There are different approaches, but I think this will assist Code for the Closing event of the Child form i.e. on closing the form; here is the code: In this code the frmMain is the MDIParent of the frmItem, but casting is important in retrieving the properties of the parent form: private void frmItem_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e) { Form f = sender as Form; ((frmMain)f).statusStrip = frmItem.statusStrip; }