diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e91355e..dc84820 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## v8.1.0 (September 27, 2024)
+
+- Added the `parent` property to `XMLElement` (via [#278](https://github.com/drmohundro/SWXMLHash/pull/278) which closes [#277](https://github.com/drmohundro/SWXMLHash/issues/277))
+
 ## v8.0.0 (September 17, 2024)
 
 - Added Swift 6.0 support (via [#283](https://github.com/drmohundro/SWXMLHash/pull/283))
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9aeeff9..49e70f0 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM swiftlang/swift:nightly-6.0-focal
+FROM swift:6.0
 
 ENV APP_HOME ./app
 RUN mkdir $APP_HOME
diff --git a/Source/XMLElement.swift b/Source/XMLElement.swift
index 202c14d..a1bbda1 100644
--- a/Source/XMLElement.swift
+++ b/Source/XMLElement.swift
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ public class XMLElement: XMLContent {
     /// The name of the element
     public let name: String
 
+    public private(set) var parent: XMLElement?
+
     /// Whether the element is case insensitive or not
     public var caseInsensitive: Bool {
         options.caseInsensitive
@@ -116,6 +118,7 @@ public class XMLElement: XMLContent {
 
     func addElement(_ name: String, withAttributes attributes: [String: String], caseInsensitive: Bool) -> XMLElement {
         let element = XMLElement(name: name, index: count, options: options)
+        element.parent = self
         count += 1
 
         children.append(element)
diff --git a/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/XMLParsingTests.swift b/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/XMLParsingTests.swift
index 5d9f512..58d65f3 100644
--- a/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/XMLParsingTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/SWXMLHashTests/XMLParsingTests.swift
@@ -88,6 +88,13 @@ struct XMLParsingTests {
         #expect(xml!["root"]["catalog"]["book"][1]["author"].element?.text == "Ralls, Kim")
     }
 
+    @Test
+    func shouldBeAbleToGetParent() {
+        #expect(xml!["root"]["catalog"]["book"][1]["author"].element?.parent != nil)
+        #expect(xml!["root"]["catalog"]["book"][1]["author"].element?.parent?.name == "book")
+        #expect(xml!["root"]["catalog"]["book"][1]["author"].element?.parent?.attribute(by: "id")?.text == "bk102")
+    }
+
     @Test
     func shouldBeAbleToParseElementGroupsByIndex() {
         // swiftlint:disable:next force_try