Times’ ‘Motherlode’ Gives Way to ‘Well Family’

It’s another small victory for parent-kind.

The New York Times‘ parenting site has changed names from “Motherlode” to “Well Family,” in part to recognize fathers and all family members who participate in the raising of child, according to the site’s manager and lead columnist KJ Dell’Antonia. She made the announcement in a March 3 article on the Times’ website.

“When The New York Times started Motherlode in 2008, the name was a play on words that marked our entry into the world of parenting blogs. But like many readers, I questioned the name of a parenting report that, by definition, seemed to exclude half of all parents,” she wrote.

“Over the past few years, our vision of what it means to be a family has changed, and it has also become clear that the name Motherlode is more than a little at odds with the larger conversation, which includes mothers, fathers, step parents, grandparents, children, siblings, friends, pets and every possible variation on family,” Dell’Antonia wrote, also adding that the site had long “challenged the notion that parenting is a women’s issue.”

We couldn’t agree more.

This is the second major name change in recent months that reflects the evolving mainstream perception of a father’s role in parenting. In December, online retailer Amazon’s discount U.S. child-care discount program from “Amazon Mom” to “Amazon Family”.

In recent years, the media and entertainment worlds have playing catch with the real world when it comes to fathers being active participants in their children’s lives. Dads are no longer routinely portrayed in advertising, movies or TV as clueless as to how to care for a child. Instead, men are regularly shown as hands-on participants in the day-to-day upbringing their kids.