It could have been done, had Episode I not being completely wasted. Episode II should have been Episode I (well, a good Episode II, not that crap that was made).

We didn't need to meet Anakin as a kid, since by Episode II he's almost a new character. Lucas wanted it to be a child to make the separation from his mother more traumatic. That in itself is an unnecessary sub-plot, not to mention that I hated the "monk" aspect of the prequel Jedi and there's no reason why he should never see his mother again, but that's another discussion.

The whole "Anakin was a slave when he was a kid" is irrelevant later on, and it's really kinda stupid. Anakin doesn't seem to have it so bad while being a slave, in fact he looks very middle-class. Sure he has to work for Watto, and yes, children shouldn't work, but what else is there to do on Tatooine. Did they have an excellent school that Anakin wasn't attending?? I don't think so. Watto even let him go early that one time we did see him working, and he yelled Yipee!! (like Watto's a cool boss). His house doesn't look that different from Luke's. The whole slave was pointless.

Then Obi-Wan and Anakin have like two lines of dialogue together in Episode I. What a waste. We should have seen the training and the formation of their friendship in Episode I.