Specific References Incident

I have one specific incident I could use some help with too. I have the following method: function validate() { if ($this->returning) { $errors = array(); foreach ($this->children as $child) { $child->error = "Foo"; $error = $child->validate(); if ($error) { $this->errors_exist = 1; array_push ($errors, $error); } } } $this->errors = $errors; } The $this->children attribute should be an array of (references to) objects. I think somehow in the foreach ($this->children as $child) the objects are being copied, as $child->validate(); seems not to effect the original objects.