accessing magic parent set

[Alexandru Patranescu <drealecs@xxxxxxxxx>]

Is this the only way to access the magic __set from the parent class:

    public function __set($columnName, $value)
    {
        if ($value !== $this->$columnName) {
            parent::__set($columnName, $value);
        }
    }


I would have liked to work this way:

    public function __set($columnName, $value)
    {
        if ($value !== $this->$columnName) {
            parent::$columnName = $value;
        }
    }


And another question.
There is a self, a static and a parent
Why is it only $this and not a $parent too?