diff --git a/lib/oga.rb b/lib/oga.rb
index 7b6b11e..b5f1592 100644
--- a/lib/oga.rb
+++ b/lib/oga.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 require 'set'
 
+require_relative 'oga/xml/child_mixin'
 require_relative 'oga/xml/lexer'
 require_relative 'oga/xml/parser'
 require_relative 'oga/xml/node'
diff --git a/lib/oga/xml/child_mixin.rb b/lib/oga/xml/child_mixin.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..152f612
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/oga/xml/child_mixin.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+module Oga
+  module XML
+    ##
+    # Mixin that can be used to link child nodes together with their parent,
+    # previous and next following.
+    #
+    module ChildMixin
+      ##
+      # Links child nodes together with each other and sets the parent node of
+      # each child.
+      #
+      def link_child_nodes
+        amount = children.length
+
+        children.each_with_index do |child, index|
+          prev_index = index - 1
+          next_index = index + 1
+
+          if index > 0
+            child.previous = children[prev_index]
+          end
+
+          if next_index <= amount
+            child.next = children[next_index]
+          end
+
+          child.parent = self
+        end
+      end
+    end # NodeHierarchy
+  end # XML
+end # Oga
diff --git a/lib/oga/xml/document.rb b/lib/oga/xml/document.rb
index ca2e2ba..5dad83a 100644
--- a/lib/oga/xml/document.rb
+++ b/lib/oga/xml/document.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ module Oga
     #  @return [Oga::XML::XmlDeclaration]
     #
     class Document
+      include ChildMixin
+
       attr_accessor :children, :doctype, :xml_declaration
 
       ##
@@ -34,6 +36,15 @@ module Oga
         @children ||= []
       end
 
+      ##
+      # @param [Array] nodes
+      #
+      def children=(nodes)
+        @children = nodes
+
+        link_child_nodes
+      end
+
       ##
       # Converts the document and its child nodes to XML.
       #
diff --git a/lib/oga/xml/node.rb b/lib/oga/xml/node.rb
index 0f2cea3..5e1c956 100644
--- a/lib/oga/xml/node.rb
+++ b/lib/oga/xml/node.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ module Oga
     #  @return [Oga::XML::Node]
     #
     class Node
+      include ChildMixin
+
       attr_accessor :parent, :children, :next, :previous
 
       ##
@@ -39,6 +41,15 @@ module Oga
         after_initialize if respond_to?(:after_initialize)
       end
 
+      ##
+      # @param [Array] nodes
+      #
+      def children=(nodes)
+        @children = nodes
+
+        link_child_nodes
+      end
+
       ##
       # Generates the inspect value for the current node. Sub classes can
       # overwrite the {#extra_inspect_data} method to customize the output
diff --git a/lib/oga/xml/parser.y b/lib/oga/xml/parser.y
index 4f132ca..e007edd 100644
--- a/lib/oga/xml/parser.y
+++ b/lib/oga/xml/parser.y
@@ -120,8 +120,6 @@ rule
 
         element.children = val[1].flatten
 
-        link_children(element)
-
         element
       }
     ;
@@ -287,7 +285,8 @@ Unexpected #{name} with value #{value.inspect} on line #{@line}:
       children = [children]
     end
 
-    document = Document.new
+    document    = Document.new
+    child_nodes = []
 
     children.each do |child|
       if child.is_a?(Doctype)
@@ -297,38 +296,13 @@ Unexpected #{name} with value #{value.inspect} on line #{@line}:
         document.xml_declaration = child
 
       else
-        document.children << child
+        child_nodes << child
       end
     end
 
-    link_children(document)
+    document.children = child_nodes
 
     return document
   end
 
-  ##
-  # Links the child nodes together by setting attributes such as the
-  # previous, next and parent node.
-  #
-  # @param [Oga::XML::Node] node
-  #
-  def link_children(node)
-    amount = node.children.length
-
-    node.children.each_with_index do |child, index|
-      prev_index = index - 1
-      next_index = index + 1
-
-      if index > 0
-        child.previous = node.children[prev_index]
-      end
-
-      if next_index <= amount
-        child.next = node.children[next_index]
-      end
-
-      child.parent = node
-    end
-  end
-
 # vim: set ft=racc: