Please! We're all fearful of future!
And I don't need you to explain it. I just disagree with you. I've seen The Phantom Menace a hundred times. I saw it in theaters when you were probably still in diapers.
Redditors are just wrong about this. There isn't some deep meaning to it. It's a silly movie for kids made to wring more money out of a classic scifi franchise.
You should have seen the merchandising arrangements back then. Phantom Menace characters were on every pepsi can, every mountain dew can, at every fast food restaurant, on every nabisco product, every NASCAR car, walking around at every public event and carnival, there had never been a product-tie in blitz that extreme before. Though they seem somewhat commonplace now, something on that level was unheard of at the time, and I'd bet that it still dwarfs most modern product tie-ins.
It was a shameless cashgrab. The fact that we got a few cool moments and ideas out of the prequels aside they just aren't want some people desperately want to believe that they are.
You want proof that George Lucas isn't a secret genius with some omega-level grand plan?
Look up the "Han Shot First scene." As of the latest Disney+ release, GL has drastically edited that Same. Exact. Scene. Four Different. Times!!! Four times! Four different versions! He isn't a genius, he's a goon. He was only able to make something amazing back when he wasn't surrounded by yes-men and he had people to keep his ego in check.
Sadly, that time had passed by the era of the prequels. And I'm not even saying I dislike them. I like them just fine, for what they are. But that thing that they are is NOT visionary, NOT epic, NOT iconic. It's cliched and silly and over the top, and that's just fine!
But no, Baby Anakin wasn't scared. He was a partymonger.