Pearls of parenting wisdom from the real Bow Johnson

NEW YORK » When it comes to parenting advice, you’ve got your homegrown experts, your celebrities, the granola crunchy crowd and your “bad moms” who write funny books about drinking and cursing their way through rearing children.

Sometimes, though, there’s a mom who writes a book that revs on a great many of those cylinders. Count the real Rainbow “Bow” Johnson in that camp, only her name is Dr. Rania EdwardsBarris.

Edwards-Barris, wife of “blackish” creator Kenya Barris, is the inspiration for Tracee Ellis Ross’s character on the popular ABC series. On the show, she’s a busy anesthesiologist and mom of five struggling to provide a sense of cultural identity for their kids as the only black family on their upper middle-class Los Angeles block.

In real life, Edwards-Barris is in fact an anesthesiologist and the couple has six — count ‘em — six kids, ranging from 2 to 19. A parent doesn’t live that way without racking up some sound advice and support for others, especially moms. That’s part of the motivation behind “Keeping Up with the Johnsons: Bow’s Guide to Black-ish Parenting,” out in May from the Disney imprint Kingswell and written tonguein-check by Edwards-Barris in the voice of TV Bow.

With Mother’s Day approaching, The Associated Press asked the real “Bow” for some pearls from her parenting adventures:

PHOTO BY RICHARD SHOTWELL — INVISION — AP, FILE In this file photo, Kenya Barris, left, and Dr. Rainbow Edwards-Barris arrive at the HBO Golden Globes afterparty in Beverly Hills EdwardsBarris is the author of “Keeping Up With the Johnsons: Bow’s Guide to Black-ish Parenting.”

KINGSWELL VIA AP This cover image released by Kigswell shows “Keeping Up With the Johnsons: Bow’s Guide to Black-ish Parenting,” by Rainbow Johnson.