Skibo's off to school

We signed Skibo up for kindergarten this morning:for the non-US based readers here, that's the class you go into once you are at least 5 at the beginning of the school year, which Skibo is, by about 5 days --- so he's going to be the youngest in his year (which is fortunate, as it will give the other children in his class time to catch up with him).
I felt this less as a sad time, less a time for crying about how quickly our children are growing up, and more a celebration: he's ready, let's give him the opportunity to learn!

The flip side of all of this is --- he's going to be five, of course he should be in school! And yet, universal kindergarten still seems unaccepted by a segment of the population, and indeed, I'm not sure that it is required for children once they reach age five. I really feel that he has blossomed in the past year --- he's been in a private preschool program, having tested out on the high end of entering what is called here "4K" --- and I know that his teachers are going to miss him (and everyone else: the children in his class are lovely). The idea that a child of that age is not ready to sponge up knowledge and understanding is ridiculous!

Yours, happy for Skibo,
N.