Despite intense challenges and competition, primary care nurse practitioners (NPs) in family and child nursing are surviving and thriving through this tumultuous time of health care change. This paper will highlight the critical role of primary care NPs in family and child health and argue against the creation of one generic advanced practice nursing role. It is time to abandon discussions about the blended Clinical Nurse Specialist role as the flagship of advanced practice. Instead, an alternative metaphor is offered for discussion: a rainbow of advanced practice nursing specialties. While blended roles clearly have a place in the rainbow of advanced practice nursing, assuming that they are the predominant direction for the future reflects serious limitations. This assumption ignores the current realities of the health care context, improperly delineates the NP role, creates serious negative consequences for the collective of advanced practice nurses with established credibility and limits our creativity in developing new advanced practice roles. Rather than continuing an outdated discussion of blending CNS and NP roles or introducing a model of a generic APN, reflection about advanced practice would be better served by creating and supporting a variety of new advanced practice roles based on today health care system and strengthening currently successful roles such as the primary care NP.