I have an MDI form that has a statusstrip with multiple panels one of which is used for status/user feedback info.  When an action (add/update/delete etc) is performed in a child form I want to update the status panel on the MDI parent with a message and use a timer to clear it rather than popping up a message/dialog box that the user needs to chase away.  I can't figure out how to access individual panels from the child form.  I can use the MDIParent property to get to the statusstrip in the Controls collection but I can't seem to get to the individual panels.  Here's some code I tried in the child form:

Me.MDIParent.Controls("StatusStrip").Controls("stStatus").Text = "blah"

The message I get is "Referenced object has a value of 'Nothing'". 

Looking at the StatusStrip control it appears all the panels are stored in an Items collection but there is no Items collection accessing the controls through the MDIParent property. 

Does anyone know how to do what I'm trying to do?

Thanks and Happy Holidays!!!