A Golden Childhood.

 

The golden childhood is a common feature of seekers' lives, even though many don't notice this until fairly late in their search because childhood memories can be clouded by later developments, particularly resentments of parents and culture.

If the first six years of a child's life provide a significant degree of freedom, the mind forms with enough flexibility to cope with a seeker's path. An extreme version of this, a really free childhood is what the Great Masters like to start out with.

Gautama the Buddha had sureley the best of life in this regard.

I haven't heard of anyone else identifying the Golden Childhood with seekers specifically, and I'm not saying that you have to have been as well cared for as The Buddha to get along on the path. I am saying that, in my experience, everyone I'd call a "seeker" has had a degree of freedom in childhood significantly beyond that of the "average kid".

Even when there have been authoratitive parents, seekers usually grow up with significant unpoliced time and space. The parents may in many ways just echo and reinforce the cultural learning, but they generally have at least one area of life in which they claim independance from the culture. This results in their extending some freedom or freedoms to their child.