diff --git a/markdown_it/tree.py b/markdown_it/tree.py
index dcc46132..58398d9a 100644
--- a/markdown_it/tree.py
+++ b/markdown_it/tree.py
@@ -3,12 +3,32 @@
 This module is not part of upstream JavaScript markdown-it.
 """
 import textwrap
-from typing import NamedTuple, Sequence, Tuple, Dict, List, Optional, Any
+from typing import (
+    NamedTuple,
+    Sequence,
+    Tuple,
+    Dict,
+    List,
+    Optional,
+    Any,
+    TypeVar,
+    Type,
+    overload,
+    Union,
+)
 
 from .token import Token
 from .utils import _removesuffix
 
 
+class _NesterTokens(NamedTuple):
+    opening: Token
+    closing: Token
+
+
+_NodeType = TypeVar("_NodeType", bound="SyntaxTreeNode")
+
+
 class SyntaxTreeNode:
     """A Markdown syntax tree node.
 
@@ -23,10 +43,6 @@ class SyntaxTreeNode:
           between
     """
 
-    class _NesterTokens(NamedTuple):
-        opening: Token
-        closing: Token
-
     def __init__(self) -> None:
         """Initialize a root node with no children.
 
@@ -36,23 +52,33 @@ def __init__(self) -> None:
         self.token: Optional[Token] = None
 
         # Only containers have nester tokens
-        self.nester_tokens: Optional[SyntaxTreeNode._NesterTokens] = None
+        self.nester_tokens: Optional[_NesterTokens] = None
 
         # Root node does not have self.parent
-        self.parent: Optional["SyntaxTreeNode"] = None
+        self._parent: Any = None
 
         # Empty list unless a non-empty container, or unnested token that has
         # children (i.e. inline or img)
-        self.children: List["SyntaxTreeNode"] = []
+        self._children: list = []
 
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
         return f"{type(self).__name__}({self.type})"
 
-    def __getitem__(self, item: int) -> "SyntaxTreeNode":
+    @overload
+    def __getitem__(self: _NodeType, item: int) -> _NodeType:
+        ...
+
+    @overload
+    def __getitem__(self: _NodeType, item: slice) -> List[_NodeType]:
+        ...
+
+    def __getitem__(
+        self: _NodeType, item: Union[int, slice]
+    ) -> Union[_NodeType, List[_NodeType]]:
         return self.children[item]
 
     @classmethod
-    def from_tokens(cls, tokens: Sequence[Token]) -> "SyntaxTreeNode":
+    def from_tokens(cls: Type[_NodeType], tokens: Sequence[Token]) -> _NodeType:
         """Instantiate a `SyntaxTreeNode` from a token stream.
 
         This is the standard method for instantiating `SyntaxTreeNode`.
@@ -61,12 +87,10 @@ def from_tokens(cls, tokens: Sequence[Token]) -> "SyntaxTreeNode":
         root._set_children_from_tokens(tokens)
         return root
 
-    def to_tokens(self) -> List[Token]:
+    def to_tokens(self: _NodeType) -> List[Token]:
         """Recover the linear token stream."""
 
-        def recursive_collect_tokens(
-            node: "SyntaxTreeNode", token_list: List[Token]
-        ) -> None:
+        def recursive_collect_tokens(node: _NodeType, token_list: List[Token]) -> None:
             if node.type == "root":
                 for child in node.children:
                     recursive_collect_tokens(child, token_list)
@@ -83,6 +107,22 @@ def recursive_collect_tokens(
         recursive_collect_tokens(self, tokens)
         return tokens
 
+    @property
+    def children(self: _NodeType) -> List[_NodeType]:
+        return self._children
+
+    @children.setter
+    def children(self: _NodeType, value: List[_NodeType]) -> None:
+        self._children = value
+
+    @property
+    def parent(self: _NodeType) -> Optional[_NodeType]:
+        return self._parent
+
+    @parent.setter
+    def parent(self: _NodeType, value: Optional[_NodeType]) -> None:
+        self._parent = value
+
     @property
     def is_root(self) -> bool:
         """Is the node a special root node?"""
@@ -99,7 +139,7 @@ def is_nested(self) -> bool:
         return bool(self.nester_tokens)
 
     @property
-    def siblings(self) -> Sequence["SyntaxTreeNode"]:
+    def siblings(self: _NodeType) -> Sequence[_NodeType]:
         """Get siblings of the node.
 
         Gets the whole group of siblings, including self.
@@ -125,7 +165,7 @@ def type(self) -> str:
         return _removesuffix(self.nester_tokens.opening.type, "_open")
 
     @property
-    def next_sibling(self) -> Optional["SyntaxTreeNode"]:
+    def next_sibling(self: _NodeType) -> Optional[_NodeType]:
         """Get the next node in the sequence of siblings.
 
         Returns `None` if this is the last sibling.
@@ -136,7 +176,7 @@ def next_sibling(self) -> Optional["SyntaxTreeNode"]:
         return None
 
     @property
-    def previous_sibling(self) -> Optional["SyntaxTreeNode"]:
+    def previous_sibling(self: _NodeType) -> Optional[_NodeType]:
         """Get the previous node in the sequence of siblings.
 
         Returns `None` if this is the first sibling.
@@ -147,11 +187,11 @@ def previous_sibling(self) -> Optional["SyntaxTreeNode"]:
         return None
 
     def _make_child(
-        self,
+        self: _NodeType,
         *,
         token: Optional[Token] = None,
         nester_tokens: Optional[_NesterTokens] = None,
-    ) -> "SyntaxTreeNode":
+    ) -> _NodeType:
         """Make and return a child node for `self`."""
         if token and nester_tokens or not token and not nester_tokens:
             raise ValueError("must specify either `token` or `nester_tokens`")
@@ -189,9 +229,7 @@ def _set_children_from_tokens(self, tokens: Sequence[Token]) -> None:
                 raise ValueError(f"unclosed tokens starting {nested_tokens[0]}")
 
             child = self._make_child(
-                nester_tokens=SyntaxTreeNode._NesterTokens(
-                    nested_tokens[0], nested_tokens[-1]
-                )
+                nester_tokens=_NesterTokens(nested_tokens[0], nested_tokens[-1])
             )
             child._set_children_from_tokens(nested_tokens[1:-1])