diff --git a/src/magicgui/backends/_ipynb/widgets.py b/src/magicgui/backends/_ipynb/widgets.py
index 3a49de646..93af80acf 100644
--- a/src/magicgui/backends/_ipynb/widgets.py
+++ b/src/magicgui/backends/_ipynb/widgets.py
@@ -59,7 +59,10 @@ def _mgui_set_enabled(self, enabled: bool):
 
     def _mgui_get_parent(self):
         # TODO: how does ipywidgets handle this?
-        return getattr(self._ipywidget, "parent", None)
+        # return getattr(self._ipywidget, "parent", None)
+        raise NotImplementedError(
+            "parent not implemented for ipywidgets backend.  Please open an issue"
+        )
 
     def _mgui_set_parent(self, widget):
         # TODO: how does ipywidgets handle this?
diff --git a/src/magicgui/backends/_qtpy/widgets.py b/src/magicgui/backends/_qtpy/widgets.py
index da2ff2b1f..71ce796b6 100644
--- a/src/magicgui/backends/_qtpy/widgets.py
+++ b/src/magicgui/backends/_qtpy/widgets.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 from magicgui.types import FileDialogMode
 from magicgui.widgets import Widget, protocols
+from magicgui.widgets._concrete import _LabeledWidget
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     import numpy
@@ -82,9 +83,18 @@ def _mgui_get_enabled(self) -> bool:
     def _mgui_set_enabled(self, enabled: bool) -> None:
         self._qwidget.setEnabled(enabled)
 
-    # TODO: this used to return _magic_widget ... figure out what we should be returning
-    def _mgui_get_parent(self) -> QObject | None:  # type: ignore
-        return self._qwidget.parent()
+    def _mgui_get_parent(self) -> Widget | None:
+        par = self._qwidget.parent()
+        # FIXME: This whole thing is hacky.
+        while par is not None:
+            mgui_wdg = getattr(par, "_magic_widget", None)
+            # the labeled widget itself should be considered a "hidden" layer.
+            if isinstance(mgui_wdg, Widget) and not isinstance(
+                mgui_wdg, _LabeledWidget
+            ):
+                return mgui_wdg
+            par = par.parent()
+        return None
 
     def _mgui_set_parent(self, widget: Widget) -> None:
         self._qwidget.setParent(widget.native if widget else None)
diff --git a/tests/test_container.py b/tests/test_container.py
index c0ea4db1c..15a2b205f 100644
--- a/tests/test_container.py
+++ b/tests/test_container.py
@@ -203,3 +203,14 @@ def _on_clicked(self):
             ...
 
     assert isinstance(C(), widgets.Container)
+
+
+def test_parent():
+    lbl = widgets.Label()
+    inner = widgets.Container(widgets=[lbl])
+    outer = widgets.Container()
+    outer.append(inner)
+
+    assert lbl.parent is inner
+    assert inner.parent is outer
+    assert outer.parent is None
diff --git a/tests/test_widgets.py b/tests/test_widgets.py
index b41f8e4d2..60abd1fc2 100644
--- a/tests/test_widgets.py
+++ b/tests/test_widgets.py
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ def test_basic_widget_attributes():
 
     assert widget.parent is None
     container.append(widget)
-    assert widget.parent is container.native
+    assert widget.parent is container
     widget.parent = None
     assert widget.parent is None
     assert widget.label == "my name"