diff --git a/lib/components/term.js b/lib/components/term.js
index 19692f4f..3cd5cdf4 100644
--- a/lib/components/term.js
+++ b/lib/components/term.js
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ export default class Term extends React.PureComponent {
   constructor(props) {
     super(props);
     props.ref_(props.uid, this);
+    this.termRef = null;
     this.termWrapperRef = null;
     this.termRect = null;
     this.onWindowPaste = this.onWindowPaste.bind(this);
@@ -117,14 +118,14 @@ export default class Term extends React.PureComponent {
 
     // The parent element for the terminal is attached and removed manually so
     // that we can preserve it across mounts and unmounts of the component
-    let parent = props.term ? props.term._core._parent : document.createElement('div');
-    parent.className = 'term_fit term_term';
+    this.termRef = props.term ? props.term._core._parent : document.createElement('div');
+    this.termRef.className = 'term_fit term_term';
 
-    this.termWrapperRef.appendChild(parent);
+    this.termWrapperRef.appendChild(this.termRef);
 
     if (!props.term) {
       this.term.attachCustomKeyEventHandler(this.keyboardHandler);
-      this.term.open(parent);
+      this.term.open(this.termRef);
       this.term.webLinksInit();
       this.term.winptyCompatInit();
     }
@@ -320,7 +321,7 @@ export default class Term extends React.PureComponent {
 
   componentWillUnmount() {
     terms[this.props.uid] = null;
-    this.termWrapperRef.removeChild(this.term._core._parent);
+    this.termWrapperRef.removeChild(this.termRef);
     this.props.ref_(this.props.uid, null);
 
     // to clean up the terminal, we remove the listeners