diff --git a/zio-cli/shared/src/main/scala/zio/cli/Command.scala b/zio-cli/shared/src/main/scala/zio/cli/Command.scala
index bf36b8e8..14870de0 100644
--- a/zio-cli/shared/src/main/scala/zio/cli/Command.scala
+++ b/zio-cli/shared/src/main/scala/zio/cli/Command.scala
@@ -224,8 +224,8 @@ object Command {
     ): IO[ValidationError, CommandDirective[(A, B)]] = {
       val helpDirectiveForChild = {
         val safeTail = args match {
-          case Nil          => Nil
-          case head :: tail => tail
+          case Nil       => Nil
+          case _ :: tail => tail
         }
         self.child
           .parse(safeTail, conf)