History Main / DontTellMama

See MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal for when she learns the truth and struggles to accept it.

* [[http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=1990&addr=900702 Jon was at Irma's Diner and she pointed out he didn't eat the vegetables]]. He sarcastically asked if she'd tell his mother. When she said that she would, he quickly started eating them. ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} told Irma to tell Jon's mother he ate the dessert first.

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** For that matter,''ComicBook/Spider-Man'' Peter Parker has gone to great lengths to hide his SuperHero identity from his Aunt May, who is as good as his mother. In at least one version, May has arachnophobia and is thus not overly fond of Spider-Man, hence Peter's actions.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' shows what happens when this trope is defied. Clover discovers that every girl in school is actually dating the same guy, who was jilted on Valentine's Day and for revenge planned to jilt as many girls as he could at the Valentine's Day dance. Clover exposes him to every girl at the dance, but for a fitting punishment, she told his very large mother that he had been taking expensive jewels from her store to give to the girls as gifts. We then hear rather ominous stomping before his mother bursts into the gym screaming "'''''EUGENE!'''''" The last we hear of the guy is an epic BigNo.

* ''Series/ICarly2021'': Nora Dershlit returns in "iHate Carly". She claims to have turned over a new leaf, but after seeing Carly and Freddie again for the first time in years, she can't resist the temptation to follow them around a bit. After climbing into Carly's apartment, Nora begs her not to tell her parents about it. (Which is strange since Nora's parents once helped her kidnap the iCarly trio.)

* AntiVillain variation in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', where the Wolkenritter keep their gathering of Linker Cores to complete the Book of Darkness and save Hayate's life a secret from Hayate, knowing that she would not approve. She eventually finds out about what they were doing during the final battle; the Wolkenritter apologize and Hayate forgives them.

* A major part of the plot in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is the other characters trying to keep the easily-bored titular character [[LockedOutOfTheLoop ignorant of the fact that she's actually a]] RealityWarper that can, on a simple whim, rewrite, destroy and/or replace the whole universe with an all new one that's more to her own liking. Some villains related to the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Data Overmind]] try to provoke a reaction like this from her by, for example, attempting to harm her TrueCompanions... which is the kind of bull that eventually leads [[TheHero Kyon]] to outright weaponize this trope by threatening the D.O. to reveal "[[TrustPassword John Smith]]" to Haruhi, the end result which would doubtlessly make Haruhi remake reality so that the D.O. never even existed.

* Lieutenant David Elliot Hanneth Solomon, from ''ComicBook/{{Soda}}'', is a cop faking to be a priest for the sake of his beloved cardiac mother.

* In the original ''ComicBook/TheHood'' mini Parker Robbins keeps lying to his mother about him being a SuperVillain. Helps that she has Alzheimer's and doesn't remember when he changes his story.

* [[ComicStrip/FoxTrot Peter Fox]] once gets in a fight with a student. As the principal lists the punishments, Peter agrees to them all, only freaking out at "And of course, I'll have to notify your parents".
* A [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/{{Batman}} story -- the very same that first gave the Penguin's name as "Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot" -- was about his aunt coming to visit in Gotham City, and he begged the Dynamic Duo to help him put on the facade of being a law-abiding citizen because he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her with the fact that he's a criminal. The story follows with Penguin's aunt believing him to be a weapons developer for the military and that he helps Batman and Robin fight crime.
* ''ComicBook/BatmanBlackAndWhite'': In "Greetings from... Gotham City", a small-town boy who's moved to Gotham writes postcards home to his mother to let her know he's settling in all right, but doesn't mention what he's doing for a living. After the criminal gang he's running with gets busted by Batman, he writes a postcard from his cell apologizing because he's not going to be able to make it home for Thanksgiving, but not mentioning why.

-->'''Near:''' Are we sure we want to do this?
-->'''Mello:''' It's not like you to have doubts.
-->'''Near:''' I don't usually face such definite trouble.
-->'''Matt:''' [[CasualDangerDialog That is the one thing we can guarantee will happen. We still in agreement over who to confess to?]]
-->'''Mello:''' [[OhCrap Light?]]
-->'''Near:''' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Light.]]

* In ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/2543735/chapters/5655182 The Lovers Left Broken]]'', Laurel encounters Thea with some "friends" all varying degrees of drunk and high. In order to get them the others to leave, she threatens to call their parents...and makes it [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment genuine threat]].
* ''Fanfic/CatTales'': ''Something Borrowed'' has Jervis "Mad Hatter" Tetch trying to hide his criminal activities from his maternal Aunt Maud when she comes to visit for a month, to the extent where he's told her he's a former editor who switched to running a nightclub after being downsized.
* ''Fanfic/ViridianTheGreenGuide'': Izuku doesn't want his mother to find out about his new [[VigilanteMan vigilante]] life because he doesn't want to worry her.

* In ''Film/RushHour'', Detective Carter gets certain information from his criminal cousin by threatening to arrest him, thus notifying their Aunt Bootsie about his dealings.
--> '''Carter:''' Luke, I know what it is you do, and the only reason why I ain't busted your ass is because you're my cousin... and it'd kill Aunt Bootsie.
--> '''Luke:''' ...Why you gotta put Aunt Bootsie in this?

* This is parodied in ''Film/JohnnyDangerously''. It's painfully obvious to ''everybody'' (including the pope) except for Johnny's mother and his brother that he's a mob boss.
* In ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' when Sidney informs [[spoiler:Stu (one of the killers, who is already bleeding to death)]] that she's called the police about the murders, he pathetically breaks down and cries "My mom and dad are gonna be so mad at me!"
* ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'': Tommy lies to his mother about why he and the guys were there that night to keep her from finding out that [[HairTriggerTemper he'd just killed someone for no real reason]].
* {{Inverted|Trope}} at the end of the first ''Film/SpiderMan1'' film. "Peter... don't tell Harry." It takes an actor of Willem Dafoe's caliber to do all the things the Green Goblin did in that film and still make that last request a TearJerker - and it's doubly poignant when you realize that Peter honored that request. Led to PoorCommunicationKills in the following two movies.
* In ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'' the Chosen One enlists a group of men to help him train to fight against the evil Betty, telling them to beat him with sticks until he tells them to stop. After beating him until he's unconscious, the men nervously sneak away, and one of them says "Don't say anything to mom."

--> '''Dionne:''' You know what? Ok, that's it.
--> '''Murray:''' (mimicking) That's it.
--> '''Dionne:''' You wanna play games?
--> '''Murray:''' (mimicking again) You wanna play games?
--> '''Dionne:''' I'm calling your mother.
--> '''Murray:''' I'm... I'm ca... Oh, wait! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, wait. Don't call my Ma.
* Invoked in ''Film/TrueGrit'', when a dying man asks Rooster Cogburn to get word to his brother (a preacher). Rooster asks "Should I tell him you were outlawed up?" The response is that it doesn't matter.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', when Hermione finds the Weasley twins testing out their homemade joke candies on younger students in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]], Hermione demands that they stop. They taunt her by saying "Or what? You'll put us in detention?" Hermione coldly responds with "No, but I will write to your mother." This scares the twins so badly that they immediately comply, an action that has never been seen before or since.
* Odd inversion: Peter Wiggin of ''Literature/EndersGame'' and the ''Literature/EndersShadow'' sequels, rather than having to hide an evil secret, is reluctant to let his parents find out that he has a secret identity as the great [[TheChessmaster Chess]][[BigGood master]] named Locke. When he tells his parents, it turns out that they already knew; and as it happens, Bean and Sister Carlotta [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow knew that Peter's parents knew before Peter knew it.]]
* In ''Literature/TheThornBirds'' (though not the better-known film adaptation), protagonist Meggie's oldest brother Frank runs away from home when she's a girl, after having a fight with their father. [[spoiler:Said fight revealed that Frank was actually the son of a different man.]] Years later, their mother, who doted on Frank, happens to find a newspaper in which an article announces his conviction for a terrible crime. Frank's only comment to the press was "Don't tell my mother."

* In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', one of the things Constable Carrot does on his first night on patrol is shame a bunch of bar-brawling dwarfs into behaving themselves by asking what their mothers would say if they found out. It works. Of course, it also helps that Carrot knows ''exactly'' what he's talking about, having been raised by a dwarf couple from a very young age. Dwarf society considers him to be a full dwarf despite being six feet tall.
* ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'': Captain Vimes manages to nip his younger self getting corrupted by his weasel superiors in the Night Watch in the bud by asking what his late mother would think if she knew he'd taken a bribe (likely, tan his hide).
* Played with in ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain''. On the one hand, yes, Penny really doesn't want her parents to know she's a supervillain. On the other hand, she never actually says it outright.

* On ''Series/TheWire'', Omar Little becomes enraged at rival gangsters after they violate the Sunday truce and blow his cover to his elderly grandmother.
-->'''Omar Little''': I damn near got that woman killed, yo. Y'all should've seen me in Sinai Hospital while they stitching her up, lying about why somebody wanna shoot me down the street. That woman think I work in a cafeteria.
-->'''Kimmy''': Cafeteria?
-->'''Omar Little''': At the airport, yeah.
-->'''Kimmy''': The airport? Why the airport?
-->'''Omar Little''': 'Cause I know she ain't gonna never go down there to go dining, that's why! Hey, yo, Kimmy, this ain't funny, yo! That woman raised me!
* Spy turned ''Series/TheATeam'' style gun for hire Michael Westen from ''Series/BurnNotice'' spent a long time trying to keep his mother in the dark about things, but ultimately had to break the news to her. Since then, she has played small roles in his operations, even once getting information out of a captive after Michael's interrogation techniques didn't work. Despite this, she wishes he would settle down, and the things she is asked to do sometimes unsettle her.
* A running gag on ''Series/HillStreetBlues'' was Belker constantly booking the same criminal for various minor offenses and the criminal always giving him a fake name. This went on for years, until the criminal was accidentally caught in the crossfire of a gunfight he had nothing to do with. He was mortally wounded and asked Belker to call his mother, finally giving Belker his real name. Belker did so, telling the criminal's mother that her son had been a fine, upstanding citizen.

* Inverted on ''Series/{{Wiseguy}}'', where federal deep-cover agent Vincent Terranova is forced to mislead his mother into believing he's a criminal. He's deeply troubled by how disappointed she is in her "no-good" son, and immensely relieved when she eventually learns the truth.

* One ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' episode had two brothers, feuding THRUSH middle managers, concealing both the feud and the nature of their employment from Mama ... until she turned out to be the THRUSH supervisor who showed up to inspect their operation.
* There was a variation on ''Series/{{MASH}}''. Klinger wasn't truly a criminal (unless you count all his attempts to go AWOL) but he tried to keep his mother in the dark for a long time about him being in Korea so that she wouldn't worry, trying to make her think that he had never been transferred from Fort Dix. He simply had his old pals at Fort Dix take about a hundred pictures of him when he was there, and sent one of them to her whenever he wrote. [[spoiler:As it turned out, however, his mother knew all along, proven when Hawkeye organized an event that brought the families of the whole camp together; seems you really can't hide some things from your mother. In a sweet twist on the trope, she had allowed him to think she believed he was at Fort Dix so that ''he'' wouldn't worry about ''her.'']]
* ''Series/TheColbertReport'' ChristmasSpecial has a variation. When Stephen [[MushroomSamba hallucinates]] Music/WillieNelson and [[LetsDuet they duet]] about a gift for baby Jesus, the last line sung by Stephen is "You're really high/I'm gonna tell your savior!"
* ''Series/TheBorgias'': When Micheletto and Cesare visit the former's hometown Forli, Cesare discovers Micheletto not only has a mother, but she's rather doting and completely oblivious about what [[ProfessionalKiller her son really is]], believing he is studying to become a doctor. Cesare plays along with this lie by posing as his mentor, out of his own amusement.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Tuco Salamanca, maybe the most terrifying, unhinged gangster in the ''Series/BreakingBad'' universe, feels this way about his sweet abuelita. Is that blood on the carpet? No, abuelita, I just spilled some salsa. Yes, abuelita, I’ll clean it right away, go watch your novelas. No, abuelita, I won’t forget the club soda. Viewers have noted that club soda does jack for removing salsa stains, but it's fairly common knowledge that it's great at removing bloodstains. This implies that abuelita knows ''exactly'' what Tuco does for a living. Either that, or Tuco "spills salsa" on the carpet so often, she really does think you clean it with club soda.
** Similarly, Nacho Varga doesn't want his very morally-upstanding father to know that he runs with the Salamancas, but is ultimately forced to tell him in order to warn him that [[TheDon Hector Salamanca]] wants to use his business as a front and [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse won't take no for an answer]]. Nacho's father is both furious and heartbroken that his son is a criminal and [[IHaveNoSon disowns him on the spot]].
* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepott keeps his [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas beloved mother]] utterly in the dark after his involvement with the mob, presenting himself as a simple nightclub employee (and later, owner), so that she can be proud of him. When Maroni (who can't touch Penguin while he's under Falcone's protection) strikes at Penguin by telling his mother the truth, Penguin swears revenge, and once in private later, breaks down in tears.
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': Doug Judy's mother, despite Doug being a notorious thief and {{Chessmaster}} extraordinaire, has no clue that her son is a criminal. He tells her that he works at an architecture firm, that he does charity work in his spare time, [[AbhorrentAdmirer and that Rosa is his girlfriend]]. Unlike most examples, Doug is [[AffablyEvil friendly and amiable enough]], both on and off the clock, that one can see why his mother doesn't suspect anything.
* ''Series/SharpObjects'': [[spoiler: It is revealed at the end of the series that the main character (Camille)'s sister is the killer, and Amma has previously said "don't tell mama" in other instances]]
* ''Series/CobraKai'': The one thing that can get Hawk to back down is the threat of his mom finding out what he is up to. The two most beautiful examples are when he shows off his tattoo, and afterwards states that he'll probably have to wear a t-shirt until he graduates college, and when he begs Aisha to not mention his fake ID in an Instagram video since his parents follow Aisha's Instagram.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': After Jayne betrays the Tams during the heist on Ariel and nearly gets the entire crew caught, Mal is about to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock throw him out the airlock.]] The only thing that saves Jayne's life is that he asks Mal not to tell anyone what he did, revealing that he does care about the rest of the crew and what they think of him to some degree.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': This is basically what the characters do to get Sheldon to stop being such so annoying as she is the only one he has respect for.
* ''Series/ICarly2021'': Nora Dershlit returns in "iHate Carly". She claims to have turned over a new leaf, but after seeing Carly and Freddie again for the first time in years, she can't resist the temptation to follow them around a bit. After climbing into Carly's apartment, Nora begs her not to tell her parents about it. (Which is strange since Nora's parents once helped her kidnap the iCarly trio.)

* ''Series/TheBigBangtheory': This is basically what the characters do to get Sheldon to stop being such so annoying as she is the only one he has respect for.

See MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal for when she learns the truth and struggles accepting it.

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* ''Film/AmericanGangster''. Frank Lucas spends the whole film treating his mother like an unwitting InnocentBystander, but towards the end of the movie she tells him that she never asked him where all the family's prosperity came from just so that she wouldn't have to listen to him lie to her. Furthermore, she goes on TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about he's responsible for all the other members of his family being in the drug trade, because they never would have gotten into it if not for him. Then she says that all of them, including her, will walk out on him if he does something as suicidally dumb as declare war on the cops, which was exactly what Frank was planning to do at the moment.

* In ''Film/TheWaterboy'', when coach Kline goes to talk to [[MyBelovedSmother "Mama" Boucher]] about letting her son, Bobby, enroll in the university and play football, she flat out tells forbids it, and politely asks coach Kline to leave. As she goes into the her room, coach Kline tells Bobby his own mother wouldn't let him get a tattoo, as he leaves the house, coach Kline pulls his pants down, shows bobby the tattoo on his but cheek, and says: "What mamma don't know, won't hurt her. I trust you'll make the right decision."

-->Shane...please...[[TearJerker don't tell my mom]]...

* The ''[[VideoGame/{{Team Fortress 2}} Meet the Sniper]]" video is made of this. Sniper gets a lot of grief from his parents due to his choice of career.

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[[folder:Fanworks]]

* In ''Literature/GuardsGuards'', one of the things Constable Carrot does on his first night on patrol is shame a bunch of bar-brawling dwarfs into behaving themselves by asking what their mothers would say if they found out. It works.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

[[quoteright:300:[[Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donttellparentsvillaiin_2311.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Yeah, that seems like something you might want to keep secret.]]

* During ComicBook/{{Norman Osborn}}/The Green Goblin's original death in ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' his last words were a plea to Spider-Man not to tell his son Harry Osborn that he'd been the Goblin. This carried over to the first ''Spider-Man'' film.
** For that matter, Peter Parker has gone to great lengths to hide his SuperHero identity from his Aunt May, who is as good as his mother. In at least one version, May has arachnophobia and is thus not overly fond of Spider-Man, hence Peter's actions.

** For that matter, Peter Parker has gone to great lengths to hide his SuperHero identity from his Aunt May, who is as good as his mother. In at least one version, May has arachnophobia and is thus not overly fond of Spiderman, hence Peter's actions.

* During ComicBook/{{Norman Osborn}}/The Green Goblin's original death in ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' his last words were a plea to Spiderman not to tell his son Harry Osborn that he'd been the Goblin. This carried over to the first ''Spider-Man'' film.

* Tohru's mom in ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' is unaware that her son was working as a thug for Valmont and not knowing that the latter is a DiabolicalMastermind. All she knew was that Valmont was a rich gentleman and assumed Tohru was doing legitimate work. Because of this, she sees [[HeelFaceTurn working as Uncle's apprentice]] to be an enormous step ''down''.

* Drakken's mom was probably the single funniest thing in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', one of the reasons for this being that she ''completely believes'' he is a radio talk show host. This despite the fact that he studied robotics, not psychiatry. Then again, anyone ''would'' want to cover up the fact that their world domination schemes were foiled by teenagers.

* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'': "Don't tell [[spoiler:Jessie]] about this".

* In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 5'', in one of her win poses, Lili bends down to the camera (perspective of the defeated opponent) and says

-->'''Sniper:''' ''[on the phone]'' I'm not a "crazed gunman", Dad. I'm an ''assassin''. ''[{{Beat}}]'' Well, the difference bein' one's a job and the other's ''mental sickness!''

* A [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/{{Batman}} story -- the very same that first gave the Penguin's name as "Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot -- was about his aunt coming to visit in Gotham City, and he begged the Dynamic Duo to help him put on the facade of being a law-abiding citizen because he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her with the fact that he's a criminal. The story follows with Penguin's aunt believing him to be a weapons developer for the military and that he helps Batman and Robin fight crime.

* A [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/{{Batman}} story was about the Penguin's aunt coming to visit in Gotham City, and he begged the Dynamic Duo to help him put on the facade of being a law-abiding citizen because he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her with the fact that he's a criminal. The story follows with Penguin's aunt believing him to be a weapons developer for the military and that he helps Batman and Robin fight crime.

* In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', one of the things Constable Carrot does on his first night on patrol is shame a bunch of bar-brawling dwarfs into behaving themselves by asking what their mothers would say if they found out. It works.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' shows what happens when this trope is defied. Clover discovers that every girl in school is actually dating the same guy, who was jilted on Valentine's Day and for revenge planned to jilt as many girls as he could at the Valentine's Day dance. Clover exposes him to every girl at the dance, but for a fitting punishment, she told his very large mother that he had been taking expensive jewels from her store to give to the girls as gifts. We then hear rather ominous stomping before his mother bursts into the gym screaming "'''''EUGENE!'''''" The last we hear of the guy is his horrified shrieks.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Stoked}}'': In "A Prank Too Far", the groms were tricked into thinking they accidentally killed Bummer. When it seemed they'd be arrested, Reef begged them not to tell his mother.