I was born again seven years ago in the maternity ward at a local hospital. When our baby girl came into the world, a new father was born as well.

I remember holding her for the first time and wanting the moment to last a lifetime.

I was reborn again four years later and lucky enough to have the same experience with my son.

Next month, my wife and I will take our daughter and son to a Shinto shrine for the Shichigosan (7-5-3) festival in which children ages 7, 5 and 3 dress in special clothes — usually a kimono for girls and a hakama for boys — and are placed under the protective blessing of the kami (guardian deity).

Shichigosan expresses a rite of passage, a ritual that marks the shifts and transitions of one social status to another. Age 3 marks the end of babyhood in Japanese custom; at 5, children begin to have formal relationships with other adults in the community; and 7 is a symbolic number in numerous religious traditions, signifying completion or fullness. At 7, then, a child has experienced the full richness of childhood and will soon enter the next stage of development, the so-called tweens phase.

During Shichigosan, parents thank the kami for blessings received and ask for continued guidance and protection for their children so that the children may live long and healthy lives. For the children, more importantly, they receive special candies symbolizing long life.

We will visit one of the local Shinto shrines and participate in the Shichigosan festivities not simply because we want to enjoy a traditional religious rite, but more importantly because we believe in celebrating our children's childhood. One of the basic messages in Japanese religion is that everything is impermanent. Life is fleeting and hence it should be appreciated fully. This in part is why the cherry blossom is cherished in Japan: It appears in full bloom for a few weeks and then it is gone. The innocence and wonder of childhood is sometimes like this.

I don't remember how much longer after turning 7 that I stopped holding my parents' hands, but I realize now that it was a step in the process of letting go. Because my daughter is beginning to leave her childhood, I want to appreciate her childhood as much as I can before it is completely gone.

So I will enjoy this time in my children's lives, this period when they are with me because they want to be with me, and not because they are obligated to, or because I am forcing them to. A time when they still look to hold my hand when walking, when they still want me to carry them when they're tired, when they still want to kiss me goodnight after reading them a bedtime story.

Soon these things will not be for me.

These, then, are the fleeting childhood moments that I will cherish for a lifetime, and these are the tiny treasures they give to me that make my life so rich. In short, the Shichigosan festival is a celebration of their childhood and an appreciation for the gift of parenthood.

Jay Sakashita teaches religion at Leeward Community College and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. He has no hobbies, no time to read books and absolutely no social life. This is his children's fault.