the '70s and '80s have halcyon and occasionally terrifying memories of that first year of school as well. You know, that year where everybody is still struggling with dressing themselves and remembering to ask when they need to go potty. But those days are long gone my friends.

Something has changed inside the kindergarten classroom, and it's not just the lack of chalk boards.

She's usually walking to the school at the same time I am, but instead of chasing after a reckless 3-year-old, she's pushing a cherub-faced toddler in a grubby umbrella stroller. She's always wearing sweatpants and she looks tired but she always has a smile for my spirited preschooler as he barrels past.

He's got the hardened carapace of someone who has little experience with things coming easy in life, and if I saw him on the street at night I might quicken my step. Battered baseball cap pulled low, hands jammed in his pockets. He wears a stony expression like a wooden fence, until his little boy emerges from the tumble of shouting children, and then he sweeps his son into his arms. His smile is a full-body transformation.

I'm kind of a newbie at being a school mom, being as how my oldest just started kindergarten this year. We've had a lot to get used to in the last couple months—new morning routines, lunches, pickups and dropoffs, new friends, homework ... and happily, everything is going great. I love my kid's teacher, I love how excited my kid is to learn. So far, I'm really happy with his school.

Well, except for one little thing: the fundraising. My god, the ENDLESS, WALLET-SUCKING, VALUE-DESTROYING fundraising.

An Illinois elementary school is dealing with multiple losses this week after first a beloved kindergarten teacher died after undergoing surgery, and then on the same day of her funeral another kindergarten teacher killed herself. But Linda Walker didn't only kill herself, she decided to hang herself inside the kindergarten classroom.

As a mom to a kindergartner, I just couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of the parents, the kids, the whole school. Can you imagine if your child's teacher killed herself in the same place where she sits and plays, learns, and supposedly feels safe every day of the week? I feel for anyone who believes taking her life is the only choice, but seriously, this lady should have thought about someone other than herself. Thank god it wasn't a child who found her hanging in the Carterville classroom. 

Thinking about holding your child back for another year of pre-school? Whether you're hoping he'll be the biggest kid on the football team or the smartest little dude at the spelling bee, it turns out you will be shooting that kid right in the foot -- academically speaking -- if you delay kindergarten. Not exactly what parents were going for when they made the call to let their 5-year-old wait a year before beginning his academic career.

However, a new study shows that children who start kindergarten earlier do better. And those red-shirted kids do worse in school and are less motivated all the way into high school. Yikes, that's a serious long-term negative effect on the kid you were hoping might just be a bit more mature next year.

Of course what's really interesting is the child that starts kindergarten on the younger end winds up kicking butt in reading and math. Turns out the biggest benefit to starting school early is that you're starting school early.

Julie BowenActress Julie Bowen plays mom Claire Dunphy on TV's best parenting show ever, Modern Family (count their recent Emmy stockpile if you doubt it), but she's also a mom in real life to three young boys -- one 4-year-old Oliver, and 2-year-old twins, John and Gus. In other words, Bowen is eyeball-deep in motherhood, and for this reason, I think I can trust that she knows a little about what she speaks when it comes to parenting.

As a big fan of moms who "keep it real" -- real-life moms and celebrity moms -- when it comes to motherhood, I must say Bowen's very real recent words about her kids came at the perfect time for me. No sooner had I texted, through tears, to my husband the worst words a mom could ever say, let alone, feel, than I came across Bowen's relatable description of her love/hate relationship with her kids. Ohmygod, I have that toooooooo ...