Rituals and Young Age

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child"  1 Corinthians 13:11

Ah, to be a child.  To run around all day and not have to worry about things like bills, lunch, cars, world affairs, and the like.  To see something simple like a butterfly or a bird and be amazed. 

But, alas, those days came to an end.  The problem is, I don't really recall when that actually happened.  Let me take that back.  I actually do remember.  It happened when my mom decided that I should have my picture taken for the first day of school.  I was heading off to kindergarten.  My days would now involve sitting in chairs, listening to teachers, and learning 'reading, writing, and 'rithmatic. 

I don't remember any specific kind of ritual that attended that change in position in life, though.  I know that some cultures are very specific when a child enters into the next stage of life.  That kind of ritual lets the child know that he or she has moved from one set of expectations to another.  The stages of life are, to some degree, set, and the young person can know when they have moved from one to the next.

Should there be stages that we recognize as we grow in our faith life?  What kind of rituals could we employ to let us know when we have moved from one station in life to the next?  Do we have clear expectations of what we should be able to do or know or believe at various stages?  It seems to me that we have muddied the waters, so that we have older people who still think, act, and reason like a child, though they should have long ago moved past those ways.  Would ritual help us both in growing in life as well as in faith?