Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 2 May 2018
Pearls of parenting wisdom

from the real Bow Johnson

anesthesiologist and mom and still buy my items. I for- trust I know I don't have to
of five struggling to provide got I had this kid who was go and check. And then
a sense of cultural iden- really smart and could talk." they cave."
tity for their kids as the only THE GREAT OUTDOORS UP IN THE AIR
black family on their upper Edwards-Barris had been Traveling by plane with kids
middle-class Los Angeles camping a few times grow- can mean high drama. Try
block. ing up, which isn't to say she it with a spouse who's a ner-
In real life, Edwards-Barris is was an expert. Nor was her vous flyer and you've got
in fact an anesthesiologist husband, but they wanted the life of Edward-Barris.
and the couple has six — that experience for their "Always take a wife with
count 'em — six kids, rang- kids. The first time they tried you. Your mother, your
ing from 2 to 19. A parent they had three little kids. nanny, any other woman
doesn't live that way with- They went the recreational in your life who gets it. And
out racking up some sound vehicle route, as opposed make sure that you tell
advice and support for oth- to tenting it, for the trip to the flight attendant the
ers, especially moms. That's the mountains, but all did Benadryl was Tylenol," she
In this Jan. 8, 2017 file photo, Kenya Barris, left, and Dr. Rainbow
Edwards-Barris arrive at the HBO Golden Globes afterparty in part of the motivation be- not go entirely well. laughed again.
Beverly Hills, Calif. hind "Keeping Up with the They couldn't get the stove On a trip to Hawaii, when
Associated Press Johnsons: Bow's Guide to to light, then matters of the her youngest lucky No. 6
Black-ish Parenting," out in toilet reared once again in was still a baby, he was on
By LEANNE ITALIE a mom who writes a book May from the Disney im- her life. They didn't make it antibiotics and he threw up
Associated Press that revs on a great many print Kingswell and written through the night. all over her and the flight
NEW YORK (AP) — When of those cylinders. Count tongue-in-check by Ed- "I guess one of the girls put attendant as well.
it comes to parenting the real Rainbow "Bow" wards-Barris in the voice of too much toilet tissue in the "Kenya didn't even know. I
advice, you've got your Johnson in that camp, only TV Bow. potty and it got stopped mean he was clueless and
homegrown experts, your her name is Dr. Rania Ed- With Mother's Day ap- up," Edwards-Barris said. talking about what a great
celebrities, the granola wards-Barris. proaching, The Associated "I told Kenya, I guess you flight that was and I was,
crunchy crowd and your Edwards-Barris, wife of Press asked the real "Bow" should take it out and he like, oh my God. He was
"bad moms" who write "black-ish" creator Kenya for some pearls from her was, like, I don't know, you down the row and he slept
funny books about drink- Barris, is the inspiration for parenting adventures: should call your dad or through it," Edwards-Barris
ing and cursing their way Tracee Ellis Ross's character MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE something. I'm, like, 'You said.
through rearing children. on the popular ABC series. Edwards-Barris opens the are the dad now.'" LICENSE TO KILL
Sometimes, though, there's On the show, she's a busy book with a touch of harsh The lesson: "Never go Teaching a teen to drive,
reality from years ago, be- camping. Always go Edwards-Barris wrote, "is
ginning with, "You've got glamping," Edwards-Barris a little bit like teaching a
to be freaking kidding me." chuckled. "Why do that to drunken toddler how to
She was wrangling two of yourself?" remove your appendix."
her kids in a department LIAR LIAR Just as Junior on "black-ish"
store fitting room when Her best parenting hack failed his driver's test for fail-
she had a very real bath- for catching a kid in a fib ing to yield, so did one of
room emergency of her also has to do with the real Bow's kids.
very own. She had a tod- bathroom. Specifically, kids Edwards-Barris has two driv-
dler running in circles while who don't wash their hands ers now. It's a team effort
breastfeeding her new- after using one. Edwards- between she and Barris but
born when she realized she Barris used to do the "smell mom took them out the
was definitely not going to your hands" test when she most to practice and went
make it to a bathroom. suspected foul play. for the driving tests. The
So she went MacGyver, do- "Then they started spraying show's Junior role is based
ing her No. 2 business into perfume and other stuff on on one of her daughters,
a diaper on a stool. She their hands and I was like, who wanted her license on
wrapped it all up, made wow," she said. "I mean, the day she turned 16.
it through checkout when if you're going to bother "And she failed. For the
the clerk complimented with that just wash them. I same reason, failure to
her almost 3-year-old on was, like, this does not even yield, and I was like you've
the doll she had chosen, make sense. They act like got to be kidding me," Ed-
wondering if it was her they're allergic to the wa- wards-Barris said. "When
birthday, and her toddler ter." we'd be out driving she
overshared: "No, Mommy Her secret weapon: Guilt. didn't want me to tell her
said she would buy it for me "Always make them feel anything so I was, like, I
if I didn't tell anyone that as guilty as you can if you can't believe you're think-
she pooped in a diaper in know that they're lying," ing you know how to drive
the changing room." she said. "I ask, is that the and you can't do the sim-
Edwards-Barris laughed: "It truth and they say, yeah, plest things."
hit me and it was not like you want to go check and Her best tip: "Pay some-
I could wait. I was like, oh I'll be, like: "Absolutely not. one to teach them how to
my God, what am I going You know why? Because I drive. Just remove yourself.
to do right now? I did what trust you and because we It's so much better. I'm tell-
would allow me to walk out have a relationship built on ing you."q