}
// create childrenNode.length connections
Connection[] connections = new Connection[childrenNode.length];
for(int i = 0; i < connections.length; i++) {
Connection connection = new ConnectionImpl("connection_"+ i);
connection.setParentNode(parentNode);
connection.setChildNode(childrenNode[i]);
parentNode.addOutboundConnection(connection);
childrenNode[i].addInboundConnection(connection);
connections[i] = connection;