History Main / DontTellMama

* ''Film/MaxManus''. Max is alarmed when a young member of his Resistance group suddenly insists they hide in an ally. Instead of the Gestapo, it turns out he's hiding from his mother who thinks he's safely in Sweden. Max finds this ActuallyPrettyFunny.

* ''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.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' provides the former page quote. When they went to Florida during Spring Break, the local sheriff was disappointed with Joe C. (the foul-mouthed little person who toured with Kid Rock). A parody as much as anything, given the utterly inconsequential matter.

* ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'': Hector's blind mother doesn't know he's the head of a terrorist organization trying to take over the world and he wants to make sure she remains ignorant of that fact. [[spoiler:Subverted in that [[MamaDidntRaiseNoCriminal she only pretended she didn't know]].]]
* The episode "[[Recap/TotallySpiesS2E23Matchmaker Matchmaker]]" 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 and for a much more fitting and crueler punishment, she told his very large and ''very'' angry mother about what he was doing. 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.
* In the episode "[[Recap/DarkwingDuckS1E47LetsGetRespectable Let's Get Respectable]]" from ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', the villain-vanquishing vigilante is trying to improve his public image, and as a result, is not allowed to use his gas gun or karate skills to take down some criminal thugs. What does he do? He resorts to threatening to tell their mothers. Amazingly, it's more effective than one would think.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheYearWithoutASantaClaus'', the Miser Brothers are terrified at the thought of MrsClaus going to tell their mother about their squabbling; mostly because this is ''[[NeverMessWithGranny Mother Nature]]'' we're talking about here.

* 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.

* Sandman, a ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' and ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' villain, ''completely'' kept his mother in the dark about being a villain. He even explained that he changed his name when he became a criminal so she wouldn't find out.

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

* In an episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', James convinces Jessie, Meowth, Ash, Brock, May, and Max not to let his grandparents know he's a member of Team Rocket because it would break their hearts. Despite Jessie and Meowth going back on it and trying to steal the grandparents' Pokemon, he manages to keep up the charade... and then tells them everything in the end. As he waves goodbye, his grandparents discuss what a wonderful boy he is and even if he is a member of Team Rocket, whatever that is, they're still proud of him.

* 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 and for a much more fitting and crueler punishment, she told his very large and ''very'' angry mother about what he was doing. 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.

* 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.

* There's a Stock Joke in aviation that goes:
-->Don't tell mama I'm a pilot; she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse.
** Variations on the same joke refer to lawyers, politicians, and other AcceptableProfessionalTargets.

* [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] and [[InvertedTrope inverted]] by one female game reviewer [[https://mashable.com/2014/12/01/rape-threats-contact-mothers/#CFYroDyV8Pqt who received rape threats from young boys]].

'''Matt:''' [[CasualDangerDialog That is the one thing we can guarantee will happen. We still in agreement over who to confess to?]]\\

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': In order to help his mom pay her apartment bills, Genji occasionally participates in legally questionable activities like underground fighting and doing various "jobs" for sand raiders. He tries to keep all this a secret from his mom and little sister since he knows neither would approve of what he's done to help keep them financially afloat.

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': In order to help his mom pay her apartment bills, Genji occasionally participates in legally questionable activities like underground fighting and doing various "jobs" for sand raiders. He tries to keep all this a secret from his mom and little sister since he knows they would never approve of what he's done.

* ''Webcomic/TheLegendOfGenji'': In order to help his mom pay her apartment bills, Genji occasionally participates in legally questionable activities like underground fighting and doing various "jobs" for criminals. He tries to keep all this a secret from his mom and little sister since he knows they would never approve of what he's done.

* In ''FanFic/ConstantTemptation'' Mello, Matt, and Near find themselves in a position where [[AccidentalPervert they have to confess to spying]] on [[ParentalSubstitute L and Light]]. They don't want L to know about it, even if it means facing Kira's wrath:

* In ''FanFic/IfThemsTheRules'' [[Franchise/HarryPotter Tom Riddle]] doesn't want to disappoint [[MoralityChain Harry]] so he makes sure he hides his darker tendencies.

In instances where the child is discovered after being missing or presumed dead but does not want their parents to know what they do or even that they're alive, that's RefusedReunion.