This was a hard one for me. First thing I thought of was things I understood that people assumed I wouldn’t. Like, I read Animal Farm in 7th grade and the librarian told me that I wouldn’t understand what it was really about. I totally got the political allegory but spent years trying to figure out what it was that I was missing.
Then I thought of a same-sex relationship that I just thought was good friends until I was about in college and then had an oh-duh moment.
Finally I landed on allusions in kids’ films aimed for the adults in the crowd. Not the creepy Nickelodeon ones. The one that popped in my mind comes from Disney’s Cinderella. She rescues a new mouse and decides to name nim Octavius but call him Gus for short. At the time it made no sense and I just let it flow over me. I was watching it as an adult Latin teacher and it made me laugh out loud, since Octavius (later Octavian) Caesar got the title AuGUStus (see the clip below). I’m sure throughout the things I watched there were such Easter eggs that went right past me as a child. I can’t think of others right now, but there must be plenty.
Ramblings 
Disney movies really are a totally different experience rewatching them as an adult. I love the Cinderella example you used.
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I love these answers!
I read Animal Farm at about that age, too. What a good story it was.
That Gus reference is great, too.
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When I was a very young boy, I thought dogs and cats were the same species, males being dogs and females being cats.
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I do enjoy watching kids defeat adult expectations about what they will and won’t be able to understand. (I generally assume that kids understand a great deal more than many adults give them credit for.)
I wouldn’t have gotten the Gus reference either, but it’s hilarious. Go, Disney!
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Hah, that Augustus reference is wonderful. There are a lot of jokes on 1990s sitcoms that were over my head as a kid!
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Cute one!
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So I was today years old when that Cinderella reference made sense… and I’m a Classics student *facepalm*
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