# Accessing and Modifying the Node Tree

---------------------

See the objects and functions you use to control the node tree's composition.

### Overview

You create the node tree by creating parent-child relationships between nodes. Each node maintains an ordered list of children, referenced by reading the node’s children property. The order of the children in the tree affects many aspects of scene processing, including hit testing and rendering, so it's important to organize the node tree appropriately.

| Method | Description |
| -------- | ------------- |
| `addChild(_:)` | Adds a node to the end of the receiver’s list of child nodes. |
| `insertChild(_:at:)` |Inserts a child into a specific position in the receiver’s list of child nodes.|
| `removeFromParent()` | Removes the receiving node from its parent. |

When you need to directly traverse the node tree, you use the properties in the following table to uncover the tree’s structure.

| Property | Description |
| --------- | --------- |
| `children` | The array of SKNode objects that are the receiving node’s children. |
| `parent` | If the node is a child of another node, this property holds the parent. Otherwise, it holds nil. |
| `scene` | If the node is included anywhere in a scene, this property returns the scene node that is the root of the tree. Otherwise it holds nil. |

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