Given its hazardous, infantilizing impact on young people, I have been wondering why paternalism hasn’t been outlawed long ago. In calling paternalism ‘sublime’, this Childhood editorial does not endorse paternalism but explores its persistent appeal to find more effective ways to combat it. Referring to regulations that limit the purchase of tobacco products, the need to protect young athletes against harassment, processes at work in the realm of child labour as well as present-day discussions on the introduction of age-limits for access to social media, the editorial denounces paternalism’s ingrained ambiguity. Paternalism toward children operates both overtly and in disguise as a sophisticated protective/oppressive force in the social world. The exercise of power by those in authority to make decisions on another person’s behalf finds an idiomatic reflection in its capacity to shift narratives and create a smokescreen around the real reasons for paternalist interventions. Paternalism is ultimately grounded in unequal power relations, which constitute the source of the persistent suspicion it attracts.