How to reference a control on a parent form from a child form

In a parent form, I am trying to change the text on a statusbar panel from an event in a child form, but I don't know how to reference the statusbar control on the parent.  I tried the following, but the control value for sbSB is null.

StatusBar sbSB = (StatusBar)this.Parent.Controls["sbStatusBar"];
sbSB.Panels[0].Text = "Active Form = Equipment Types";

I also tried the following, but the text did not get updated:

(this.Parent.Controls["sbStatusBar"] as StatusBar).Panels[0].Text = "Active Form = Equipment Types";

Experience trumps brilliance -- Thomas Sowell