Programming :: Traverse Through The XML Nodes?

I have a xml file and I read it within a php file with XML dom. This is the node structure of my xml file :

<Root><name></name>
<surname></surname>
<ID></ID>
<department></department>

[code]....

In the comment line, I've got the parent node of the current node. Parent node is "User" node. I would like to obtain the children of this parent node, say "name","surname " etc. How can I do this? Is there any function such as : "$parent_nodes->bringChildren('name')".