You’re onto something here IMO. 
I believe the reason those of us who started as children often do well in magick is because children don’t have that filter, that things Must or Should fit certain expectations, happen in certain ways to a set timeframe, and (most of all) that they can only work with a spirit if they know its origins, sigil, gematria, astrological and gem correspondences - and then get skeptical if they can’t nail ALL of these down in some manner that fits a pre-existing mental framework about reality.
I mean, I get irked to the point of biting back snarky replies when people post trying to fit ALL spiritual beings, from nature spirits to ancestors to powerful gods, into a limited 12-sign or 4-element pattern for no reason other than, really, a quest to diminish and reduce the splendour and variety of the universe into a small set of “aspects” - a concept that derives from monotheism, where everything revolves around a central creator “Big G ‘God’” who has rules, agendas, and expectations.
And of course, this tacitly defers to the very same lameass religions many people are superfically trying to escape by taking up black magick. 
Children don’t play by those incredibly restrictive rules, when we’re young we’re still in Observing mode, not Labelling mode, at that age we DON’T think we know it all, and that everything must fit into some previously created model.
Our eyes, and all of our senses, are wide open.
Probably most of us remember not liking someone the adults in our lives fawned over, and later being proven correct - our unfiltered observation saw the truth, the adults saw the checklists, and ignored any twinge from intuition.
Checklists have their place at times, but not in magick.
If I meet a spirit with 3 heads, green necklaces, eating a coconut and speaking with a southern twang, I won’t go mad trying to find which part of the 4-element/12-sign pattern I can force this being into, decoding them like a puzzle, instead of a living being.
Instead, I will hang out with them, talk to them, see if we can do things for each other and maybe, make a friend, or alliance.
Maybe she’ll be an ancient god or nature spirit, maybe she was created by a non-human spirit as their child or spouse, maybe she created herself through hard struggle from origins as a servitor, whatever happens I am not going to make that kind of reductionist thinking the basis of my interactions with her.
I only care about results, and not trying to stand outside the spirit world like a zoologist categorising species. 
They say truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction always has to make sense, whereas truth does not, it just happens: I believe the same to be true of magick, and spirits.
So, I can’t give you 12 or 25 or more years of doing magick in one text dump, but I am sharing to try and show the openness, and the value of becoming an explorer in a strange land, with a playful student mindset instead of brimful of the need to classify, categorise, and reduce down from a superficial, outsider standpoint the nature of spirits we meet and experiences we have.
Combine playing and magick, daydreaming and magick, and you can capture that wonderful feeling, silencing the adult censor (very useful in everyday life) who’s probably holding you back. 
These are some playful methods:
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Creating an inner sanctuary (can be used to create an astral temple)
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try inventing your own form of divination, that is NOT linked to the 4-element/12-sign or other pre-existing theories, see what works for you - put on your creative hat, say “if I was making a movie about a magician who uses his or her own method, and I wanted it to look easy and fun, what would I invent it to look like?”… things like that. And make sure to do it just for fun: you don’t have to impress anyone, there is nothing to prove to some frowning jury of armchair magicians.
Create.
